how to change tires, and how to raise

[Julie Partridge]

WE just took possession of a 96-98 towlite trailer 21 feet. It has been sitting for 12 years in a barn. We just got it home after replacing tires and wheels, Boy what a job, no room to put tire up in the hole to put on hub....any suggestions on making this job easier next time?
WE just got it plugged into 110 , would guess batteries are really dead and gone, we would like to raise it up so we can clean it out. Give me a clue where the telescoping switch is???
I tried both switches just inside the door near the floor, but nothing happened.
Julie

 

[JackandJanet]

Hi, Julie - welcome to our happy group of camping fools!

I suspect, if your battery is dead, that you will not be able to raise the top electrically until you either:

1. Get the battery charged.
2. Change the battery to a new one.
3. "Jump" the battery with battery cables from a good battery.​

The reason for this is that the lifting motor pulls a very high Amperage, much more than the onboard electrical converter that you have plugged in now is capable of producing.

You SHOULD be able to raise the top manually. Open the front of the battery/lift motor compartment and look for a "handle" that you can put into a round opening that it will obviously fit into. Then, just move the handle back and forth to raise the top. It will take a lot of strokes, but it can be done - I've done it.

Look around in this forum for an owner's manual for your trailer if you don't have one. You can probably get by with one that's just "close" to your model year if you can't find an exact match. The trailers did not change much from year to year.

Good luck!

- Jack

 

[Julie Partridge]

raising our trialer

Jack and Janet.
please tell us how to find the correct switch. We have a manual but it never tells where the switch is?? I now have it hooked up to my car battery with jumper cables but dont know where to try the switch I will try the manual crank if I cannot find the switch.
I am going to buy a new battery today also but for now I will try to get it up so I can clean it out.
Julie

 

[JackandJanet]

Your trailer is a much earlier model than mine, so I can only guess.

It SHOULD be near the floor through the open door. Mine is on the right. Look for a wire cable with a loop in the end and the switches should be near that.

One switch should be the "master" and, if it's like mine, will have three positions. In one of the "extreme" positions, full down or full up, the lift switch will be active. In mine, you press the master switch on the bottom to allow the lift motor to function. The switch will stay in that position. Then, there should be a switch beside it that is spring loaded to the center position. If you press either the top or the bottom of that switch, and release it, it returns to center. That is the lift switch. With the master switch in the proper position, you should be able to push the top or the lift switch to run the lift motor. When the top is fully raised, you should hear a clank (the safety bar sliding into position) and the sound of the lift motor will change. Release the lift switch then.

Move the master switch to the opposite position to allow power to the interior (the lights, the water pump, heater fan, etc.)

The master switch has a center position that disables EVERYTHING except the refrigerator - that is the traveling position.

My lift switch is white and the master switch is black, but that may not be true in your trailer.

To lower the top, you have to have the master switch in the "lift switch active position", and then you pull the cable lanyard to release the safety bar. You may have to lift the top off the safety bar to be able to pull the cable. Then, just push the "down" side of the lift switch to lower the top. Once the top has started down, you can let go of the cable.

Hope this helps. I'll see if I can find the owner's manual for your model year trailer.

- Jack

 

[JackandJanet]

Here's a link to the manual for the 95-96 model year: http://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f49/owners-manual-95-96-towlight-621/

Yours will probably be just like the one described in it.

And here's a video:

This is for a more recent trailer, but it covers what I tried to explain earlier, only does it better.

- Jack

 

[Julie Partridge]

raising

went to the battery compartment up front, no handle, looked for a hole all round the trailer???? Can you give me a hint. Inside or out? under the shell?
on sides or front or back, cannot find any hole. However there is ice on the frame so if it is there it may be covered. I am really stumped.
Julie

 

[JackandJanet]

Julie - my post was not very clear. Here's another video that may be more help to you:

The tube he inserted the handle into is the "hole" I talked about. You could use any suitable substitute for the real handle if yours is missing. A torque wrench handle, broom handle or something like that should work. It doesn't take a lot of force to mechanically work the pump.

- Jack

 

[Julie Partridge]

raising

Ok have the same configuration as yours, larger black switch which stays when pushed, a white one which returns to middle when let off. and a loop. This is what I pushed, will wait for the battery to charge then try this....Thanks
Julie

 

[JackandJanet]

Cool! Julie, I SHOULD have given you a link to the entire video set that Sting posted. Here it is:

While you're waiting for the battery, you can look at all these videos. They'll answer many of the questions you must have.

You MAY, of course, have some sort of electrical fault in the lift system circuit. That may take a professional to troubleshoot for you unless you are comfortable using a multimeter and know a bit about electrical circuits.

- Jack

 

[C317414]

Ok have the same configuration as yours, larger black switch which stays when pushed, a white one which returns to middle when let off. and a loop. This is what I pushed, will wait for the battery to charge then try this....Thanks
Julie

There are some Hi-Lo trailers with the three position switch (black switch) wired backwards. Once the battery is charged, if it doesn't work in the lower position try the upper position.

The manual backup on the lift pump was an option; yours may not have one.

 

[DeLana]

Years ago, the manual lift on the Towlites was sold as an option on new Hi-Lo Towlites. Anyone who bought a new Towlite back then would have been crazy not to buy that option. Also, Hi-Lo was crazy not to put it on the Towlite as a standard feature in the first place. We have used that feature at least once since buying our Hi-Lo new in November of 2009.

Dee
2509 Hi-Lo Classic

 

[C317414]

Years ago, the manual lift on the Towlites was sold as an option on new Hi-Lo Towlites. Anyone who bought a new Towlite back then would have been crazy not to buy that option. Also, Hi-Lo was crazy not to put it on the Towlite as a standard feature in the first place. We have used that feature at least once since buying our Hi-Lo new in November of 2009.

Dee
2509 Hi-Lo Classic

From a business perspective Hi-Lo was very smart in not making it standard. An ex Hi-Lo dealer told me that 90% or more were ordered with the option. This means that Hi-Lo was charging more for something that was pretty much standard. This is a common practice when selling items that are configurable with many different options.

 

[charlie b-HILO]

My 94 does not have a manual pump, and it does not have a master switch at the door. The only switch raises and lowers the top. You might have to disconnect the battery that is in it in order to get the power to the pump. When batteries get so dead sometimes they draw all the power from a jumper. Just hook the jumper to the unattached cable and the other to ground. Make sure the positive side does not contact the ground.

Charlie

 

[ezfreddy]

Changing hi lo tires

I had a 1997 22ft hi lo and seems for a few years they were low and really a pain to get the tires out of the wheel wells, Mine had torsion axels so what I did was jack the camper up in my driveway and measure and mark everything and then I dropped the two axels / I obtained two pieces of tube steel that were two by six that were five ft long, and installed that up against the frame and then reinistalled the axels up on that, kinda condenced but took welding and measured but it raised the camper 6 inches which the sewer shut off and battery box appreciated as they had been hit and damaged from being so low, I made a 6" raise in the equalizer hitch so it would ride level and last but not least had a frame shop to align everything after I installed 4 new 14 inch tires where there were 13inch with the next load range up on them, worked like a
dream, tell I traded sold it and got a 2004 28 ft that was factory raised like it should have been in the 90s.

 

[Fountain-FRF]

Julie? Julie? We're all kind of waiting with baited breath for conclusion of the story.