hydraulic leaks

jaawalke

Member
I opened up the front storage area to put my batteries in and noticed hydraulic fluid all over the floor of the compartment. It appears that the fittings at the pump for the slide outs area leaking while the trailer was parked for the winter. They feel tight but they are still showing drips of oil at the fittings. Has anyone else had this issue?
 

phranc

Well-known member
Well I lost a couple of table spoons of fluid last fall.. Used a paper towell to mop it up and turned fittings a little tighter with wrench . didn't take much time and I haven't given it any thought untill you mentioned it..
 

Gary F

Well-known member
I discovered a hydraulic leak on my 3200RL a month ago. Found fluid on the storage floor and some inside the plastic tray under the pump and reservoir assy.

After cleaning and checking all fluid lines for tightness and topping off the reservoir, I monitored for leaks and found a small leak where the pump housing meets the plastic reservoir tank.

Based on information found at Lippert's website, the pump is not serviceable and will need replaced. I'm going to call Lippert Components later today to see what can be done to correct this. My Trailer is 14 months old and the dealer that I purchased it from is three hours from my home.

I'm hoping Lippert will work with me on supplying repair parts and I will perform the replacement.

Will keep you posted on my situation.

Gary F
 

Trap

Well-known member
Hope all works out for you. Good Luck. That's usually how my luck works it lasts until shortly after warranty up.

Trap
 

Gary F

Well-known member
Well good news. I spoke to a Lippert Rep and based on my description where the source of the fluid is coming from, Lippert is sending me a complete pump assy for replacement. Lippert has a three year warranty on the pump and since my selling dealer is 3 hours from my residence and with diesel fuel near $3.00 a gallon, I've elected to change out the unit myself.

Lippert was extremely easy to deal with. The only info they needed was the last six of my VIN and production date plus model. When I get back from the holiday weekend at the beach, I will change out the pump assy.

Job should take about four beers plus two quarts of ATF.None
 

Gary F

Well-known member
I received the replacement pump from Lippert on Wednesday and installed it today. Entire job took about 1.25 hours. Pretty straight forward change out, Just had to purchase three quarts of Mobil 1 Syn ATF. The photos attached, first one with the round fluid reservoir was the defective unit that leaked ATF between the reservoir and motor assy. You can see the absorbent material I placed inside the plastic tray beneath the motor. The second photo is the new unit completely installed.
Following the instruction regarding pre-filling the reservoir before installing it then cycling the slides a few times purging the air from the system.

Lippert components was "world class" in handling this exchange. If anyone has issue with their slide hydraulic pump unit, this is a do-it-yourself repair since the unit is non-serviceable.

Gary F
 

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trdeal

Past North Carolina Chapter Leader
white switch beside hydraulic pump

Does anyone know what the white switch, mounted beside the hydraulic pump does? I just found it this afternoon. Also , if there is a pump failure, can I raise the landing gear manually? If so how? I know I can operate the slides manually, but I did not know about the landing gear. Thanks
trdeal
 

timk

Well-known member
trdeal said:
Does anyone know what the white switch, mounted beside the hydraulic pump does? I just found it this afternoon. Also , if there is a pump failure, can I raise the landing gear manually? If so how? I know I can operate the slides manually, but I did not know about the landing gear. Thanks
trdeal

The white switch should run the slides.
Your landing gear should have a wrench similar to the spare tire wrench.
But I suspect your landing gear is electric, not related to the hydraulics .
TimK
 

fireflipper

EX-Travel Bug
fireflipper

TRDEAL
If you have a bighorn the landing gears are electric, the hydraulic is for the slide out rooms. Yes they can be operated manually, but it is not easy or quick. If you look at the back side of the pump motor you will see a hole that is made for an allen wrench. This is where you would manually turn the motor to run the hydraulics. As for the landing gears, if you look on the drivers side LP tank compartment you will find the place to operate using the supplied jack style handle.
 

