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Slide Out Not Sliding Out


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The slide out on my 2003 Salem 28FKSS has a problem.  When I hit the switch to move it out it just makes a loud clacking sound, in is a quieter clacking but neither results in any movement.  The battery is fully charged and I even put jumper cables on from my car and it made no difference.  The trailer is on a seasonal site and is not going anywhere anytime soon so mainly what I am looking for is a way to manually crank the slide out.  The system seems to consist of an electric motor attached to a drive unit with a shaft going through it.  at the outside end of this shaft there is a threaded nut and bolt.  At each end of the slide out there is a track that looks like it would be driven by a gear and in between the sets of gears is a square drive shaft.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

motor drive and shaft.jpg

gear drive.jpg

bolt end.jpg

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Is the shaft from the motor moving?  I just fixed mine, your gears look identical to mine.  Right where the shaft goes in was a shear pin (bolt).  I replaced mine and it works great now.  Actually did it this morn.  With my shear pin busted, using the crank could not move the slide as its before the shear pin.

Good luck!

 

2022 Coachman Leprechaun, traveling around to dark sky areas and chasing the stars.

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My thought is the same as Birdman. But make sure that everything is clean and lubricated as well. You should be able to see if the drive shaft is turning but not engaging the gears by having someone operate the switch while you observe the gears. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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I am definitely going to look for the shear pin bolt.  I have included what from my research seems to be the system that I have.  I was underneath the trailer looking at the motor while my wife operated the switch and didn't see any movement at all.  I put a wrench on the end of what looks lke manual crank and tried turning it.  It seemed to have some sort of spring tension to it so didn't try to force it.  Thinking now it was just torque tension.  If the shear pin bolt was broken though I think that the manual crank would have turned, not moved anything, but turned.  I only had a small crescent wrench with me and will head back there with a full set of big sockets and box end wrenches for more leverage.  The sound I was hearing reminded me of when a car battery is low and the starter clicks just louder and more massive.   From memory it was kind of like when all the way out or in and you hit the out of in button. The battery had just been charged but always possible it is weak even though only 2 years old.  Going to see if I can get it load tested plus bring another battery with me. Could you point out where this shear pin bold it on the diagrams in the attached file?   Also has anyone had to use the manual crank and how hard was it to get things moving?  Very much appreciate the sharing of time, experience and expertise.

slideout 1-merged-compressed.pdf

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If I'm home I will try to take a pic of mine tomorrow.  My slide motor is no where close to the gears on my slide-outs.  The pins (bolt/nut) is out to the side a couple inches from the slide gear where the tube goes to it.  I have a shear pin on each gear, probably 12 foot distance from each other and a long shaft connecting them, via a shear-pin.

You could have a bad battery, I just replaced one 2yrs old.  Motor could be bad.  Can you connect a gen or other power source to your camper and try?

Edited by NDBirdman

2022 Coachman Leprechaun, traveling around to dark sky areas and chasing the stars.

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Brought the battery home with me and going to have it load tested tomorrow.  When I go back to the trailer I am bringing an additional fully charged battery with me along with jump cables, steel wool to further clean the connections to the battery and dielectric grease to coat them.  Basically everything I can think of to eliminate the possibility that it is an electrical supply problem.   Still not convinced that it isn't a power issue.  Bringing some serious wrenches as well. 

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10 hours ago, Rather B Fishing said:

Still not convinced that it isn't a power issue.

I would suggest you also bring a volt/ohm meter with you as it wouldn't take a lot to see what voltage is reaching the motor if you can access the leads. With one you can also see what the voltage from the battery is and check for poor electrical connections. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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Success!!!  Brought up another fully charged battery, polished up the terminals, coated them with dielectric grease and still just lots of noise but no movement.  Went underneath with a socket wrench and put it on the manual crank at the end of the shaft and gave it a couple of turns.   It was stiff but still no movement.  Reversed the socket wrench and tried cranking the other direction, it was much easier and my wife said "Its moving out".  Hand cranked it out about 2 inches, reconnected the battery and hit the switch and it went out as smooth as could be.  Maybe when we moved pulled it in last fall it put some extra torque on the drive shaft and jammed something.  Huge relief.  Start to finish was about half an hour and that gave us lots of time to get a pile of extra work done towards being set up for the season.  Thank you to everyone who took the time to provide some advice.  It was very much appreciated.

slide out fixed.jpg

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