Manual over ride of the Hydraulics

tonyl · Jul 10, 2011

We are currently in route to Colorado Springs and our hydraulics have sprung a leak. I had to add two quarts of fluid just get get the slides and landing legs retracted. We are now stuck with the slides in with no access to the living area and no way to unhitch the truck.

Is there a manual way of extending the slides with a catastrophic hydraulic failure when it is not the pump.
Tony

hoefler · Jul 10, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

Check at the pump, you may have valves that will isolate each slide. You can try and shut down the circuit that has the leak. If not, you can try and disconnect the bad line and cap it. In a pinch, I have used a oval head screw to put inside the fitting and re-installing the line. Good luck.

tonyl · Jul 10, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

Thank you for the quick response, I know which slide is causing the problem and it is the main slide, I have no access to the living area. If there is no external manual over ride then it is a very poor design, Failures are guaranteed to happen and a work around is a must. This is my first unit with hydraulics. On an electric slide I would have had an override and I could have extended my slide. What I am gathering is that it is not possible to extend this slide without hydraulics.

Willym · Jul 10, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

Tony.

It might be possible to turn the slide cross-shaft, if it is accessible, with a long wrench, but the hydraulic cylinder would probably need to be disconnected first. I'm not sure how much torque would be required and you'd have to be careful where you applied the wrench to avoid damaging the shaft. Good luck.

Bill

TedS · Jul 10, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

Not aware of any mechanical override for the hydraulic cylinder driven slides in the event of a system leak. The cylinders directly push/pull the slide frames, there is no slide driveshaft as in electric motor driven slides. The best I think you can do is close the valve to the leaking slide system to be able to operate the landing legs and the operational slide. Check in with Windish RV in Fort Collins or Longmont, CO. http://local.yahoo.com/info-56116757-windish-rv-center-longmont
They are on I25 on the way south to Denver, CO.

JohnDar · Jul 10, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

I wonder if the slide can be pushed out from the inside of the rig, if the hydraulic line is already dumping fluid. There isn't a whole lot of weight there, and it's still riding on the gear rollers. A person on either end of the slide, pushing on the fascia near the bottom so that the force is on the wall, might get it out. Getting it back in may be another matter, however.

Using a wrench on the drive cross-bar might get it back in if someone is also applying force to the center of the outer wall as you ratchet. It looks like it might take a while to get it back in, though.

Personally, I'd wait until Monday morning and then call HL Customer Service and Lippert. Push/demand they get a technician out to help you on their dime. That or an immediate appointment with a reliable HL service center near your location.

caissiel · Jul 10, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

I have pushed on quit a few electric motor driven slides,
Our hydraulic slides have alignment gears and shaft that may be turned to move the slide, but the valves must be opened to allow oil flow, so unhooking the motor and operating the switch might help in the oil flow while pushing on the slide, by many camper friends as I have seen.
In all my years of hydraulic slide experience I never saw one fail because there is very little pressure required to move the slides.
Now Hydraulic jacking is a complete different story, the cylinders look to be small and requiring more hydraulic pressure and the low pressure hoses might fail.
My previous unit had HP rubber hoses that never leaked in 15 years.

hoefler · Jul 10, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

Look in the front compartment up under the over hang or the off door side basement access door. The pump and valve assembly is located in the left front corner of the rig. There should be a rocker switch and if you have them, valves, one for every slide. you can close the different valves, thus isolating each slide.

DougS · Jul 10, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

Tony,Can see the leak? If you can see the leak, would a product like "Rescue Tape" work as a temporary measure? The demos show the tape working under pressure. I have never used the tape, but I was thinking of picking some up at the local hardware store.

tonyl · Jul 10, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

Hi Dougs,
The leak is somewhere under the black coroplast. My guess it is the cylinder that has a blown seal or a hose has come apart at the crimped end. I am saying this because of the speed at which the fluid disappears. When we stopped today at this campground to register, the road was higher on the passenger side and about 2 qts of fluid leaked from the coroplast on the drivers side. It made a mess on the pavement. Not what the campground wanted to see. Hopefully we can get a dealer to look at it tomorrow. The first two dealers that I spoke with in Colorado Springs saidI need an appointment and it would take more than a week for them to get to it. This is not good when you are more than 1000 miles from home.

DougS said:
Tony,Can see the leak? If you can see the leak, would a product like "Rescue Tape" work as a temporary measure? The demos show the tape working under pressure. I have never used the tape, but I was thinking of picking some up at the local hardware store.

TedS · Jul 11, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

Try a call to someone on the HOTEL list. There are a few people in the Colorado Springs area.
//heartlandowners.org/hotel/HOTEL_Directory.pdf

jmgratz · Jul 11, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

DougS said:
Tony,Can see the leak? If you can see the leak, would a product like "Rescue Tape" work as a temporary measure? The demos show the tape working under pressure. I have never used the tape, but I was thinking of picking some up at the local hardware store.

Rescue Tape is a great product but it will not work for a hydraulic leak in this case. I had one and the pressure is too great for the Tape. Be aware that the pressure is the greatest when the slides are extended. I was able to take pressure off by bumping the switch in the end a couple of times after the slide was extended. I would call Lippert and see if they can help you as they make the hydraulics. They could have a local person who would come out and take care of it.

tonyl · Jul 13, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

Update - The hydraulics are fixed and we have our main slude open again. The crimped fitting end had failed and the hose was lying loose on the bottom of the coroplast. It was a mess with hydraulic fluid covering most of the bottom. We had a new hose fabricated by a local hydraulics company to replaced the one that failed. Not sure why it failed. It could have been a bad crimp that caused the issue. Excellent service provided by Ron's Mobile RV service in Colorado Springs. We are now happy campers again.

Willym · Jul 14, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

Good news Tony!
I presume that the hose end came right out of the crimp. Sounds like an inadequate crimp, which I presume are machine pressed.

DougS · Jul 14, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

Tony,Did it look like a difficult job to re-running the new hose? Did the tech make up a new hose on the spot, or did he have to have one made? Glad to see your back in business, being stuck is no fun.

tonyl · Jul 14, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

Bill,
You are correct, the hose came right out of the crimp, so yes it was a bad crimp. I am not sure but I think Heartland make up their own hoses.
Tony

Willym said:
Good news Tony!
I presume that the hose end came right out of the crimp. Sounds like an inadequate crimp, which I presume are machine pressed.

tonyl · Jul 14, 2011

Re: Manual over ride of the Hydraulicx

Hi Doug,
It is not a difficult job, but it was very time consuming. You have to drop the coroplast and this was difficult to remove, several of the bolts sheared off when the techs tried to remove them. Mine took longer than most because of the mess the hydraulic fluid had made from the leak. The total time to make the repair was 5 hrs and that included the time it took for them to have a new hose made up at a hydraulic supplier.
Tony

DougS said:
Tony,Did it look like a difficult job to re-running the new hose? Did the tech make up a new hose on the spot, or did he have to have one made? Glad to see your back in business, being stuck is no fun.

Manual over ride of the Hydraulics

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