LCI Leveling Jack motor out?

hummelr

Advanced Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2017
Messages
99
Good afternoon,

Last week my jacks only went half down, and it was a struggle to get them back up.

I followed advice from this forum and determined that since the solenoid was clicking and I had power at the motor, that the motor was shot.

So, I ordered a new motor from Western motors.

After installation, the motor made a noise then nothing.

I tried lowering the jacks again and the motor made noise. I shut the panel off and cut the engine and the motor still made a bunch of noise.

I tried it again and nothing.

I crawled under the RV and the 100 AMP fuse was blown so I reset it.

I turned that monitor back on and hit auto and the white light in the middle of the monitor blinked for a few seconds then the whole display shut off. No motor noise.

With the engine off and jacks panel not on, I went to remove the power cables to the new motor.

I got the shock of my life. I did not think I would be able to get away from the RV. I was lying flat on the ground. I got the shock first by loosening the negative. I also got one with the negative disconnected while loosening the positive.

Anyway, I decided to test the old motor by jumping it.

The old motor did spin but made a bunch of noise.

Any idea what is going on?

Rick
 
The "shock of your life" had to be from 120 or 240 VAC, not the 12 VDC to the motor.

Have you done any mods lately that involved installing screws that may have created a bridge between the AC and DC systems? I'd break out my multimeter before I did anything else.
 
Thanks,

I was plugged into 110v when this did happen.

When I installed the new motor, I did not get any shocks. Nor did I get any shocks when I removed the old motor.

Any suggestions to where I should test to see if the 110 is leaking into the 12V?

It was the 12V 100 AMP fuse that was blown. The fuse reset with no difficulties.

All the 12V stuff and the 110V stuff still works in the RV

Rick
 
You will get a lot of comments but first thing check to see if you have a hot frame using your VOM.

Usually, a good idea to be off of shore power if under a motor home or working on the electrical.

Is your hydraulic pump OK, did it spin freely by hand when you removed the old motor?

Voltage checks everywhere looking for the ground fault already mentioned.

Good luck
 
Since you changed out the electric motor for the hydraulic pump, as I understand this thread.

Have you bench tested the old motor? I would use jumper cables and a separate battery power source to see if it spins. If it is okay, test the new motor. If these check out okay functionally. Your troubleshooting will take you onto testing the other components.

Keep us updated.
 
Thanks for the responses!

I tested the old motor, and it did spin but sounded tired.

I will test the new motor once this snow passes by, hopefully tomorrow.

When the issue first started, the solenoid did click, but now there is no clicking. I need to check to see if power is getting into the solenoid.

As to the shock I received, it was more of a getting sucked into something similar to hot skin.

There were a bunch of things going on when I got shocked:

The wind suddenly blew hard.

A tree landed on a power line about 300 yards down the line killing the shore power.

My home generator (40 feet from me) started up, restoring shore power.

I was plugged into shore power with the cord laying on the ground.

I was laying on my back on wet ground with a socket wrench in my hand.

As far as I can remember, I was still getting shocked even when the wrench was not touching the motor terminals.

Anyway, after the snow passes, I will get back at it.

Rick
 

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