Manually Retract Slide

[JasonD]

The rear slide will not retract...you push the button, the lady says her little message then nothing happens...the green light flashes on the button so there is some error going on.

Anyway, I need to manually retract the slide. The POS Newmar manual has instructions for retracting the slide. It gives 2 possible ways to retract the slide depending on what kind of slide mechanism is in the coach. We have neither...the pics in the manual do not look like our slide mechanism -- not even close.

Does anyone know how to pull this slide in manually?

[JasonD]

The rear slide will not retract...you push the button, the lady says her little message then nothing happens...the green light flashes on the button so there is some error going on.

Anyway, I need to manually retract the slide. The POS Newmar manual has instructions for retracting the slide. It gives 2 possible ways to retract the slide depending on what kind of slide mechanism is in the coach. We have neither...the pics in the manual do not look like our slide mechanism -- not even close.

Does anyone know how to pull this slide in manually?

["007"]

If you can find your control unit for the slide, a small black box 3"x 6" with two plugs on it. Remove the fuse for control units I have two slides 1- 20amp which will be on your 12v fuse block, near your load center possibly. Squeeze the tabs on each side of two plugs remove them and check to see if one of the wires fell out of connector or is loose.
When you plug back in do not bend the plug pins on ckt board push plugs straight on and make sure they are locked.
If this doesn't work than we will have to figure out what type retraction sys you have. Most just have a 12v motor with thread rod to control movement of slide.

Bedroom slide

[ronharp]

I've fought this off and on since my 4301 was new 7/1/03. I've had lots of parts replaced to no avail. The only thing that has worked is to press the control button once will the indicator light is blinking. In other words, press the button then when the slide does not come in and the light is blinking, press the button again. Even if this does not do it for you it's a pretty simple thing to try. lol
Even the factory was not able to solve the problem because, when travelling, the slide is coming in and out each day. This problem usually only shows up for me after setting for a few days.

I have a 2004 MADP 4301.

Ron

[hwbrantly]

To manually deploy or retract a slideout on my 2005 Dutch Star, my little handbook gives two choices: One for shaft end mounted motors and the second for shaft center mounted motors. I'm having a problem with my front passenger side slide. It won't deploy with the push button. I found that it has a shaft center mounted motor and I was finally able to locate a 5/8" hex head nut on the opposite side from the motor. I then used a 5/8" socket and ratchet to manually move the slide out about 6 inches. It's tough to do because I don't have a lot of room and the slide is heavy but it moves.

So I expect if you can find your slide motor and look on the opposite side you might find the 5/8" hex nut and give it a go.

I think my problem is with the power lock arm magnetic sensors. I've read on the yahoo newmar forum that since about 2004 when power lock arms became popular the magnetic sensors have been problematic.

I'm having a Newmar dealer tech give it a look this week and I'll report the findings.
Howard

[JasonD]

We finally got it in after 5 hours. I raised the jacks, hit the retract button, and had 4 adults push on the slides. The motor ran very weakly and it inched in very slowly and locked.

All wires on the control box were secure.

The pictures in the manual on how to manually retract the slide are not anything like we have in the coach.

The slide will never be moved again, probably -- we're stopping at a Foretravel dealer on the way home from Utah Friday.

[hwbrantly]

OK, so we got up at the crack of dawn, drove 40 miles and waited an hour for the tech to take a look at the problem. It took him about an hour to discover the controller board for the front passenger slideout was bad. He did this by swapping the controller boards between the rear passenger slideout and the front passenger slideout.

The part should be on order from Newmar in the next day or so and then we get to repeat the fire drill of this morning and we should be good to go.

And all this time I thought it was the lock arm proximity switches. Ah well, live and learn.

Hope this helps someone down the road.
Howard

[Ecker]

The best tool in your kit might be the PSO Lock Arm Test Tool 81944 $178.79 at Newmar store (NKK price).

You can operate the slides with this tool in case of board failure.

[JasonD]

An update that may help others...the slide failed because of a bad controller board. The part has been on order with Newmar for about 3 weeks now...still not in.

Come to find out from Newmar service that the directions and pictures in the owners manual are for the FRONT slide only. The bedroom slide uses a different mechanism. The tech told us you need a 1.5 inch wrench on a breaker bar to move the slide (I tried moving the 1.5 inch nut with some big pliers, but it didn't budge -- you must have a breaker bar, or maybe the tool ecker is referring to). Anyway, you loosen this nut, push the slide in manually a few inches, loosen the nut some more, and repeat.

Be nice if this info was in the owners manual...

[David Smith]

Will the Lock Arm Test tool override a problem with the limiting switches? Newmar told me to just whack it with a hammer, which worked, but I don't think that that's the right approach. Also, where does this tool plug in, or whatever it does?

["007"]

You all have trouble with slides retracting I haven't ever had a problem on three coachs.

My control unit looks like the black box you see, have yours changed

[Jeff Regan]

Control board failures were common. I would routinely swap boards around at shows with a large Newmar coach display. I always recommended that my customers buy a spare control board, although with the swap method you only need one working board. Actually, I think there may be two different boards, one for main slides and another for bedroom slides. I wonder which costs more, the test tool or a spare board/boards? I would think the tool would cost less, especially if two boards are needed.

The slide controller boards and the inside step
motor/mechanical assembly were the two items that seemed to fail most often.

Jeff Regan
2000 Dutch Star

["007"]

My boards are the same Jeff have you notice a difference in the type of board. All three in coachs of mine were the same.
If they have changed I'll see if new ones are compadable with wiring of old one, never had failures.

[JasonD]

No, my boards don't look like yours, 007. There are 2 separate, and identical, ones...1 for each slide. They are located in the basement, on the left -- a real bear to get to. They are smaller than the one you have pictured. I forget who makes them...no one I'd ever heard of before.