Help! Need to raise 2005 HiLo Towlite

[Dshaver]

Hello fellow HI-LO folks! I inherited my fathers 2005 Towlite after he has passed away... miss him greatly. The camper was parked at his vacation home for the last 5 years and he didn’t maintain the batteries. I plugged it in to home power and it won’t raise. Need to raise the top to replace the batteries. Will the trailer evenly charge up to raise? It just does the rapid beeping noise

 

[Bruce from Kansas]

Sounds like you need to get/borrow 4 Hi-Lift Farm Jacks & some Short 2x4's to spread the weight on the 4 Corners. Or preferably, where the cables attach at the bottom of the Top. Then just jack it high enough to get to the battery compartment. After you replace the Battery, you should be able to raise it the rest of the way with the switch.

 

[RichR]

The converter does not put out enough power to raise the top. If you can hook jumper cables onto the battery terminals that is the easiest way. Or hook the positive to the top lug on the solenoid and the negative to a bare grounding spot on the pump housing. The trailer may also have a manual pump that can raise the top. Look to see if there is a place on the front of the electric pump that has a place like on a bottle jack. There should be a slot in the front to the battery compartment to put the handle through.

 

[JIM L-HILO]

Hello fellow HI-LO folks! I inherited my fathers 2005 Towlite after he has passed away... miss him greatly. The camper was parked at his vacation home for the last 5 years and he didn’t maintain the batteries. I plugged it in to home power and it won’t raise. Need to raise the top to replace the batteries. Will the trailer evenly charge up to raise? It just does the rapid beeping noise

Hi Dshaver, welcom to the forum. If your 05 Towlite is built like my 05 Classic there is no way you can get to the battery to hook up jumper cables. Like Rich said hope it came with the manual pump. Look for that slot in the front of the battery/pump box. If its there look with a flashlight inside for the type of bottle jack pump that you can put a jack handle into, If you do not have the handle, get a piece of pipe about 15 inches that will fit into the pump. The pump operates left to right not up and down. That manual pump was optional on most HiLos. If that HiLo sat for 5 years that pump may be stuck and will need a bit of force to move, mine was. Also after setting that long the seals may have dried out and the fluid may have leaked down so no pump manual or electric will raise it until the fluid has been replaced. Like the battery you cannot get to the pump to put fluid in with the top down . If the above is the case you will need to lift the top with those 4 farm jacks or 4 to 6 of your friends with strong backs. What length HiLo do you have? That would give us an idea of how much it weighs and how men you may need to raise it. Once you do get it up and if you do need to add fluid to the pump, use Dexron 2 thru Dexron 5. Do not use Dexron 6. When the top is down there should only be about 1 inch of fluid left in the reservoir. When the top is up the fluid level should be 1 inch below the fill neck on the reservoir, but there is no way to check it when the top is down, DO NOT over fill as you will have a major mess when you lower the top. Do you have the owners manual? If you would like to talk about getting the top raised and pump going let me know here on the forum and we can exchange ph#s will help in anyway I can. I spent over 20 years in Colo Spgs, last assignment at the AF Academy and stationed 3 times at Lowery AFB in Denver.

 

[Bruce from Kansas]

As I Found with my old 1976, if raising it with 'Friends', It works better with 8 of them, 2 on each corner. Then, also have some 17" or so 2x4s to use as temporary posts where the Top rests on the Frame so they don't have to hold it too long!

 

[Dshaver]

Raising my 2005 HiLo

I thank each and every one of you for your advice and responses...such a great forum! I was able to get to the selinoid with a jumper cable and the negative grounded to the frame. I jumped it to the truck battery and boom, I was able to raise it! Bought two new batteries so I’m good to go. Thanks again to all

 

[sam-HILO]

Glad you got your problem solved.

It never hurts to have fresh fully charged battery(s). If they require water used distilled and check frequently. Happy camping adventures.