Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 

Go Back   Keystone RV Forums > Keystone Tech Forums > General RV Issues
Click Here to Login

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 01-15-2022, 05:01 PM   #1
TimC
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
Location: Sun Prairie, WI
Posts: 118
Auto level/tongue jack help

Hi all,

I’ve been reading through auto level issues on here. I haven’t found any information quite like my issue, so hoping someone might have an idea for me.

Got the new cougar out for the first time ever, got unhooked, hit auto level and after the front jacks came down I got a “left rear jack fault.”

I have found the information regarding extending all jacks 6” and auto retracting to rehome. I tried to do that but the left rear jack will not extend at all.

I had the great idea to cut all power to see if I could get everything to reset. I cut power by disconnecting the batteries for a few minutes. Then reconnected, and same error. Decided to not worry about it and just level front to back with the tongue jack, and all of the sudden that isn’t working. Even though the tongue jack isn’t working I still seem to be able to extend 3 out of the 4 leveling jacks. But, I have them all up right now for fear that I won’t be able to get them back up if I put them down.

Anyone have any ideas what would cause one jack not to move at all, and then what would cause the tongue jack not to work all of the sudden?
TimC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2022, 05:25 PM   #2
JDDilly
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: Roseville
Posts: 292
Are you connected to shore power or just running off your batteries? Lack of correct power is an issue with the auto level systems. I had a lot of issues the first couple times, so now this is my procedure. I always connect shore power first thing and then unhook from TV. When we leave, I get all hooked up and remove shore power last. After doing this, I have never had an issue. Just something to try.
__________________

Jim and Carole
Roseville, MN
2018 RAM 3500 DRW, Diesel, Long Box, Air Lift Bags - 2023 Fuzion 421
JDDilly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2022, 06:11 PM   #3
TimC
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
Location: Sun Prairie, WI
Posts: 118
My initial attempt was just batteries. I was reading some of the old threads here regarding that. Seems there’s some conflicting information because some say you should not plug in shore power. But, might be worth a shot to do it in that order. Seems I have to get the system working again first though.

I messed with it a bit more. Put the front jacks down and all of the sudden the tongue jack is working again. Not really sure what that is all about. But right now I guess I’m down to one issue. That is the right rear jack will not budge whether through auto level or just trying to bring each one down individually via the control panel (I said left rear before, but the system reminded me it’s actually the right).

I’m wondering if I manually crank down the right rear and then do the auto retract if that would help. I might give that a shot when I get a chance.
TimC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-15-2022, 06:14 PM   #4
chuckster57
Site Team
 
chuckster57's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Modesto
Posts: 20,237
You can extend the jack by hand, use a drill and a 5/16” socket. Make sure your either using a corded drill or the battery is FULL as the jack moves very slow.

There are 2 separate wire harness’ for each jack. 1 is power and the other is the “Hall effect”. Make sure they are both plugged in all the way. You can test for voltage with a multi meter and someone pressing the button on the panel.
__________________

2012 Copper Canyon 273FWRET being towed by a 1994 Ford F350 CC,LB,Dually diesel.
Airlift 5000 bags, Prodigy brake control, 5 gauges on the pillar.Used to tow a '97 Jayco 323RKS.

Now an RVIA registered tech. Retired from Law enforcement in 2008 after 25+ yrs.
chuckster57 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-16-2022, 05:20 AM   #5
TimC
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
Location: Sun Prairie, WI
Posts: 118
Quote:
Originally Posted by chuckster57 View Post
You can extend the jack by hand, use a drill and a 5/16” socket. Make sure your either using a corded drill or the battery is FULL as the jack moves very slow.

There are 2 separate wire harness’ for each jack. 1 is power and the other is the “Hall effect”. Make sure they are both plugged in all the way. You can test for voltage with a multi meter and someone pressing the button on the panel.
Thanks Chuckster. I did check the plugs. One had a bit of water in there, but still didn’t work after blowing that out. Perhaps the water caused a short and fried it?

I’ll get out and test for power as soon as this dang winter storm goes away.
TimC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-16-2022, 05:35 AM   #6
jasin1
Senior Member
 
jasin1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Upper Chesapeake Bay
Posts: 4,804
I’d look around for any ground connections close to the jack…maybe compare it to the other jacks to see if a ground is missing.
I guess the jack itself could be grounded when it’s bolted to the frame…if so I’d check the mounting bolts to make sure they are secure and tight.

