Foretravel Owners' Forum

Foretravel Motorhome Forums => Foretravel Tech Talk => Topic started by: Benjie Zeller on July 07, 2011, 02:59:24 am

Title: HWH 400 Series Peeing Hydraulic Fluid
Post by: Benjie Zeller on July 07, 2011, 02:59:24 am
So I went to test my HWH leveling system (another one of the items I should have tested BEFORE I purchased) and the rear drivers side jack started peeing fluid.  Curious if anyone has had any experience with this particular model?  It's small stream of fluid coming out of the pinhole on the bottom of the smaller cylinder.  I've listed a few pics that might help.  The first is the entire unit, the second and third are of the smaller cylinder.  The third shows the pin hole where fluid is escaping.  I'm hoping it's just some sort of o-ring or seal that's bad?
Title: Re: HWH 400 Series Peeing Hydraulic Fluid
Post by: niagarachip on July 07, 2011, 08:57:25 am
Had the same problem on a 1988 ORED . Decided to fix it. Took the jack off. First: removed the two 2  fluid lines by unscrewing them. There is no oil pressure as long as you don't turn them on. The whole jack assembly is held up to the framing of the MH by 4 big VERY SHORT bolts. It's heavy but doable without fancy equipment.Brought it to work bench after cleaning, took a lot of pic. took it apart and like you said seals o rings gone bad . Called HWH for parts, to old not available any more. Was told to buy new one. Expensive. When to yellow pages under hydraulic cylinder. Called them they all had in stock seals and o rings just bring the old one and they will match them. I had to visit 2 shops before I had all the needed parts. Back home an easy job to rebuild with advice on how to from one of the shop. A little harder to set it back on  with the short bolts. I managed with a make shift jack (improvised). It took a full day to remove repair replace. The other one in the back and the 2 in front were done in one day. Cost of the parts a little over $100.00. Hope this help.


Niagarachip
Title: Re: HWH 400 Series Peeing Hydraulic Fluid
Post by: Benjie Zeller on July 07, 2011, 09:29:24 am
Had the same problem on a 1988 ORED . Decided to fix it. Took the jack off. First: removed the two 2  fluid lines by unscrewing them. There is no oil pressure as long as you don't turn them on. The whole jack assembly is held up to the framing of the MH by 4 big VERY SHORT bolts. It's heavy but doable without fancy equipment.Brought it to work bench after cleaning, took a lot of pic. took it apart and like you said seals o rings gone bad . Called HWH for parts, to old not available any more. Was told to buy new one. Expensive. When to yellow pages under hydraulic cylinder. Called them they all had in stock seals and o rings just bring the old one and they will match them. I had to visit 2 shops before I had all the needed parts. Back home an easy job to rebuild with advice on how to from one of the shop. A little harder to set it back on  with the short bolts. I managed with a make shift jack (improvised). It took a full day to remove repair replace. The other one in the back and the 2 in front were done in one day. Cost of the parts a little over $100.00. Hope this help.


Niagarachip

Thanks!  I'll try the same and see what happens in the near future!
Title: Re: HWH 400 Series Peeing Hydraulic Fluid
Post by: Kent Speers on July 07, 2011, 10:05:49 am
Bzeller, it would be very helpful if you would tell us what year and model your coach is. Just go to your porfile, place the cursor over the profile button and from the drop down list choose Forum Profile. Look down the page for Signature. In the signature box type in the year, and model of your coach. All of that info will then appear at the bottom of each post.

 It appears from you photos that you have an Oshkosh (ORED) chassis. If so, you might want to list that also.

You will be very pleasantly surprised how much assistance you will get on this forum for older coaches. Lots of us are tinkerers, some are mechanical geniuses or at least think so.
Title: Re: HWH 400 Series Peeing Hydraulic Fluid
Post by: Benjie Zeller on July 07, 2011, 11:20:07 am
Bzeller, it would be very helpful if you would tell us what year and model your coach is. Just go to your porfile, place the cursor over the profile button and from the drop down list choose Forum Profile. Look down the page for Signature. In the signature box type in the year, and model of your coach. All of that info will then appear at the bottom of each post.

 It appears from you photos that you have an Oshkosh (ORED) chassis. If so, you might want to list that also.

You will be very pleasantly surprised how much assistance you will get on this forum for older coaches. Lots of us are tinkerers, some are mechanical geniuses or at least think so.

Noted!
Title: Re: HWH 400 Series Peeing Hydraulic Fluid
Post by: Kent Speers on July 07, 2011, 11:34:07 am
Nice job. We are happy to have you on the Forum and look forward to being able to help. I too am a Vintage Foretraveler and have gotten most of my education from this forum. I have found the more detail I can give about my query the better info I get back from the experts.

When I first started posting I was told the only dumb question is the one unasked.