Top Raises and Lowers Unevenly

[Bozone]

Hello, all. I’m renovating a 1971 10-foot CO. Tore out almost everything in March and built back out. From the start of this project, the top half of the camper pumps up and descends unevenly. The back end rises first. The front end drops first. The difference is enough to pop the slides out of the guides unless I control the front end with a separate jack.

There are no leaks, and the pump shoves up the back end very well. I am totally new to hydraulics, even simple systems like this seems to be. I am considering installing flow control valves at each ram and wonder if that’s a good idea. Seems like I could use them to restrict flow to the rear rams during pump up, and restrict flow from the front rams during descent. Does that sound like a reasonable solution to you more experienced Alaskan owners?

 

[PackRat]

My 8' CO suffered this uneven issue.

I found that the rear would bind even when I "assisted" it.
So, after insuring I had a full reservoir with the camper in the DOWN position.
(if your reservoir is nearly empty, you need to fill it and bleed each piston)
I discovered that in looking at the rear door, it appeared to be closing at an angle and the door lock was barely catching. This can be traced to several problems including using eye bolts on the rear corners and putting too much tension on the over time. What happens is the bottom half begins to WIDEN at the top and you can see that by looking at the door and door trim not aligning at the bottom like the top of the lower half. You can also check under the door....there is a section of angle iron that forms the rear lower of the frame where the floor and the rear panels are joined. Many owners have found the stress cracks in that location which indicate the bottom half is probably also splayed at the top.

I used long shims at the rear under the angle iron driven in from the sides by first jacking up the camper enough to give me a little room to slide one in from each corner. After lowering the camper into the bed of the truck I rechecked the door alignment to the rear panel frame to see if I was reducing the splay and having to jack it up a couple times more to get that door alignment better, not only did my door latch actually catch better, but I was ready to the Big Test.

Now, with the splay reduced/removed from the rear panel, the slides/guides were in a better alignment which allowed the top have of the camper and its slide/guide component a more nearly vertically aligned course and I found that the raising/lowering of the camper top was greatly improved.

You should clean the slides/guides front and rear a lubricate them for easier action. Then call Bryan t Alaskan and ask the shop guys what they recommend to lubricate the.

Remember; you REALLY need to be on FLAT ground to raise/lower the Alaskan top section!

 

[Bozone]

Thank you for your generous reply, PackRat. The camper definitely has the splay characteristic you describe. I'll try the shims and see what happens with the lifting and lowering issue.

 

[Bozone]

Well, I now have a nicely squared-up door frame. Thanks for the shims idea on that, PackRat. However, the uneven problem persisted so I contacted The Sensei...Bryan at the Alaskan factory, who offered the following to those of us who own very old COs.

The original hydraulic system had a funky, finicky mechanism for evening out the raising and lowering of the upper shell. It never worked all that well. So he recommends installing Parker 400 metered flow control valves at the base of each ram. Here's where I ordered mine...

https://www.shopcross.com/parker-f400s-flow-control-valve-14-nptf-female-standard-needle-steel


Each valve has an arrow indicating the direction of flow that you can control with a small knob. In my case, Bryan says, the arrows should point toward the rear rams and away from the front rams. In this way, I can restrict the flow TO the rear as I pump up the roof and restrict the flow FROM the front as I lower it. The flow is not metered in the opposite direction. I plan to install mine, along with a new set of O-rings next week. Fingers crossed...

 

[Bozone]

Well gents, the control valves work very, very well. Problem solved with very little leaking of hydraulic fluid and no bleeding of the system. The hand pump raises the roof in about 25 strokes with the front and back ends in near perfect alignment. A turn of the needle valve at the pump then lowers both ends in near perfect unison. Dialing in the restricted flow takes a little shuttling back and forth between the knobs, but the whole job was well worth the effort.

 

[JTFlag]

Bozone,
I have the same problem with my 8' CO, though I can usually push and pull on the ends to raise and lower it. I did check the splayed door problem (great point!), but that wasn't making a difference. Did you cut the hydraulic lines to insert the valves, or were you able to move them sufficiently at the bases to just insert the small F400S valves at the screw junctions? Photos would be awesome.

My reservoir is full on my 1972 CO, I really do not look forward to refilling the tank. What hydraulic fluid did you use? I've looked at a sample of the fluid, and it seems more viscous than a regular jack fluid.

Thanks for any info. If your are not able to provide much info, that is okay, my situation is not bad, just annoying. I will try this AFTER my next camping weekend, next week.

 

[el_jefe]

I'm in the same boat, just bought a 8' CO and the previous owner bought the valves, but didn't install them. Time to get oily, I suppose.