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Old 08-01-2010, 11:35 AM   #1
Motor31
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More hydraulics

We had an interesting situation last Friday afternoon. We had just parked at Fairchild AFB Fam Camp near Spokane. While setting up I saw some fresh hydraulic fluid on the driver side rear stabilizer jack. I figured it was a loose connection at the top of the distribution block where it connects to the power side pf the ram.

I got my 9/16 and 7/16 wrenches to tighten the connection. As soon as I touched the wrench to the connection it failed completely. The factory installed the distribution box and it is secured only by the 90 degree nipple at the top of the ram. As a result after a while of bouncing down the road the connector between the 90 degree nipple and the box gets fatigued and fails. We were lucky as it did not fail while moving. That could have allowed the ram to drop.

Of course it was Friday afternoon, after normal business hours. There are no MS dealers in the area. There are no Lippert dealers in the area. There are hydraulic hose fabrication companies here though and 2 of them had Saturday hours. Lippert shows the connectors on their web site. The straight one was different than what was installed on my rig. The 90 degree connectors were the same but kinda pricey. The hydraulic supply company sold me 2 straight and one 90 degree for less than $10.00. Installation was a snap taking a couple minutes to make sure there was no trapped air in the ram. The system is back up and I have a spare of each type connector just in case.

Since the rear jacks are on a different line than the front landing gear we did not have to worry about the nose dropping.
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Old 08-01-2010, 03:08 PM   #2
The View 5046
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Motor 31 thanks for the post. I haven't did it yet but at the Suties Rally in Colorado Springs. Dale F. was there and when getting to Colorado Springs something hit one of the Hydraulic lines on the off door side and knocked the connection off. If and when I get to Lowes or Home Depol Iwill make a shield fro the two jacks in front of the axel. To prevent that from happening. Jim B. President of the Eastern region had made him shields . Hydraulic leaks aren't good. GBY...
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Old 08-01-2010, 05:39 PM   #3
RonS
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So what is the procedure to make sure that you did not have air in the lines? I just know that down the road I will have similar problems. I will have to check my lines first chance I get.Also guess I better get some extra lines made up.
Thanks.......Ron
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Old 08-02-2010, 10:31 AM   #4
Motor31
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The first thing to do is to prevent the distribution box (red aluminum block the hoses tie into) from dropping down and more fluid pouring out. Do not run the pump at all until you are done sealing the system up.

Second is that the box hangs from the extend or power side of the ram. If the ram is already down, leave it alone. If it's up when the connector fails you will have to bleed it as it will drop both legs and suck in air into the rams and hose.

To bleed it like I did when mine failed after the rams were powered down is a snap. I put the new connector in the red box and left the part that screws onto the 90 degree nipple on the ram loose. I then used a long screw driver to lift the ram foot slightly until fluid ran out of the fitting. While it was pushing fluid out I then tightened the connector. That was all there was to it.

If the rams were up and they sucked in air you will be doing some exercising of the rams. Get a piece of hose to connect to the 90 degree nipple. It does not have to be hydraulic hose, just any hose like clear plastic hose that you can see through and fits tight on the 90 degree nipple will do. Have a container of fluid (like a mason jar you can see through) filled with fluid and place the open end of the hose into the fluid. Manually raise the ram on the far side first to expel air and let it suck in fluid as it drops back down. Let it sit fully extended for a few seconds to allow any air bubbles in the ram to rise to the top so the air will flow out first. A long screw driver or a light crow bar will help in doing that as the ram has some resistance and it's heavy too. Do this several times until there are no more air bubbles coming into the jar from the line. Once that ram is done, do the same thing on the near ram where the box is located. Leave the ram down and full of fluid then make the loose connection like I described above and gently raise the ram and tighten the fitting. Using the pump, exercise the system several times to try and remove any air bubbles that might remain. Try raising the rams and leaving them up for a day or several hours to make sure they won't drop in transit on the road. If they do drop down repeat the manual bleeding process to get any bubbles of air out of the lines and rams.

It's similar to bleeding the brakes on a car but you have to move the ram up and down manually instead of pumping the brake pedal. If you have to bleed the ram manually it's going to be tedious, messy and time consuming. Keep the jar full of fluid (ATF dexron 3) and don't let that hose suck in air.

As far as spare lines are concerned, I wouldn't be in a hurry to get them made up as you don't know which one of the several you will need first. There are several lengths of hose and each one will have to have nipples or fittings on them. If a hose fails, remove it and take it to a hydraulic line fabricator and they can make a new one. (phone book or google search in the town you are in) Make sure you tell them you have a 2800 PSI pump so you get higher pressure line than the original 2200 PSI line installed. Most hoses will fail gradually, starting to seep rather than failing all at once. Look for seepage then extend the ram or slide fully before removing the hose. Make darn sure you block up the front of the rig if it's the landing gear line that fails. Once you break the line loose the front will drop to the ground. Don't be under it without the trailer being supported.
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Old 08-02-2010, 11:06 AM   #5
RonS
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Thanks ................Hope when mine goes south that a hydraulic repair guy is in the area.
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