Leveling the upper half

I am excited to find this forum! My wife just purchased a 1996 22ft. Hi-Lo Fun Lite at a ridiculously low price, so I expected may problems but only found a few. Those few I need help to correct.

The first is how to level the upper half? When lowered it is correct, but when raising it, the front raises two inches before the rear half joins in and then it raises as a unit, but crooked. I heard I would need 4 2x4 boards cut to same length and then lower the top onto them at each corner. Once the top was level and resting on the 2x4 posts and tension on the cables removed, I could adjust the cables tension and have it back to level at all times again. Is this accurate? And once it is lowered to level, where and how does one adjust the cable tension? Since I'll be under there, I'll check the hydraulic fluid and safety bar, etc. Anything else to check and maintain?

I'll put other issues in their coorect thread section as my time allows and items arise. We are excited to be Hi-Lo owners and already toook her out on a maiden voyage for 3 enjoyable days.

MangaFazer,
I'll take a try at some of your questions.
Concerning the leveling of the top half with the bottom half. Your owner's manuel should give you how to do that. I'd start there. I did mine just like they say and it is not hard.
I have had to do mine a couple of times. Don't think you'll get it perfect and never have to do it again. Maybe you will but I didn't. What I was looking for the most was for the top half to seal when in the upper position. If you raise your Hi Lo and then from the inside look for light where the upper and lower halves meet that's what I wanted to seal. Don't want air or bugs coming in.
Look at the manual and post any additional quesitons you may have. I remember the first time I did it I read the manual and then called Hi Lo and discussed it with Tom. It was simple after that. The manual will show you where each cable goes and where to tighten them.
I'd really check the manual to see everything that needed to be done. Folks like me with good meaning could forget something. So do what the manual says. You may end up adding a couple of things but then you'd have done what Hi Lo says needs to be done.
I do lubricate the hydraulic guide rod under the trailer and the cables and pullys.
Hope this helps
Papa

The front lower than the back

I just bought a 2009 1509t and the front of the trailer you can tell the top sags about 1 1/2". How do I lift the top Up onto the 2x4s?

If I can do that I can take up the slack in the front cables. Maybe I wont have all that cold air coming in the front of the trailer?

KF6GZH

I've not done this myself so I'm hoping that one of the more experienced members will jump in with some advise.

What I do have to share with you is that we have two documents in our library that I think will help you a lot.

The first one is the Hi-Lo owners manual, Library link. Look on page 25 of the manual (page 27 of the document), it describes the process.

There is also an excellent document written by a member that covers cable replacement and adjustment, it has lots of good pictures too. You can find it in out library at, Library link

Adjusting the cables on my Hi-Lo is on my short list of things I need to do too, the front of mine is about a half inch low. I'm actually looking forward to it

Let us know how it goes for you and remeber to always work safe!

Neal

Neal and Bev said:

KF6GZH

I've not done this myself so I'm hoping that one of the more experienced members will jump in with some advise.

What I do have to share with you is that we have two documents in our library that I think will help you a lot.

The first one is the Hi-Lo owners manual, Library link. Look on page 25 of the manual (page 27 of the document), it describes the process.

There is also an excellent document written by a member that covers cable replacement and adjustment, it has lots of good pictures too. You can find it in out library at, Library link

Adjusting the cables on my Hi-Lo is on my short list of things I need to do too, the front of mine is about a half inch low. I'm actually looking forward to it

Let us know how it goes for you and remeber to always work safe!

Neal

Click to expand...

I recently adjusted mine by the instructions in the manual. I used 4 4x4 cut to level the top and lowered it onto them (set on fram rails front and rear). Then I adjusted the cables. Where before the front was higher by some 2.5", it is now only higher by 1/4 to 1/2" at most. I was NOT daring enough to lower the top to 2" above the bottom rails and carefully drive around, as someone mentioned would help even it out even more.

MagnaFazer said:

I recently adjusted mine by the instructions in the manual. I used 4 4x4 cut to level the top and lowered it onto them (set on fram rails front and rear). Then I adjusted the cables. Where before the front was higher by some 2.5", it is now only higher by 1/4 to 1/2" at most. I was NOT daring enough to lower the top to 2" above the bottom rails and carefully drive around, as someone mentioned would help even it out even more.

