Hydraulic Jacks slipping down

Madelline09 · 05-16-2020, 05:27 AM

My jacks level great and retract great. Then after a few hours they start sliding down until they come in contact with the ground. Hydraulic fluid is full. These are not spring jacks. After I retract the jacks and start driving I get the warning light and sound that they are down. But when I go outside and look it looks like they’ve come down slightly. But after a minute the light and sound go off. Any suggestions on how to fix this?
Madelline09

theSane · 05-16-2020, 07:10 AM

Similar problem. After two weeks of sitting parked in storage, my alarm will sound when starting the engine. Retracting them works, but why are they drifting down?

Madelline09 · 05-16-2020, 07:16 AM

Someone said it might be a solenoid? But how to be sure?

Morich · 05-16-2020, 09:34 AM

My first thought would be to check the manual for the troubleshooting section. I suspect that would get you a good answer. Without knowing anything about year make model, etc. there are a number of different brands and certainly lots of models of jacks to guess about.

Wyatt · 05-16-2020, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theSane

Similar problem. After two weeks of sitting parked in storage, my alarm will sound when starting the engine. Retracting them works, but why are they drifting down?

I get the same erroneous message. It tell me jacks are down, when they are not. Happens once I’m awhile. Next time, before I hit the retract switch, I’m going to measure if the moved up at all.

They do not appear to be down, so not the same issue as the OP.

theSane · 05-17-2020, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wyatt

I get the same erroneous message. It tell me jacks are down, when they are not. Happens once I’m awhile. Next time, before I hit the retract switch, I’m going to measure if the moved up at all.

They do not appear to be down, so not the same issue as the OP.

The alarm should be caused by the float in the hydraulic tank. If it is going off, either that float is "sinking" or fluid is escaping into the lines, and one of the jacks is "falling". I think the measuring idea is a good one. We will find one lower than the others and need to replace a part on that line.

Hydraulic fluid reservoir float switch replacement video.

Wayne M · 05-17-2020, 09:14 AM

Well, in our previous Winnebago Destination it was about a year after we got it that it started sounding the alarm when driving down the highway. Stopping and looking at the jack I could see the silver piston for about an inch. It would never go down more than that.

Of course, when it slipped down like that it would disengage the reed switch (one on each jack) and the alarm will sound

To make a long story short, very short, I took it to Forest City and after 10 days they were scratching their heads. Eight years later it was still doing that alarm thing and along came hurricane Harvey and totaled her.

Shortly after the 1st week or so when Winnebago couldn't fix it I stopped the alarm from sounding. Not from the jack going down an inch or so. I pulled the controller panel out. Inserted a toggle switch between the positive on the controller (4 position switch red wire) and through the toggle switch. From that time on all I did when I retracted the jacks was to throw that toggle switch to the off position and no more alarm driving down the road. I drilled a hole and mounted the "long shaft" toggle switch right next to the controller.

Now, with that said, I would be concerned about a jack falling all the way to the ground. That is not right. Someone suggest it might be a solenoid. It could also be dirt/rust/debris in the system.

Take your wife's turkey baster - don't tell her. With a porous cloth in hand put the turkey baster in the hydraulic tank and stirr a little, then suck up some fluid. Go to your neighbor's yard and squirt the fluid into the cloth. Look to see if there are any particles. It should be clean. If not then the system needs to be flushed, cleaned and refilled with new fluid. Any particles in the fluid could have become lodged in a gasket or solenoid valve causing jack problems.

Happy trails.

p.s., don't forget to wash the turkey baster very thoroughly before sneaking it back into the house.
I now keep one in my tool box and DW does not ever borrow it.

Wyatt · 05-19-2020, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theSane

The alarm should be caused by the float in the hydraulic tank. If it is going off, either that float is "sinking" or fluid is escaping into the lines, and one of the jacks is "falling". I think the measuring idea is a good one. We will find one lower than the others and need to replace a part on that line.

With all of this talk about false alarms, float switches, and with nothing better to do today, I read up on how to check the fluid level in the reservoir—again. It says the the ATF “fluid should be between 1/4 of an inch from the “TOP”, and no lower than 1/2 of an inch”.

Well, I’ve always seen this small yellow filler cap on the side, and the fluid was within that range. I figured that they meant, from the top of that side cap. But here, you can clearly see that the fill line, (which I could never even see before), is above the bottom of that side cap.

Digging in a little deeper today, while cleaning things up under there, I noticed another much larger yellow cap on the top way in the back obstructed by the pressure lines.

I unscrewed it, and it has a dip stick similar to and engine oil’s dip stick, with a demarcation as to where the fluid should be. I was low. Almost a quart low. Why Lippert doesn’t mention the existence of a dip stick, I have no idea.

Now I don’t see any fluid leaking anywhere, So for now at least, I’m guessing they just never filled it to capacity—we’ll see. Maybe I’ll get no more false alarms...

lewisedge · 05-24-2020, 06:05 PM

We the same problem with our 2011 Itasca Sunova 33C. The problem turned out to be blown hydraulic cylinders. A Winnebago dealer in Florida replaced them under our extended service plan.

7997redtail · 05-24-2020, 07:29 PM

The whole time I was reading this I’m thinking low fluid level, because something similar happen to me but a much older unit, but your unit is much newer than mine. I had figured someone else would have posted “check the fluid level” but again. Your unit is much newer than mine

.

Glad you. Found the problem. BTW, a RV repair shop in Langley bc (on the bypass way east) spent 2 hours trying to get the jack down light off. It took me about 15 minutes on the internet to see I needed to check the fluid level.

So my first response to any “jack down” warning will be to check the fluid level.

jbrattain · 05-25-2020, 05:57 AM

Same here. Had intermittent jacks down light and alarm on the road. Checked the fluid, added the required amount, solved the problem. However, it did take a few jacks down-jacks up cycles to get air out of the lines.

RTrider · 05-25-2020, 08:28 AM

I believe the Lippert leveler system used on the newer units uses a pressure sensor as an indicator that the jacks are up since it pressurizes in the up position. After sitting a couple of days with the jacks up, a small leak down will lower the pressure enough to turn on the jack down sensor. I cannot see that the jacks have "drooped" at all. Mine will immediately retract on engine start up. Apparently they give it a very sort window of time if the emergency brake is not on and will give an error after a few seconds. If the brake is on, it will complete the automatic retract and turn off the light and alarm. If it does fall several inches, I would guess a solenoid that is not seating properly.

audvid1 · 05-25-2020, 08:45 AM

We dealt with Jack Down for almost 2 years, and fluid was full and when alarm would go off, a jack would drop down about an inch which meant the pressure to hold the jack up had been lost. We tightened the return hoses to the pump and that seemed to help, then couple weeks later it would happen again.
We did learn the first time on the road, the panel would light up and auto retract again but would not do it again until the engine was turned off and back on again.
When it got real bad, it was dropping every 20 minutes or so.
Finally we replaced the jack and it fixed the issue for 6 months, then it came back, this time on a different jack. We would tolerate it for a while then when it got worse, we replaced the 2nd jack, then happened again and replaced 3rd jack. It has been about 4 years now and have not had to replace the last jack so i wonder if it was just poor quality jacks and we got 3 of them??

becken63 · 05-25-2020, 09:49 AM

2008 Winnebago adventurer 35A. My problem was that one of the jacks would retract a little after leveling. Not a big deal. After a few days I would manually level. It started getting worse this year. Every day i would have to level again. I drive past the HWH factory on I80 exit 267 in iowa on the way home. They replaced one solenoid in less than an hour. $200 Problem solved.