Uncle Rog

Well-known member
Howdy, thought I was losing fluid in my system, although no leaks found. If Gary's picture shows a full tank then I am alright.........
 

trdeal

Past North Carolina Chapter Leader
Fireflipper, thanks for the info.I just realized that I was in the Big Horn area. Sorry about that. we own the 2005 Landmark, Mt. Rushmore with the hydraulic front jacks. We like the speed of the hydraulics but we are curious what we would do if we had a failure. Thanks again
trdeal
 
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ct0218

Well-known member
If you have a pump failure, then the front jacks can be operated with an electric drill and hex bit. On the street side of the basement you can access the rear of the pump. There is a label over the hole for manually operating the pump. I carry a battery operated drill just in case...
 

fireflipper

EX-Travel Bug
fireflipper

To Trdeal
ct0218 is right about the operation of the front jacks with a drill and hex bit. But chances are that you will have a battery failure, or dead batteries,
before a pump failure. I carry one of those small booster type batteries for jump starting cars, simply hook up the the main battery leads by the pump and the pump should operate like normal. I had to do this after my GRand Canyon had been at a Ga. dealer for service for over a month and they forgot to turn the batteries off. So yo quessed it dead batteries when I went to raise the jacks and hook up.
 

trdeal

Past North Carolina Chapter Leader
Hydraulic hose leak

Yesterday I got a bucket out of the front storage compartment of my Landmark and it had hydraulic fluid in it. It was under the pump area. Got my flashlight and found that I have a fitting slightly leaking on a hose. I have an 2005 Landmark,Mt. Rushmore and behind the pump there is a red box with a hose coming out of it and runs over to the left landing gear. It attaches at the top. This line is leaking or I guess I should say seeping fluid where it connects at the red box and where it connects on the landing gear. I did not try to tighten the line yet,(I will soon),but if I do need to change the line is there any reason that I could not do it myself? I assume that I will need to have the camper hooked to the truck, with the landing gear and the slides all retracted. I can't tell that the landing gear are retracting any so far on their own, because of the leak ,but I know that over time they could. Any thoughts on this repair. Sure don't want to drive the 150 miles round trip to the dealer. There is a good rv repair shop near by I could use but if I can do the job myself I would rather.Thanks
 

Tom of Ypsi

Well-known member
Terry,

There is no reason why you cannot fix this yourself. I had a leak just like yours except the line went all the way to the off door slide pump. This line is around 20' and had to be chased through the underbelly so I could take it in to be repaired. Make sure the slides are in and the jacks are up. Use jack stands if you do not want to hook up. Make sure whoever puts a new connector on has the right one, NAPA told me they had the right one cut the end off and then told me they did not. It took me three places and 30 miles later to get the right end.
 

trdeal

Past North Carolina Chapter Leader
Thanks Tom, I thought I could replace the line myself and I also thought I would go to NAPA to get the ends replaced. I will have to check around in the area and see who else replaces the fittings. It will be a week or so before I can work on the lines. Our daughter is getting married on the 17th and this will be a very busy week. Thanks for your help again. Terry
 

trdeal

Past North Carolina Chapter Leader
Ok, finally got around to replacing the hydraulic line today no problem. But I did find I have bigger problem. Looks to me as if the hydraulic fluid tank seal is leaking. The seal between the tank and the motor. The fluid was low in the tank so I filled the tank,making sure not to overfill, and then ran the landing gear up and down several times to purge the lines.That is when I found the fluid in the tray under the pump. Looks as if fluid is coming out around the bottom bolt on the left side of the tank. Now,I did find fluid in the tray before I replaced the line but I thought it was coming from the leaking line. I know I have read something on the forum before about replacing the tank seal, but when I did a search I could not find anything. Any thoughts?Only a month till we go to Myrtle Beach so whatever I do I must do quickly.
 

Terry H

Past Texas North Chapter Leader/Moderator
Staff member
If I remember correctly Lippert has a 3 Year Warranty on the pump, which includes the seal and the tank. Contact Lippert to verify. I had a pump unit replaced at the last Heartland Rally in Goshen under warranty and my trailer was 2 years old at the time.
 

trdeal

Past North Carolina Chapter Leader
Thanks for that info. My Landmark is a 2005 purchased in November of 2004,so unless Lippert works with me I guess I am out of luck on that one. I do have the extended warranty, but don't know if the tank seal is covered or not. I am going to call my service guy today and see what the story is. Think I will call Lippert also just to see what they will do.
 
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