1992 Hi Lo Raising Issue

[LaurieL]

Hi Everyone!
Brand new to Camper ownership and am looking forward to being part of this community.

I do need a bit of help though.

We purchased our camper this weekend, drove from South Carolina to Florida, picked it up, went to a RV park, everything went fine. We hooked it up this a.m. and drove 600 miles back to SC. No problems, went off without a hitch.

We get home, my husband unhooks it, tries to raise it and this is what happened. We were told by the previous owner to pull the cable located at the raise/lower switch. he pulled the cable, started to raise it and he heard a pop and then the door jumped. It did start to go up, but after hearing that pop noise and the door jumping he was a afraid to go further. At that point he lowered it back down. Then the cable felt like it was jammed. A little while later, when I came out, he tried again and it did the same thing.

To me it sounded like it was caught on something, then I heard a pop and it started to go up.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be?

The trip went smoothly as far as no incidents, but many of the roads were bumpy (I-95 in South Carolina) is a nightmare mess!

 

[JackandJanet]

Welcome to the forum, Laurie. Sorry to hear of your confusion.

The cable your Husband pulled is the one that releases the safety bar that keeps the top from falling on you when you're inside, and this cable is pulled prior to LOWERING the top, not prior to raising it. I don't know that anything has been damaged, but I don't know why the door should have "jumped" either. When raising or lowering the top, the upper door should be fully open and "latched" against the side of the trailer and the lower door should be fully open too.

With the top down, you should be able to pull the cable all the way out and it should go back in freely. If it doesn't do this, someone is going to have to crawl under the trailer and look at the safety bar while someone else pulls the cable to see what's going on. Possibly, the bar has caught on something.

There are a whole series of videos you both should watch that familiarize you with the features of your trailer. You can start them here, https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f49/hilo-video-owners-manuals-youtube-1233/ beginning in Post #3. The first video just looks like a sales pitch, but the others are packed with information.

Let us know if you get things working. Possibly, someone else has had this problem and can help.

- Jack

 

[LaurieL]

Hi Jack!
Thank you so much! I will share this info with my husband.

It sounds like he made a novice mistake, I think he misunderstood the gentleman we purchased it from and thought he was suppose to pull that cord both while raising and lowering. I hope nothing was damaged by doing that.

Fortunately, my husband is a mechanic and once I tell him what you said, he can crawl under the trailer to make sure nothing was damaged. I will also tell him about the doors. It is entirely possible that he did not have the door(s) in the proper position.

I have to say that I really like the trailer, it is in really good condition. I think we will love it once we familiar ourselves with it. We never take vacations, but that will soon change.

I appreciate your quick response and look forward to interacting a lot more in this community!

 

[JackandJanet]

You're most welcome, Laurie. If your Husband is a mechanic, he has a head start on this.

Tell him that when the top is raised, a safety bar slips into place under it and will prevent it from dropping "accidentally". I think he can work out how the bar does this once he sees it. The cable is then used to release the bar so that the top can be lowered.

Once the top starts down, the cable can be released - the bar will stay out of the way. I suppose it's possible that pulling the cable as the top was going up somehow jammed it. Having never had this problem, I can't tell him what to look for, but I would imagine it might be clear once he looks at it, especially as you pull the cable and release it. It may be bent now, but I think it can be straightened.

I would not try to raise the top though, until you get that safety bar squared away.

 

[LaurieL]

Thanks Jack!
I just shared your posts with him. He is going out there now to make sure that the safety bar is not bent (fingers crossed).

I am so happy that I found this forum. Your help is REALLY appreciated!

I will let you know how everything turns out.
Thanks again-Laurie

 

[LaurieL]

Hi Jack!
It's UP!! It went up with no further problems. Thank goodness nothing was damaged.

I am sure I will be back for a lot more info!
Thanks for your help!
-Laurie and Dan

 

[sam-HILO]

Welcome to the forum.

Glad Jack was able to help you solve your problem. He is a very valued member of our forum. We all make bloopers. I am on my second HiLo and still learning. Seems like every campsite is different. Glad your hubby is a mechanic. It sure helps in maintaining your HiLo.

 

[LaurieL]

Thank you!
I can not tell you how much we appreciate that there is a forum for Hi-Lo's. We are so excited to have found this trailer. It is so beautifully made. All of the wood is gorgeous and so much storage everywhere! I happened upon this Hi-Lo by accident, I had no idea they even existed. The minute I saw it, I knew I wanted it. Everything fell into place, so it was meant to be.

I am sure I will be back with more bloopers. I have already learned a lot just reading some of the posts.

 

[JackandJanet]

Yay!!! I'm so happy you got it up without further incident. DO look at all the videos I mentioned in the previous post. They will answer many questions you didn't know you had.

And, good on you to review other posts here. Many problems have been overcome and documented by our members.

- Jack

 

[LaurieL]

Hi Jack,
I will definitely look at the videos that you linked.

I am so appreciative of your help. It took so much stress off of us immediately.

I have a dumb question about curtains, but before I ask, I will look through some threads for the answer.

Thanks again-Laurie and Dan

 

[Lwwilltravel]

Hi Jack,
I will definitely look at the videos that you linked.

I am so appreciative of your help. It took so much stress off of us immediately.

I have a dumb question about curtains, but before I ask, I will look through some threads for the answer.

Thanks again-Laurie and Dan

make sure you check the sliders on the sides that the screws are not backed out at all. I had a 1999 that happened and it would not go up at all because it caught on the screw and broke the cables and so did a repair shop . I always go around every so often and check them screws

 

[LaurieL]

WOW! Thanks so much, I will share this with my husband.

 

[sam-HILO]

Read the back posts.

Some routine maintenance is required every year. Even though HiLo is out of business most parts are common to rvs. Our forum members have repaired everything that goes wrong.

 

[LaurieL]

Thanks! I think these forums will be a great resource for us newbies!

Everyone has been so helpful!

 

[JackandJanet]

Those "sliders" are normally called "guide blocks" in the forum. They slide up and down on the vertical tracks you see on each side of the lower half. They can also break. which will cause the top to not raise properly against the bottom.

J&R Repair in Ohio has these if you ever need them.

- Jack

 

[LaurieL]

Thanks Jack!
I will share your post with Dan. It's good to be ahead of any potential problems we might face ahead of time.

Would you happen to know where we would get the stove top bi-fold cover for our 4 burner stove? Ours is a white enamel, which I like. The ones I am finding on line seem to be much taller and are not like the original one we have. The original ones we have are pretty dinged up and are missing the hinges, etc.

 

[JackandJanet]

Laurie, I'm sorry, but I know nothing about a stove top "cover". I don't have anything like that in my trailer, so I don't really know what you are speaking of. Perhaps another member will read this and be able to help you. Is this something that covers the stove during travel, or is it something that adds "counter space" if you're not using the stove?

- Jack

 

[LaurieL]

Hi Jack,
It appears to be something that you would use to add extra counter space, while also functioning as sort of a back splash while you are cooking. It also does appear to be something that would/could also cover the stove burners while traveling.

I am not sure if I am able to share a link here or not.

If I can, please let me know and I can show what's out there now.

 

[Lwwilltravel]

ok great thanks .

 

[JackandJanet]

Yes, Laurie - it's fine to share links for information purposes. Go ahead and do it.

- Jack