Hydraulic line disconnected from Ram

[DaveNY]

Hi everyone, My name is Dave and i am a new Hi-Lo owner. I found a 86' down in the florida keys and fell in love! I could feel comfortable sleeping while my fiance' was towing it with our crossover. Well, i got it back up to Upstate NY, spent a couple weeks updating things, and last night, me & 2 of my friends were scheduled to head out to Long Island NY to begin a 2 month long job, and when i went to lower it, nothing.
To shorten this a bit, after troubleshooting many things, i crawled underneath it in 24 degree weather and found all the hydrualic fluid on the ground. Looked up, and saw a line was disconnected. Followed the line directly back to the pump, and i see where the nut on the ram is missing its hose...
I need to get this fixed yesterday, and I can probably handle it myself, so, could any of you 'experts' lend me any advice you may have in storage? remember, its in the up position now.

 

[JIM L-HILO]

Hi Dave
You need to give us more info. On my HiLo the hydr is metal and the vent line back to the pump is clear plastic. The pressure (metal) line shuld have a flared end with the nut at the Hyd cylinder. Did the line break at the nut or just come unscrewed. When you get this part fixed put only aprox 1" of ATF fluid in the reservoir. You deed to fix the broken line first, add the fluid and raise the top off of the safety bar to lower it. Do not try to release the safety bar by force before fixing the line and getting pressure back in the system or the top will drop. The line should not be hard to fix. It would be much eaiser to help you with this problem on the phone. I will send you a personnel message with my ph#. Call me anytime today.

 

[DaveNY]

Hey Jim, sorry I took so long getting back to you, and thank you so much for your help, offer, and kindness. Well, I was fortunate in that the line just seemed to have slipped out of the compression fitting...so I simply removed the fitting nut, found the ring inside it, put it back on the line and re-attached it to the ram. I made sure i tightened well. So now i have a a dilemma, the top is in the raised position, the saftety bar is stuck due to the top resting on it, and the entire hydraulic system has nothing in it but air.... I am thinking I will need to manually lower the top to compress the ram , to be able to fill the system with ATF again. I seen and read how to lower it manually a couple different ways ( the lever & unscrewing the resivor cap) but I'm very nervous how the top will react when the ram, only filled with air, takes the weight ....

 

[RichR]

As grampaw used to say, "hold the phone" on trying to lower the top..... I never had any issues with cables or hydraulics on our HiLo but trust you will wait until you get a couple of experienced forum member's comments before trying.... Am thinking you will need to add enough fluid (plus some extra?) in order to get the ram to lift the top off the safety device..... (should give your fitting repair a test too). I hope that's good advice.... You may have an oily mess if it's overfilled but possibly not nearly as bad or dangerous as other ways.... Best of luck to ya!

I have learned patience the hard way far too often.... Did someone important say that? Bob

Call J & R Repair, I they can't help you nobody can: Home - JR REPAIR

 

[garyk52]

DaveNY

crack loose the nut you just tightened and put some fluid in the reservoir and push the up switch until fluid runs out the nut that you loosened. tighten the nut and give it a go.

 

[DaveNY]

Well, today is the day it gets fixed, one way or another. I was considering getting 4 farm jacks and 4 2x6s and using those to raise-lower the top...... once its lowered, I could add the correct amount of fluid, and work out any air in the lines. But heres a question,.....If i put too much ATF in, would it harm the system somehow? Or is there an overflow valve that would safely spill fluid all over the driveway??( which is fine, thats better than doing damage)

 

[DaveNY]

DaveNY

crack loose the nut you just tightened and put some fluid in the reservoir and push the up switch until fluid runs out the nut that you loosened. tighten the nut and give it a go.

Also, the nut is about half way up the side of the ram, which means the ram is about 50% full too.

 

[garyk52]

Wonder if the cylinder has a bleeder valve on it. Since it is a 1 way cylinder I would think it must have a bleeder valve on it near one of the ends. Let us know what you find out and how you fixed it.

 

[DaveNY]

Wonder if the cylinder has a bleeder valve on it. Since it is a 1 way cylinder I would think it must have a bleeder valve on it near one of the ends. Let us know what you find out and how you fixed it.

Thanks, I'll take a look, been pre-occupied all day, just getting to it now. I'll let ya know.