Just a thought
__________________
2020 Cougar 315 RLS
2020 Ram 3500 6.7HO 4.10 Dually Aisin
jasin1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-16-2022, 05:45 AM   #7
TimC
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
Location: Sun Prairie, WI
Posts: 118
Quote:
Originally Posted by jasin1 View Post
I’d look around for any ground connections close to the jack…maybe compare it to the other jacks to see if a ground is missing.
I guess the jack itself could be grounded when it’s bolted to the frame…if so I’d check the mounting bolts to make sure they are secure and tight.

Just a thought
Good thought, I’ll check that out. I took a close look at the ground connection for the control module. But, I’ll see if there’s any other ground connections at the jack.

Thanks for all the tips everyone!
TimC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-16-2022, 07:17 AM   #8
chuckster57
Site Team
 
chuckster57's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Modesto
Posts: 20,237
There isn’t any visible ground connections at the jack. It bolts to the bracket/frame and that’s the ground.
__________________

2012 Copper Canyon 273FWRET being towed by a 1994 Ford F350 CC,LB,Dually diesel.
Airlift 5000 bags, Prodigy brake control, 5 gauges on the pillar.Used to tow a '97 Jayco 323RKS.

Now an RVIA registered tech. Retired from Law enforcement in 2008 after 25+ yrs.
chuckster57 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2022, 01:50 PM   #9
TimC
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
Location: Sun Prairie, WI
Posts: 118
I think I got it figured out (or really my wife did through many Google searches while I was driving). She stumbled across a video of a guy talking about a similar problem. For him it was a loose wire in one of the connectors that plugs into control board. After inspecting our plug for the right rear we found we had the same problem.

It seems the pin the ground wire is crimped into is supposed to clip into the plug, but it is not clipping in. I can easily pull the whole ground wire out of the plug, but not the power wire. So something is definitely not right and I can’t seem to get the ground to seat in it properly. This is allowing the ground to disconnect even though the plug itself is fully clipped into the controller. I was able to fix the issue (at least temporarily) by giving the ground wire a good push into the plug. I believe this pushed the ground pin on enough to get connection. After that the right rear jack worked again and I was able to auto level. Now the only problem is I get a left front out of stroke error even though the jack is only actually coming down a few inches. But, it threw the error after getting the rig level so I’m not going to mess with it anymore for now.

Below is the plug I’m talking about. You can see that the negative wire is pushing out of the connector a bit. This is after I gave it a good shove back in.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	964DA782-F64D-466A-97A4-FEE37BA9F6E7.jpg
Views:	74
Size:	189.0 KB
ID:	37910  
TimC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2022, 02:34 PM   #10
jasin1
Senior Member
 
jasin1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Upper Chesapeake Bay
Posts: 4,804
Good job on figuring it out! Wife deserves a nice dinner out somewhere for solving the puzzle
__________________
2020 Cougar 315 RLS
2020 Ram 3500 6.7HO 4.10 Dually Aisin
jasin1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2022, 02:54 PM   #11
TimC
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
Location: Sun Prairie, WI
Posts: 118
Quote:
Originally Posted by jasin1 View Post
Good job on figuring it out! Wife deserves a nice dinner out somewhere for solving the puzzle
That dinner will be Stingrays in Tybee Island, GA.
TimC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2022, 04:02 PM   #12
flybouy
Site Team
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Joppa, MD
Posts: 11,714
You need to take the connector off of the board then push the wire in and reconnect to the board. Those type connectors have a little tap that once pushed in will " click" in and secure the wire end. Just pushing it in as you described will not engage it and it will vibrate loose again.
__________________
Marshall
2012 Laredo 303 TG
2010 F250 LT Super Cab, long bed, 4X4, 6.4 Turbo Diesel
flybouy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2022, 05:06 AM   #13
TimC
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
Location: Sun Prairie, WI
Posts: 118
Quote:
Originally Posted by flybouy View Post
You need to take the connector off of the board then push the wire in and reconnect to the board. Those type connectors have a little tap that once pushed in will " click" in and secure the wire end. Just pushing it in as you described will not engage it and it will vibrate loose again.
I did that, but it doesn’t want to click in. I suspect something is broke in the connector preventing it from clicking in place. I’ll probably take a few more looks at it throughout our trip because like you said it will probably vibrate loose again, but I think I’ll end up having to replace the whole connector. Or, maybe I just wasn’t pushing hard enough. Maybe I’ll try using my tiny screw driver to really jam it in there.

