Jacks or Better to Open

  

Today I was supposed to pick up the jacks I was having rebuilt. Well, actually, they were supposed to be ready last Friday, then Monday, then Tuesday, etc. I called at noon and the owner told me that they would be ready to pick up at 3:00 PM. Of course they were not ready. “There’s been a slight problem, the magnetic switch got broke”. No, the switch didn’t get broke, it had to be broken by the ass-sistant (sic). When I went down there the other day to see what the problem was I could see that there was absolutely NO WAY that part of the mechanism could be jammed down at the bottom of the inner cylinder. It HAD to be jammed down by someone.

Today I saw the ass-sistant trying to work on the other jack and I could see how the other one was broken.

Here you can see how close the switch (with the wires) was to the inlet fitting (blue cap).

He was trying to tighten up the inlet fitting with a Crescent wrench larger than the one in the picture. As the fitting is tightened, the wrench would swing around and would leverage against the fitting and bam, broken switch. I told him to leave it alone as I would do it at home. I also told him that he should use a socket to tighten the fitting so as not to ruin another switch.

These are the two switches. Good one on the top and broken one on the bottom. It’s brass and not very thick as there is a switch and wires inside.

The way this is supposed to work is that there is a harness that rides on the top of the inner cylinder. In the harness is a magnet and at the top of cylinder travel it opens, shutting off the indicator lamp and power to the “jacks down” alarm. While I had to juggle fittings around I took a look inside to see what’s what. Well, what’s what is that there is no magnet in the harness. I put some air into the cylinder to make the jack extend a little to have another look. More distress! The harness that is supposed to ride on the inner cylinder stayed at the top, so with the jack down, it would still indicate that the jack was fully up.

Of course I am disappointed to the extreme, but cannot get solace anywhere. HWH has not returned my call or email. The replacement switch is $84.99 and THAT does not make me happy. On line, I read the stories of RV owners waiting more than 12 weeks for a part or jack from HWH, and the parts are not cheap.  Why are so many people having so much trouble with HWH equipment? Also, keep away from Suncoast Hydraulics in Crystal River.

My next course of action is to install the jacks as they are and see if they will actually work, though I will have to be aware of the problem and assure that the jacks are all the way up by visual inspection. Once up, the springs will keep them from dropping. Then, I will check a number of RV salvage yards to see if anyone has a replacement.

That’s all for today in the land of sunshine.