2002 Southwind with Power Gear jack system - need operating/troubleshooting help

[mikaho]

My wife and I are brand new RVers and just bought a preowned 2002 Southwind 37U. it had two previous owners and the manuals did not survive the previous owners. Reading through the forums has already confirmed the difficulty of finding detailed manuals for all the installed equipment in one place. I am pretty good at finding specific information via google as long as I can get to some basic identifying information for the equipment. For example: I know the jack system is Power Gear. but how do I find specific model/year info? I found a manual online but it is for a system with at least some differences. I know because the control panel in the manual and the steps to trouble shoot etc refer to indicator lights that are not present on my control panel. Mine has only two lights: panel on and jacks down. So I am trying to determine if there is a problem with the panel or if I am simply missing a step to get it to power on.

 

This is the first use for us, but when we were evaluating it, the previous owner operated pretty much every system for us so we knew they were operational. That was 2 days ago. now the panel won't come on.

 

What would be helpful would be a step by step walk through of what to do before you push the panel "on" button. then, what to check first for trouble shooting.

 

Thanks!

 

Michael

[Kirk W]

Welcome to the Escapee forums. We are happy you joined us and we will do all we are able to assist you.

 

I did some Google searching and found several different manuals from Power Gear and but since you didn't mention what version you have, I'll just post a link to the search results. If you have a multi-meter, check to see if there is power to the control panel.

[mikaho]

Thanks, Kirk. i am not sure how to tell what version I have. The only identifying info I see is the name Power Gear on the panel itself. Is there a place where model number or some such might be found? That said, I found a manual that shows a control panel that looks like mine with just the on light and jacks down light. That Manual gives these preconditions for turning on the control panel: engine running, gear shift in park, emergency brake set. I did all of those to no avail. I saw several references to needing to have 120v power. So I'll try that tomorrow. Also, I saw a reference to making sure batteries were online. I do have a multimeter so I'll break that out and see if there is power at the control panel.

[Kirk W]

I have only once ever worked on a Power Gear leveling system so am kind of groping in the dark here, hoping that someone who owns a system or who has experience with them will join the conversation. My trouble shooting experience has taught me a few things but I'm sure that there must be someone here who knows more about these than I.

 

My best guess is that the manual which shows a control panel that looks like yours would be very close, if not the same. I'd go by it if it were me, at least until I found something that was different from what the manual describes. If you let me know which manual you are using, I'll pull up a copy to see if I can offer any suggestions. Are yours the motor driven ones, and not hydraulic? It might be helpful in identifying what you have if you could post a picture of the control panel.

[jblscooper]

My wife and I are brand new RVers and just bought a preowned 2002 Southwind 37U. it had two previous owners and the manuals did not survive the previous owners. Reading through the forums has already confirmed the difficulty of finding detailed manuals for all the installed equipment in one place. I am pretty good at finding specific information via google as long as I can get to some basic identifying information for the equipment. For example: I know the jack system is Power Gear. but how do I find specific model/year info? I found a manual online but it is for a system with at least some differences. I know because the control panel in the manual and the steps to trouble shoot etc refer to indicator lights that are not present on my control panel. Mine has only two lights: panel on and jacks down. So I am trying to determine if there is a problem with the panel or if I am simply missing a step to get it to power on.

 

This is the first use for us, but when we were evaluating it, the previous owner operated pretty much every system for us so we knew they were operational. That was 2 days ago. now the panel won't come on.

 

What would be helpful would be a step by step walk through of what to do before you push the panel "on" button. then, what to check first for trouble shooting.

 

Thanks!

 

Michael

Also, most RV's have a sheet of installed equipment located (maybe) inside the door of one of your cabinets. This usually includes part number, serial number, who made it etc.

 

Jim

[mikaho]

I was having some difficulty connecting to this forum for a few days, so apologies on not updating earlier.

 

Jim, thanks for the list tip. I'll look through the cabinets for that.

 

Regarding the leveling, we got it going after a text from the previous owner. He noted that he had found that the ebrake had to be a bit short of the full pedal travel and that you had to activate the control panel within a short time period of starting the ignition. Did those and the panel started right up! So there are a couple of tricks to add to the trouble shooting process!

 

Thanks for the help!

 

Michael

[coachmac9]

I would strongly encourage you to find an owners group for the Southwind. We have a Discovery and there is a very large owners group/web page and tons of technical information can be found there. I don't know if they use the same type of leveling system (I would guess they do) but I have seen several topics on this and lots of great advice from folks that have had the same problem as you.