Also, I forgot to mention that I figured out what was going on with the tongue jack. The whole system was shutting down after a while of complaining about the error. So, I simply needed to go turn the system back on at the control panel and the jack worked again. When I thought somehow moving the front jacks made the tongue jack work again, it was really because I had to turn on the system to make the front jacks work which also made the tongue jack work. Who woulda thought that? System needs to be on for the jacks to work?? Not sure why that didn’t cross my mine earlier lol
TimC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2022, 05:11 AM   #14
TimC
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
Location: Sun Prairie, WI
Posts: 118
Quote:
Originally Posted by chuckster57 View Post
You can extend the jack by hand, use a drill and a 5/16” socket. Make sure your either using a corded drill or the battery is FULL as the jack moves very slow.

There are 2 separate wire harness’ for each jack. 1 is power and the other is the “Hall effect”. Make sure they are both plugged in all the way. You can test for voltage with a multi meter and someone pressing the button on the panel.
Before we figured out the wiring issue I did manually extend the jack. I see what you mean about it being slow. That took quite a while to get the jack down. Hopefully I don’t ever have to do that on all of them, it’d take hours to get fully set up.

Thanks again for the help.
TimC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2022, 05:39 AM   #15
chuckster57
Site Team
 
chuckster57's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Modesto
Posts: 20,237
Good deal! I would caution against using a screwdriver to push that pin in. I disconnect the whole plug and then if I have to, use small needle nosed pliers on the wire and push.
__________________

2012 Copper Canyon 273FWRET being towed by a 1994 Ford F350 CC,LB,Dually diesel.
Airlift 5000 bags, Prodigy brake control, 5 gauges on the pillar.Used to tow a '97 Jayco 323RKS.

Now an RVIA registered tech. Retired from Law enforcement in 2008 after 25+ yrs.
chuckster57 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2022, 05:53 AM   #16
TimC
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
Location: Sun Prairie, WI
Posts: 118
Quote:
Originally Posted by chuckster57 View Post
Good deal! I would caution against using a screwdriver to push that pin in. I disconnect the whole plug and then if I have to, use small needle nosed pliers on the wire and push.
I’ll try that method instead.
TimC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2022, 05:56 AM   #17
flybouy
Site Team
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Joppa, MD
Posts: 11,714
Looks like a typical Molex connector, they are used on a lot of things including connectors inside of computers. You can get new connectors to replace the end on the wire. I suspect you need to apply a little more force. If you use a small screwdriver make sure you only push on the metal connector inside and not the wire. I've done it successfully using both methods.
__________________
Marshall
2012 Laredo 303 TG
2010 F250 LT Super Cab, long bed, 4X4, 6.4 Turbo Diesel
flybouy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2022, 05:59 AM   #18
TimC
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2021
Location: Sun Prairie, WI
Posts: 118
Quote:
Originally Posted by flybouy View Post
Looks like a typical Molex connector, they are used on a lot of things including connectors inside of computers. You can get new connectors to replace the end on the wire. I suspect you need to apply a little more force. If you use a small screwdriver make sure you only push on the metal connector inside and not the wire. I've done it successfully using both methods.
Good to know. Thanks!

By the way, you guys are awesome! Very very helpful!
TimC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2022, 06:11 AM   #19
JRTJH
Site Team
 
JRTJH's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Gaylord
Posts: 26,846
Most electrical pins are inserted into a plastic "plug body" and a locking tab on the pin snaps into a slot in the plastic to hold it in place.

If the pin "locking tab" is damaged, it won't lock into the plastic plug body
If the plastic plug body is damaged, the pin tab can't snap into place.

Pushing or forcing a pin into the plastic plug body can damage either the locking tab or the plastic slot that the tab snaps into...

If the pin won't stay in the plug body, it may be the pin, it may be the plug or it may be that it's just not pushed in far enough....

Most of the pins are removeable, but it takes a tool designed to unlock that tab to get the pin out of the plug. If the pin was damaged and won't lock into the plug body, it needs to be replaced. Or, if the plug body is damaged, replacing the pin won't "fix the problem"....

Here's a drawing of the pin. You can see the locking tab on the bottom of the pin.
Attached Images
 
__________________
John



2015 F250 6.7l 4x4
2014 Cougar X Lite 27RKS
JRTJH is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-18-2022, 06:14 AM   #20
jasin1
Senior Member
 
jasin1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Upper Chesapeake Bay
Posts: 4,804
If it seems a little loose at the connector you may be able to use hot glue where the wire comes into the back of the connector….remove the connector and push the wire into position….hot glue the cavity and let it dry…might help until you can get it replaced if it’s damaged …likely it would last forever this way though
__________________
2020 Cougar 315 RLS
2020 Ram 3500 6.7HO 4.10 Dually Aisin
jasin1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
tongue jack

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Keystone RV Company or any of its affiliates in any way. Keystone RV® is a registered trademark of the Keystone RV Company.


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 02:47 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.