Well it does the Hi part fine.... newbie question..
 

Hi Everyone,

New to the forum, and to HiLo campers in general. My wife found an old (1971) HiLo on Craigslist, and it is in remarkably good shape, so we bought it. It has two issues that I am not sure how to handle. First, and most importantly, the camper has been stored (outside) for the last two years in the up position, and now when we try to lower it, nadda. Hear the pump going, but nothing. Cannot get the unit to go down.

Which leads me to question two, can it be transported over the road in the up position?? The unit must be moved off the property it is on Saturday. Since it is located quite a ways from us, I can't get up to it this week to work on it or trouble shoot it. I need to get it home to start working on it, but I am a bit leery of driving it in the up position on the highway.

Suggestions?? Fixes?? HELPPPP??? :)

Thanks!
MrCoffee (Chuck)

Welcome to the Forum!! Congrats on finding the HiLo. You should never transport a HiLo in the up position, you run the risk of inflicting serious damage to the lift system and other components. If the battery is fully charged, and you can hear the pump running, that is good. To lower the top you have to do two things, release the safety catch inside next to the door, and press the down button which should be next to it. The pump does not run when lowering, but rather the switch activates a solenoid that releases the fluid back into the reservoir. If pressing the button doesn't work there is a manual valve on the pump that you can turn to release the fluid. You will need an assistant to pull the safety catch while you open the valve. You will probably have to raise the top a small amount to take the weight off the safety catch so it will release. The seller should know something about that if he used it.

Added note, you must have a good battery or jumper cables to run the hydraulic pump, it will not run from shore power. It is strictly 12 volts and the convertor will not not supply that amount of current needed.

Hi RichR,

Thanks for the reply! I thought that might be the case, not running it in the up position, but I figured I would ask. :)

The owner (current) was pretty clueless. He didn't have a lot of experience with the lift system.

We did run jumper cables to the battery, and we hear the pump running, but nothing happens, I was wondering if it is possible that either the safety catch cable was seized up, or two is there might be air stuck in the fluid somewhere. But at least now I have a place to start getting it lowered. Thank you for that! Will also trying lifting it first, to see about the safety catches, the poor thing did have snow and ice on it the last two winters. :(

Thanks!
MrC

Check out this video by sting32, it shows how to raise and lower a Hi-Lo.
5 Hi-Lo-raise & lower - YouTube

If you can't get the pump to lift the weight off the catch a bit of human power may be needed to do that. It will not go down until the catch is released.

I also recently had a similar problem with a 1971 I purchased. My problem was that the switch was bad it wasn't making a good connection when I tried to lower it. I jumped the terminals on the back of the switch and it went down fine. I replaced the switch and now it works as it should.

Leaving a HiLo raised up in the snow is a real no,no. The weight of snow can become quite excessive and cause things to break. My dealer friend had one come in that had been left in the snow. It got an all expense paid trip to J&R Repair for a major rebuild.

Also, the pump only works in the raising portion. When lowering, you will only hear the hiss of hydraulic fluid returning to the resevoir. You should raise the top till it stops to remove weight off of the safety catch, pull the safety catch cable, and lower the top. If the top still own't go down, you may need a scotche more fluid in the resevoir.