Replacement hydraulic hose
 

Hi folks. While adjusting my lift cables, I noticed my hydraulic hose has chafed on the axle causing a leak. I've reviewed my owners manual & searched this forum but have found no answer to my question: What is the hose specification?

While I'm at it, no matter how I adjust the cables, the door always catches in the up position. My only remedy has been to support the top half with 4x2s once lifted. Comments?

Thanks! :)

If you can remove the hose, any tractor supply or "hoseman" type store can splice a new piece in or replace the whole thing.

What do you mean catches, please explain better, catches on what, and where?
What model and year is your Hi-Lo?

2204T ~ When closing, the bottom corner of door catches on frame when in the up position. If I support the top with 2x4s this doesn't happen, neither does it when in lowered position. I have tried adjusting the wires to eliminate this issue without success.

Sorry, I forgot to ask, which door top one or the bottom one? If it is the top one the hinges on the door are probably bent.

With respect Rich, if you read my post it's pretty obvious that I'm referring to the top door & I'm sure that a bent hinge would be self-evident. This is all to do with wires. I repeat: the door closes without catching in the down position & up (when supported with 2x4s).

Thanks for your input.

Dave. :)

Dave, it sounds to me like the top is "wracked" (distorted) so that its footprint is not a rectangle, but is instead a parallelogram. Now, that doesn't help, but which corner is raised when you support it with 2x4s?

My guess is, you either need to shorten one wire or possibly lengthen three. Have you tried adjusting the cables when the entire weight of the top is supported on the 2x4s? If one of the cables has more slack than the others, that's the one I'd tighten.

You can possibly see which corner needs to be raised as you lower the top onto the 2x4s too. One corner should hit first and then be pushed up as the others come down and make contact.

- Jack

I agree, if the hinges are bent then it will not make a difference if it is in up or down position. in the up position does the top look like it might be uneven?, or are you parked in uneven ground?

Are the plastic glide blocks good and are they on the glide rails on that side?
If you don't have a manual for the cable adjustment, read page 10 of this PDF.
https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/atta..._1998_24td.pdf

"Wracked" is the answer, thank you Jack. I thought that I'd tightened the wires to equal torque but that doesn't seem to be the case. I have an idea after reading the excellent wire replacement pdf written by David Ward & posted by Rich. In the raised position, I'll gently jack up each corner (checking the door each time). This should tell me which wire to tighten.

Thanks for all the help & advice guys :)

Dave.

A little late but I have only noticed that the door catches if I park off of level so that one axle takes up more of the weight, or I put the stabilizer jacks down with too much force (Just touching the ground is how they are supposed to be used). Simple things and I'm sure you've thought of them but wanted to throw it out there just in case.

Thanks, it's the simple things we miss & then feel foolish about. Pleased to hear that I'm not the only one to experience this :)

I wonder if a dual axle trailer is more prone to frame torquing than a single axle one? If the "high sides" of the ground are on opposite ends of each axle, wouldn't this tend to twist the lower frame just a bit? And if it twists, the guide channels will transfer some of that to the top half.

It may need a serious height difference to do what I'm suggesting, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to level the wheels on each side relative to each other and see what happens.

- Jack

Follow-up
 

You guys must have been scratching you heads at my hydraulic hose chafing post. Silly me mistook the plastic tubing from the reservoir to the jack for the metal tubing, doh! And, upon closer inspection, it hadn't been chafing on the axle. One of our resident (bored) squirrels had clearly sat on the axle & chewed on it. See picture :mad:

I know how that works! But in our case here in parts of Tucson, it's packrats that like to climb into warm engine compartments and then they chew on wires.

- Jack