Click to expand...

Awesome! I really need to do mine too.

Neal

I got it Level!

Well I got it level. It was not too hard. I lowered it onto some short 2x4s to get slack in the cables. It is pretty level now but I still get a lot of daylight coming in the front, so I know there is still not a good seal. That was what I was after to seal up the front. Back to the drawing board.

Can you see seal material on both the top and bottom halves, or is there some of it missing? If you have it it adjusted that well those seals should be pretty well together.

I can see both halves of the "gaskets" they line up but the gap is too big, I tried to post a picture of the daylight but it did not work. Maybe this will work here is a picture of the daylight -

Photoshop.com - aknotts eagles HI LO 105.jpg

The 2x4s I cut to about 8" per HI-LO's instructions I got over the phone.

leveling

The picture you posted, showes the roof is ajusted to high. You need to lower the roof to where the soft gasket seales to the hard molding on the lower section. If you still get light between the gasket and molding then the gasket should be replaced. There is a step by step instructions posted on this forum.
Sam

How is the gap between upper and lower the rest of the way around the trailer? Is it even width? There shouldn't be any more than about a half inch anywhere or less than about a quarter of an inch, in my guestimation.

2x4 length

Are the 2x4s cut to 8in? Need help thanks bob.

need help

cut to 8in of what? Help

KF6GZH said:

I can see both halves of the "gaskets" they line up but the gap is too big,

Click to expand...

I realize this is kinda late for the question... but just in case others are looking, here's a pic from the manual showing what the gap should be and how far up or down the top should be:

Fishermark,

Thanks for inserting that proper seal fit illustration. We just did the leveling procedure on our 2704T... only to find that the top half is about 1/2 inch longer than it should be! With the top level and the side gaskets engaged as in the illustration, our trailer still has a 1/4" gap in both the front and back. The seal gasket is still round, spongy and in good shape even though it is 8 years old.

Oh well... my redneck quick-fix was to go to big orange and get two 8 foot lengths of very flexible 5/8"D braided rope, which I push into the gap (from the inside) in the front and back, when the trailer is up. Most of the time a little 1/4" gap and air leakage just doesn't matter in our country, but I'm thinking of the night-time skeeter and no-see-em factor when we travel east into bug country. Gotta keep those critters out.

Jim

Jim, the error in the length of your top half is kinda on a par with the error in positioning my axle. I wonder if the QC at HiLo was going down the drain long before they closed?

Don't get me wrong, I still like the thing. But, errors like this DO make me wonder.

- Jack

Jack,

Have to admit that I've had the same thoughts after reading some of the issues expressed in this Forum, including your own (which I found appalling).

I can state, without reservation, that our 1969 Bon Voyage is MUCH, MUCH better made than our 2704T. Parking them side-by-side, the difference in craftsmanship is clearly obvious. Regarding construction materials, well as I've stated elsewhere in the HTF, even keeping it in the high/dry desert of southern Idaho, our 2704T won't last even close to the 42 years (and still ticking) of our 1969... and our 1969 spent years in humid Michigan, Florida and rainy western Oregon! I've already drilled/repaired stress cracks on the four corners of both of our 2704T end caps.

In all fairness to Hi-Lo, what I don't know is if the drop in quality is/was industry-wide. Could be that Hi-lo put out a very good product relative to the competition.

Even with the flaws, as you conclude, I still like the thing!

Quality of older HiLo

This is not meant to cause a major ruckus. We just love our 90 classic HiLo..The interior has the "wow" factor" and it is built like a tank. It should last for many more years. No matter what goes wrong It can be fixed/rebuilt. I don,t see the quality in the newer HiLos yet they were charging top dollar for inferior parts. Something to be said for tried and true. If HiLo would listen to the feedback from their customers maybe they wouldn,t have gone out of business. I heard from owners that there was engineering problems with the 31 and 33 ft models. sam

Sam,
We have a 2004 31ft Classic Hi-Lo and have not had one ounce of trouble with it. We also have a 1996 26ft and not had any problems with it either. The 1996 is as you said built like a tank.... The 2004 is also built very well. We noticed the quality slipping quite alot starting with the 2006 models.