HWH Levellers Stuck Down- Help!

[andyleonard]

'92 300 has HWH folding levellers. After 2 years of storage I found all the big springs broken on the rear and lying in pieces under the coach with the levellers extended. I wired the extended levellers up to the bottom of the coach and drove it down to the house. I then activated the system and tried to power-retract them, but no joy. Front works fine. Now I can't get them to retract and they are at 45* and pushing down on the ground and don't want to fold back up to be wired out of the way. What have I done and how do I undo it? Obviously I need to replace the springs, but I need to free them up to do that. Do I break open the lines or try to force them up with the system operating? It seems they don't recognize a situation where they would be at an unlocked angle and also be fully extended. Thanks.

[gloran]

On my HWH automatic levers, under the hood where the HWH hydraulics are located there are four small cylinders with T shaped handles on the end. If you unscrew them it releases the pressure allowing them to lift up. I don,t think their labled but if your front jacks are working you should be able to find by elimination. Only unscrew T far enough to release pressure, then screw back in afer jacks are wired up.

[lewster]

Originally Posted by andyleonard

'92 300 has HWH folding levellers. After 2 years of storage I found all the big springs broken on the rear and lying in pieces under the coach with the levellers extended. I wired the extended levellers up to the bottom of the coach and drove it down to the house. I then activated the system and tried to power-retract them, but no joy. Front works fine. Now I can't get them to retract and they are at 45* and pushing down on the ground and don't want to fold back up to be wired out of the way. What have I done and how do I undo it? Obviously I need to replace the springs, but I need to free them up to do that. Do I break open the lines or try to force them up with the system operating? It seems they don't recognize a situation where they would be at an unlocked angle and also be fully extended. Thanks.

Gloran is pretty right on. HWH leveling systems are 'single acting' jacks, which means that the hydraulics will extend the jacks, but will NOT retract them. That is the job for the springs. If your springs are damaged or missing, you will have to manually force the jacks to retract.

To do this, you have to release the hydraulic pressure from the system. Find the hydraulic tank, and the manifold with the solenoid cylinders will be on this manifold. If you have a manual, it should tell you which solenoids (black can shaped cylinders mounted horizontally) are the extend solenoids and which are the retract solenoids. You have to release the pressure by manually opening these solenoids. If you can't determine which is which (they are lined up on either side of the manifold), try one and see if you can raise that jack by hand using a long pipe or other lever and a 4 X 4.

To release the pressure, there will be either a small nut or 'T' handle in the middle of the cylinder. Rotate it counter clockwise (like unscrewing a nut) EXACTLY 4-1/2 TURNS. An easy way to tell which solenoid works which jack is to follow the hydraulic line to that jack. If you open a cylinder and the jack won't raise, try the one on the other side of the manifold.

[andyleonard]

Thanks. I have heated and reformed the ends of the broken springs and fabricated a crosslink from a piece of chain and am ready to go back together....but I can't find the hydraulic setup to bleed off the cylinders. Where can it be? Nothing visible from the front compartment, nothing immediately visible from underneath. Any chance it's accessed from inside somehow? I have never put fluid in this thing.

[lewster]

The best way to find the hydraulic pump, reservoir and solenoids is to trace the hydraulic line from one of the leveling jacks back to the pump. I have done that a few times when the location of the pump was not readily apparent.

[Robfike]

You should only have to put the control levers in "Retract" position. This will give the fluid a path back to the reservoir. Then push the levelers back to the retracted position by hand. The spring is all that retracts the levelers.
They are "single acting" levelers as previously stated. The fluid pressure is what extends them, trapped fluid keeps them in the extended position, and releasing the fluid lets them retract.
The springs are available.
Rob