Quote:
Originally Posted by stanleyz
This is provided as a public service for any poor schlub who might be experiencing the same problems and searching for a solution. Sorry, but it will be a long post.
2005 36 TK3. This began as a dropping off door stabilizer back in March. i have spent around 900 dollars, 650 needlessly and 250 to solve the problem. here are a number of lessons I learned during the solving of this problem.
My first effort was to seek advice from Lippert. they have a good web site and great customer service and are very nice people. However, with one exception the service reps I spoke with had scant knowledge about this older system. Their advice was to take it to a Lippert recommended service center. So, I did. Camping world in Woodstock was one of their listed facilities in the Atlanta area. I chained up the stabilizers and took it there. They kept it a month, installed two new valves and charged me 650 bucks. When I picked it up it I didn't get off the lot before the stabilizer dropped.
I was committed to a long trip from june to the end of august. i went on the trip with the stabilizers chained and when we would stop in parks I would remove the chains and use the stabilizers. They worked fine in the down position.
By the time I got home I had all kinds of symptoms. Both stabs would drop when different slides went in or out and they did it with no decernable pattern. They sometimes would also drop when the landing gear went down or sometimes up. I had several conversations with Lippert and I studied various hydraulic sites on line.
I started looking at the three valves on the manifold. Found one that had a bad cap and chased that for a while. Those valves should all be in the closed position which is full counter clockwise. I found one that had no stop in the counter clockwise direction and would just screw off. That was a big waste of time. i don't think the other valves had anything to do with the landing gear and stabilizers. i did however learn that the way to test those valves is to remove the wires and then try to operate the slide that the valve matches up to. now, if the slide works with the wires disconnected the valve is faulty. Yep, that's what lippert says and it checked out. my valves were all OK.
One of the things that really confused me is that the problem was for a long time intermittant. sometimes both stabilizers would work just fine. Even when i was on the trip i had days when they stayed up. I would put safety chains on them just in case but many times the chains weren't needed. That takes me to a lesson I learned. On the Lippert web site there is a procedure posted to check the hydraulic rams. it says to put the stabs or landing gear in the up position, remove the top hose and have someone push "retract". If fluid comes out of the top stabilizer hole the ram seal has failed and the ram must be replaced or rebuilt. I ran that test three times and the stabilizer passed every time, no fluid out the top hole.
About a month ago Joe who I met out in Santa fe in July and who hangs on this site as "wingnut" suggested I call paul Cross in Indiana. I sent Paul an email and he forwarded it to a fellow named Ron at Lippert. Ron was kind enough to call and get me on the right track. He is an older fellow and knew this system well. he told me it was surely the top seal that was failed. When i told him I had tried the test three times he explained that testing it when the stabilizer was holding in the up position would give a false reading. It should be tested when the stab is not holding up. Use a jack or whetever to get it up and then remove the top hose and push retract. When I thought about it that made sense.
So, I tested it that way and it failed. I removed the stab and took it to the local hydraulic shop. When I got it back and re-installed it everything was worse. now the off door would not go up and the door side was dropping under pressure. It was making me crazy.
But here's the deal. The hydraulic fluid follows the path of least resistance. The top seal in the door side stab was now failing. It was easier for the fluid to go through that seal than it was to push up the rebuilt stabilizer on the other side. When the fluid went through the top seal it would push the stab down. Using the slideouts or the landing gear would have the same impact. All the elements of the system are connected and it was easier for the fluid to go through the failed top seal than to move anything else so it would do that first and then move whatever it was supposed to move. I removed the other stabilizer and took it to the shop. It was rebuilt, today I picked it up and installed. So far everything is now working as designed. I am a happy camper.
The mechanical part of removing and installing the stabilizers is pretty simple. Take off both hosees and remove the two connectors. Remove the bottom bolt and extend the stabilizer until you can unbolt the foot. Then let the square tube drop out. finally, remove the bolt at the top and let the ram drop out. The whole thing takes ten or fifteen minutes. The hard part is finding a place to do it. you need about 18 inches below the bottom of the stabilizer. I had a wall on my RV pad where I could let the off door hang over. For the second one there is a manhole right in front of my house. I'm sure the county won't mind and most of my neghibors were at work.
So, if I had it to do over I would first test the top seal correctly and if it was failed I would just go ahead and have both stabilizers rebuilt.
hope this save someone some aggravation.
|
STAN:
I cannot thank you enough for posting this message 3 yrs ago. Thinking that we may now have the same identical problem...we have a 2005 DRV Mobile Suites and my drivers side landing gear just started slipping down whilst on our 3 month cross country trip. We're still in midst of diagnosing/fixing the problem but your solution would seem spot on. My question, if you're still out there, is have you had any problems with the stabs since?? Otherwise presumably the problem solved still 3 yrs later???