Leveling Jack Hydraulic Line Blew

[Hummelr]

This morning while retracting my LCI Level Up leveling jacks, the left rear hydraulic line blew.

I at first called General RV to no avail. I eventually got hold of Hose Tek mobile hose service in Jacksonville Florida. They met me at a gas station and replaced my hydraulic hose in the parking lot. They did a wonderful job.

The technician mentioned that all my hydraulic hoses for the LCI level Up system were very flimsy. I will replace the rest of them as soon as I get back to West Virginia.

Hats off to Ryan at Hose Tek.

https://www.hosetekmobile.com.

[16ACE27]

Sounds like a good site to bookmark.

[10scDust]

I had one of our LCI leveler hoses develop a leak. I removed the line, went to our local NAPA store, had a replacement hose made w/new fittings, then installed it. Cycled the levelers a couple times to the get air out and check for any new leaks. All set!

[Hummelr]

I will use NAPA then to change the other rear line. However, the 2 front lines will be a bunch of crawling around under the unit. I will leave those to someone younger.

[Vibeman]

Did the repairman say how or why the line failed other than it was "cheap"? Last year I traced my hydraulic lines looking for kinks, abrasion, pinch points, etc. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. True that the OEM lines are light duty, not up to industrial or commercial standards, but can be adequate if carefully routed and protected from sharp edges, etc.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by Vibeman

Did the repairman say how or why the line failed other than it was "cheap"? Last year I traced my hydraulic lines looking for kinks, abrasion, pinch points, etc. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. True that the OEM lines are light duty, not up to industrial or commercial standards, but can be adequate if carefully routed and protected from sharp edges, etc.

And you basing you comments about the lines not meeting commercial standards on what facts or published standards?

[Vibeman]

Originally Posted by EA37TS

And you basing you comments about the lines not meeting commercial standards on what facts or published standards?

My comment is based on my own experience with industrial and commercial hydraulic systems.
Industrial hydraulic lines typically have a double internal wire braid reinforcement. Agricultural and construction equipment have that too plus somtimes an external coiled wire armor to protect against abrasion. The hydraulic lines on my motor home have neither.

[Vibeman]

Originally Posted by Beau388

The jack's return lines are pressurized only on retraction and when up to 1,500 psi max. Most industrialist equipment uses 3,000 or 4,500 psi in both extension and retraction. New farm equipment is using 7,500 psi hydraulic rams.

So, what’s your point?

[Beau388]

Originally Posted by Vibeman

My comment is based on my own experience with industrial and commercial hydraulic systems.
Industrial hydraulic lines typically have a double internal wire braid reinforcement. Agricultural and construction equipment have that too plus somtimes an external coiled wire armor to protect against abrasion. The hydraulic lines on my motor home have neither.

The jack's return lines are pressurized only on retraction and when up to 1,500 psi max. Most industrialist equipment uses 3,000 or 4,500 psi in both extension and retraction. New farm equipment is using 7,500 psi hydraulic rams. In my limited experience most of the leaks are at the crimp at the fittings or at wear points due to incorrect routing.

[Beau388]

Originally Posted by Vibeman

So, what’s your point?

Thor MC use low pressure lines for the return lines and low pressure return lines only have one layer of steel braid just like the power steering hoses on a typical car.

[Hummelr]

I (we) may have used the word "cheap" inappropriately.

The hydraulic line blew right at the connection to the fitting. It sounded like a tire blew.

What I want to accomplish is ensuring that this does not happen in the future with my other lines.

I also wanted the general audience to know that there are mobile hydraulic line repair folks out there in case this happened to them.

My slide contains my Murphy bed and I do not feel comfortable extended the slide without the jacks down.

Thanks for all your comments.

Rick

[JW Hurricane]

How much did it cost you? My hose behind the passenger tire blew. I’m just north of Jacksonville.

[Hummelr]

The line repair cost about $250.

[JW Hurricane]

Originally Posted by Hummelr

The line repair cost about $250.

Thanks. What hose was repaired for you?

[Hummelr]

The technician replaced the hose from the controller to the driver side rear jack.

The controller is near the passenger side rear jack.

[Vibeman]

Originally Posted by Hummelr

I (we) may have used the word "cheap" inappropriately.

The hydraulic line blew right at the connection to the fitting. It sounded like a tire blew.

What I want to accomplish is ensuring that this does not happen in the future with my other lines.

I also wanted the general audience to know that there are mobile hydraulic line repair folks out there in case this happened to them.

My slide contains my Murphy bed and I do not feel comfortable extended the slide without the jacks down.

Thanks for all your comments.

Rick

Thank you for this informative post! Even good quality lines can fail, especially if they are kinked, rubbing, or otherwise poorly routed. A visual inspection of your hydraulic lines can save a lot of trouble and money down the road.

[DogLovers]

There are some things I fix myself and some I just call the guy, have a nice restaurant meal with the wife while he fixes it, pay the guy. Nothing to argue about or nit pick here. If you wanna fix it yourself, do it. If you want to pay someone else do that. But for crying out loud don't argue about it.

[BASSMAN]

Most of the hydraulic hoses being used for RV leveling jacks are the nylon or synflex and do not use a rubber with a steel braid, they are subject to leaking from kinks, or rubbing through at a sharp edge but overall are a good quality hose, are you sure it was leaking at the crimp or may be the connection, o ring seals are more popular now with the connections an they will fail for different reason, most RVERS do not have the ability to check the pressure of the output of the pump but if the main relief valve sticks or their is a restriction at the relief valve then you will suffer another failure, its not uncommon for a hose to leak at the crimp, lots of reasons, you can get a second hose made at the maximum length your system requires and keep on your rig, if the hose blows on a shorter hose then just coil it up under the frame with a few zip ties and you are good to go, the spare hose will be far cheaper then a service call in the future, plus you will need to keep a couple of quarts of oil handy to refill the system

[Galobo]

Originally Posted by DogLovers

There are some things I fix myself and some I just call the guy, have a nice restaurant meal with the wife while he fixes it, pay the guy. Nothing to argue about or nit pick here. If you wanna fix it yourself, do it. If you want to pay someone else do that. But for crying out loud don't argue about it.

Thank you DogLovers !

[MJC62]

Originally Posted by DogLovers

There are some things I fix myself and some I just call the guy, have a nice restaurant meal with the wife while he fixes it, pay the guy. Nothing to argue about or nit pick here. If you wanna fix it yourself, do it. If you want to pay someone else do that. But for crying out loud don't argue about it.

Geez DogLovers you are taking all the fun out of reading the thread!