Lippert leveling jacks motor went out

[Down South]

on my 2017 ACE 27.2, I was setting up on a pad the other day and while leveling, the leveling pump shut down.
I started troubleshooting the problem and to make a long story short.

I had Voltage to the solenoid on the motor.
I had someone hit the retract all jacks button while I was at the motor with my digital voltage meter. I got voltage on the small wire at the solenoid at the 11:00 position that signals the solenoid to kick in. The Solenoid kicked in and supplied voltage to the motor. No go. I checked the ground from the motor to the frame and it's good.

I called Lippert Tech Support and discussed with them. They took me through the same troubleshooting process I had just performed. Then they confirmed the motor is toast.

They transferred me to their parts department. I'm thinking $200-$300 for a new motor. $938 with a 10% discount later I have a new motor and coupling coming which is out of stock and will be two weeks before they can ship.

I think, no way this motor is that expensive. I use my Google Foo and look for the same motor at other online sites. They were all just as expensive or more expensive.

I was able to get practice raising the jacks manually using a 9/32" hex wrench and a 1/2" cordless drill with a 1/4" extension and 1/2" socket
I had to borrow the drill. Now a cordless drill will be part of my tool supply while on the road.

I have another trip planned in just over a week so I'll have to use boards to level with for the time being.

[HarryStone]

You sure it's not the big DC breaker for the pump? That pops sometimes. That price sux. RV parts are like Ferrari parts I guess.

[carl.swoyer]

Originally Posted by Down South

on my 2017 ACE 27.2, I was setting up on a pad the other day and while leveling, the leveling pump shut down.

I started troubleshooting the problem and to make a long story short.



I had Voltage to the solenoid on the motor.

I had someone hit the retract all jacks button while I was at the motor with my digital voltage meter. I got voltage on the small wire at the solenoid at the 11:00 position that signals the solenoid to kick in. The Solenoid kicked in and supplied voltage to the motor. No go. I checked the ground from the motor to the frame and it's good.



I called Lippert Tech Support and discussed with them. They took me through the same troubleshooting process I had just performed. Then they confirmed the motor is toast.



They transferred me to their parts department. I'm thinking $200-$300 for a new motor. $938 with a 10% discount later I have a new motor and coupling coming which is out of stock and will be two weeks before they can ship.



I think, no way this motor is that expensive. I use my Google Foo and look for the same motor at other online sites. They were all just as expensive or more expensive.



I was able to get practice raising the jacks manually using a 9/32" hex wrench and a 1/2" cordless drill with a 1/4" extension and 1/2" socket

I had to borrow the drill. Now a cordless drill will be part of my tool supply while on the road.



I have another trip planned in just over a week so I'll have to use boards to level with for the time being.

I took my motor to an alternator repair shop. They put new brushes on and charged about 150/180 dollars. That was about 2 years ago. Working fine

[MikenDebbie]

There are couple of threads on the Montana forum where guys did the same - take it to a shop for a rewind rebuild for $325. Here is one post from Dec 2020...

[I]Well, I was doing some repairs to our curb side slide mechanism the other day, had to move the ram in an inch or so, and that’s all I was able to get it to move. After completing those repairs, I proceeded to diagnose the pump problem and using the Lippert diagnostic sheet, determined that the motor had died. Doing research on where to get a new motor, from almost a thousand dollars from Lippert directly, to a little over $700 from Lippert on Amazon, I discovered an electric motor shop that will rebuild it including rewinding, for $325. Talked to a fellow there this morning and he said they are at a two week turn around on the rebuilds. I shipped it off this morning, so glad I found this. The shop is, Eurton Electric, in Whittier, CA. I guess with over 70,000 miles on this trailer, and a lot of ins and outs on the slides and the same ups and downs on the leveling system, this motor held up pretty good.[I]

[Down South]

To answer a question or two. The DC breaker is good. I'm getting 14.7 Volts to the motor when activated.
I can tap on the end of the motor with a hammer handle and it will try to run.
I figure a brush problem. Once I get my new replacement, I'll rebuild the old motor.

[Down South]

Got home from a trip Monday. The new motor was here. Replaced it Tuesday morning. All is well.
I'll tear the old motor down once I get a round tuit and see what's wrong with it.

[Down South]

It's been raining for days here. So, no outside jobs could be accomplished. I went out to my shop to do something and saw the motor laying on the bench so I decided to take it apart.

Just as I had suppositioned the motor brushes were the culprit.

As you can see in the pic of the brush assembly, two of the brushes are stuck. Two of the brushes are broken. One is obvious, the other in the 12:00 position is broke as well. You can see the crack if you look closely.



I had to remove the brush plate to free the stuck brushes. You can see the two broken brushes better in this pic. The two broken pieces are laying on a cloth just above the motor end bell.




The armature was cruded up and while cleaning I noticed the end of the armature was uneven which I contributed to the failure. I didn't to take a pic after cleaning and smoothing out but I had to sand it down.



The second problem I found contributing to the failure was the brush springs themselves.
I don't understand why three of these spring weakened. I saw no sign of excess heat anywhere on or in the motor.



Now to find the parts needed to put the motor back together. I'll need a new set of brushes and brush springs.

[Boogie_]

No WiFi here where I’m at so I’m limited to what I can do on my phone, but a quick google search for “wedge shape brush kit motor” turned up a bunch of results.

Would be helpful if you could find out exactly who makes that motor for Lippert.

Hope this helps.

B

[Down South]

Thanks for posting. When I have time I'll look for someone selling rebuilt Lippert motors and contact them. Other than that, if I can find a motor rebuild shop, I'll question them.

[Down South]

I got off my lazy behind and decided to look for a brush kit. It took me about 15 minutes to locate the kit.
The problem with the kit is it fits several other 12V DC motors and only 1/2 of the brush set is correct for my motor. I needed both brush sets on each side of the motor to be connected to a lug like the one in the left hand side of the picture below.

https://store.eurtonelectric.com/sea...x?find=lippert



The kit is $13.50 and $3.75 shipping. I ordered two kits so that I would have the correct brushes for both sides of the motor.
The total delivered for both brush sets is $30.75. Still not bad comparing to a shop replacing the brushes.
Now, I'll have a spare motor for my Lippert hydraulic leveling jacks.