Manually Lowering Camper?
 

I've recently had a friend of mine give me a 24FL for free. The thing is obviously going to need some electrical work done to it. My question right now is how do I lower the top manually? I cant get any power at all to anything other than the outlets. It appears to be resting on the safety right now due to it being a couple inches or so lower that it appears it should be. I've tried pumping the hydraulic pump and it pumps pretty easy only using my hand and not having a bar in it. When pumping it nothing happens. I was planning on adding some fluid to it tomorrow and trying it again. Once I get it off the safety I was planning on lowering it down so I can pull it in my garage door and then lift it back up to work on it this winter. I'm worried about it dropping really fast like a floor jack with weight on it. Will it come down slowly? I'm guessing the release is on the side of the hydraulic reservoir and is the thing I saw that is shaped like a T so one can get a grip on it. I added a picture of what I'm talking about. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you very much. I'm sure I'll have many more questions as the project rolls along.

I suspect that is it, and have a thought. It may already be OPEN, which would cause the top to settle down onto the safety bar. Try turning it, whichever way you can) to the stop and then try to raise the top manually using the pump socket that is about 2:30 in the picture from the release valve. If that valve is now closed, you should have resistance when trying to pump it up and will need to use the handle that fits into the socket. You can use anything that will fit in there if you can't find the real handle. Once you lift the top off the bar, someone will be able to pull the cable release to move the bar and then you can rotate the release valve back the other way.

The top should lower fairly gently. It should not drop with a "thud".

If the trailer does not have a charged battery installed, the hydraulic system will not activate electrically, because the pump motor needs the high amperage that only a battery can provide. Shore power won't do it. But, you COULD run heavy jumper cables from a tow vehicle battery to the battery cables in the trailer and you should get enough power that way.

The "master switch" (near the up/down switch in the trailer) needs to be in the lowering position to get electrical power to the pump motor too.

Let us know if anything's unclear or if none of this advice helps (or if it did).

- Jack

Clockwise should close it (righty tighty, lefty loosey).

Congrats and welcome to the wonderful world of Hi-Lo, and to the forum!

Thanks yall. I went out this morning fooling with it a little and actually got the pump to working. They guy that had it before I friend gave it to my apparently had some electrical issues and did some shotty work to simply make it work. I found his two toggle switches one which supplies power and the other that "reverses" the power to the other side of the solenoid. I've tried both direction and only get the motor running and no lift or lower effect. Now I'm thinking it may be low of fluid and I have to lift it slightly to disengage the safety before I can lower it. Would that be right? This is just one of many issues I'm having. But I've got to start somewhere. Its 25 degrees outside right now so I'm limited on how much I can do to it. I'm trying to get it lowered so I can pull it in my garage and then lift it back up to work on it during the cold season.

Greg, maybe it's because I'm left-handed, but I find that valves sometimes SEEM to work opposite to what I expect. Turning them clockwise generally always moves the part I'm turning IN, but on some valves (and I can't think of an example right now), it seems to open it and cause water or whatever to flow out of the valve. AND, the once in a blue moon left-hand thread always catches me by surprise. The effect of all this is that I NEVER know which way to turn a strange valve to open it or to close it. :o

I expect it all depends on the definition of "open" or "closed" and relates to bypass type valves. As a result, I always try turning the valve the "other way" if things aren't working.

But, I bet you're right!

- Jack

Jack, I know what you mean about never knowing for sure which way a valve should turn to open or close it. I was relying on my memory (usually a dangerous thing) when I said clockwise to close the hydraulic valve. One thing I've learned over the years is that once you find out which way to turn a valve you don't have to turn very often, take a Sharpie and mark it for future reference. I just went out to the trailer and was able to lift up the cover and battery door enough to check it. I had marked the valve which way to turn it to LOOSEN it (counter-clockwise) so, at least for my valve, my earlier statement was correct. Guess I still got a few good brain cells left! :)
I always had trouble remembering which way to turn those darn black knobs on the awning so I marked those as well so don't have to think about it anymore! :D

Greg, those are good ideas (marking the knobs and valves). I've found trying to think in a hurry is dangerous! :o And, though I've heard the "Lefty-Loosey/Righty-Tighty" many times, I never seem to think of it when I turn something.

- Jack