we just took ownership of 2013 elkridge 34qsrl and found
it is extremely difficult to pull the front gray tank handle. dont know if the problem could be the cable or the gasket on the tank drain. the other gray and black handles is also hard to pull but not as difficult as the front handle. did find a white residue on the front pull housing inside the acess cover.
any suggestions?
It used to take two hands and a lot of effort to open and close my valves. I can tell you how to fix it, but you probably won't like it. It's not difficult, but there are no shortcuts or skipping steps. Count on the better part of a day to repair. To fix it requires pulling bulkhead and the bottom. Unless you do as I did an cut an access hatch UNDER the valves. I then went back with a piece of aluminum plate screwed and taped. Once Your have the bulkhead open.
Check to see if your cable is routed in a gentle curve to the valve. If it's like mine was, it went over and under so much stuff it was kinked to the max. If the cable the cable does not flow in a gentle curve.
A. Go under the trailer to the valve, use an allen wrench to loosen the set screw so you can remove the cable. There will also two bolts/screws clamping the outer cable. Once you have the cable loose, reroute it so that it is in a gentle arch. I like to pull the handle out slightly while it's loose and spray silicon spray down between the cable and the outer housing.
B. Go back to the valve. There will be 4 bolts that hold the valve together. Loosen each bolt and then tighten until they are snug, but not overly tight (the manufacturer says they should just bite into the plastic). Pull the actuator rod out on the valve and lubricate it with white grease. Work it in and out a few times then push it closed Reattach the cable to the valve. Check to be sure your cable and outer housing are correctly sized, by going to the UDC. With the valve closed, there should be about 1/2" of cable sticking out at the UDC. If not you may have to take the cable loose at the valve again and remove a little of the outer cable housing.
C. Once everything is adjusted properly check of proper operation full open and closed. If you've done everything right above you should be able to open and close the valve with one finger and very little effort at all.
The advantage of fabricating an access hatch in the corrplast is that you really need to lubricate the metal actuator rod with white grease about once a year to keep the valves opening and closing easily.
