Community Forums

stormy2000 · 06-12-2016, 01:33 PM

The living room slideout makes this kinda pop sound when we extend/retract it, the sound has been there since we first looked at it at the dealership. their techs looked it over and said mechanically, nothing is wrong with it, though they got the pop sound down some.
they recorded that issue in case it got worse and we returned, but wanted to see if any other bounders have that pop sound when they extend/retract their living room slideout.

thank you.

grumpypapa · 06-12-2016, 06:08 PM

Have you watched the slide's awning when you put it out or take it in? Every once in a while our awning doesn't quite roll up correctly and pops when it straightens itself out.

olddog49 · 06-13-2016, 08:36 AM

Have had the same problem on our 35k 2014 model. When getting service done on the slide I mentioned it to the Tech. The reply was"probably needs to be lubed", nope didn't solve it. Never thought of the slide topper awning being the culprit, will need to check that next time..

Brandonrv · 06-13-2016, 09:00 AM

mine makes all kind of noises that don't sound right has since day one of brand new use though so I never thought anything of it.

My slide controller board went out ended up being an electrical issue though not a mechanical one.

They replaced it and lubed the slide up and now i think it makes MORE noises.. Maybe I should be sweating it, but the slide works fine so I haven't been.

mojoracing · 06-14-2016, 07:25 AM

As others have said, watch outside as it goes out. Watch the awning, watch underneath, wherever you can get a good view and see whats causing it. Sometimes due to the stress put on the boxes, you might get a piece of wood trim inside that flexes enough to give you some popping noise so you might want to look at that.

Car54 · 06-17-2016, 08:24 AM

My 2014 pops as well...it's almost like when the floor goes from level to elevated...or a sticky seal. I always hold my breathe when that driver's slide goes in or out. I can only imagine one day it just falls out on the the campground.

Napabeth · 06-19-2016, 09:07 AM

Oh, you guys are not going to like this. I know all about this.

We have a 2015 Southwind 34A. We bought it new in February 2015. It didn't make the "pop" noise at first. After 5 trips or so was when it started. It was just a subtle little pop, really we just heard it more then saw anything. But the pop was increasing in sound every trip we took and then the slide started to hesitate when we brought it in.

Well, in September of last year we took a trip across country (we live in California and drove to New York and back - fabulous trip by the way). Anyways the slide was functioning fine although it was now making a loud pop and starting to hang up as we brought it in. Progressively got worse. On the trip home it got bad. You would hold the button to retract the slide and could hear the motor running. Nothing would happen, nothing would happen, nothing would happen and then this huge pop and the slide would jump, scared the crap out of all of us. I think the last night or two we didn't even put the slide out, it was so scary to bring it in.

We made an appointment at the dealer as soon as we got home to have the slide looked at. Of course our appointment was two or three months out and we were not about to use the motorhome until we had this issue resolved. The dealer looked at it and said the slide tracks had to be replaced. They called Fleetwood for authorization and Fleetwood declined! We got a call directly from Fleetwood the next day saying that they would rather we take the RV to a shop where the technicians have been trained in this particular problem.

What could we do but agree? So the following week we picked up the motorhome drove it approximately 80 miles to the shop to get repaired. By now we've been without our motorhome for about four months and this was getting frustrating. Arriving at the shop the person we met said "oh another Fleetwood with the slide problem. We've done 4 of these this month. ". Interesting. Oh and they said it was always the living area slide with the problems, they had not seen any bedroom slides with problems.

In the end the shop did a fabulous job. The slide had to be completely removed from the vehicle. All slide tracks and rails were replaced. They found that the slide floor frame had cracked from the strain and had to be re-welded. Our floor tiles were replaced where the slide had actually ripped through floor tiles. We received calls from Fleetwood every two weeks or so asking if we were satisfied with the progress and the shop. Fleetwood also was calling the shop directly to check on the status. At the end, when the slide work was all complete, we received a call from the shop saying Fleetwood had requested them to do a very thorough evaluation of the entire motorhome. By the time we picked our motorhome up I think the shopping done a dozen more slides on Fleetwoods.

We have been thrilled with the RV since getting it back.m the slide works flawlessly. We were super impressed with Fleetwood and how they took care of us. Not too happy that we lost six months use out of our brand-new motor home, but I understand things happen.

So the moral of this story is if you hear a pop, or have a hesitation in operation, don't wait till the slide tears apart you rv before getting it checked out. And if you dealer tells you it just needs to be lubed, call Fleetwood direct. They are WELL AWARE of this problem and will do everything to resolve it for you.

z3406 · 06-19-2016, 06:20 PM

My 2014 Bounder also had a popping sound. I had it at the Decatur Factory Service Center and that was one of the items on my list. In my case it was the staples used to attach some of the trim around the slide out protruding thru the trim and catching on the outside coach wall.

stormy2000 · 06-23-2016, 11:31 AM

going to escapees to get weighted tomorrow and will check outside as slide goes in to see if I can isolate the popping noise again, and will check the topper. and I sure hope its not to the point where they need to remove my slideout. though the sound does seem to come from the center of the slideout. will check and see again.

Heavy-13 · 06-25-2016, 07:22 PM

Our 2015 35K Bounder's driver side slide had popping noises sitting in the dealer's lot the day we purchased it. The tech said it was normal. Drove home to MN, took it to a Fleetwood dealer for warranty work and asked them, said normal. Finally we went to Decatur, IN to the factory service center, while heading south, and they said NO, NOT NORMAL. They removed the slide, repaired gear rails, popping stopped. If you questions what a dealer tells you, call Fleetwood customer service and get "the rest of the story."

stormy2000 · 06-26-2016, 10:50 PM

will call FW as also have questions regarding vacu flush, and when our slide goes in, there is no noise on outside but where the slideout portion facing the rear of bounder, you can see in the gap a kinda big black strap where a cable is attached to it, ours is snapped in half. could be when the slideout extended or retracted. going to ask FW about that. though as slideout retracted I couldn't hear any noise, but wife said she heard the pop inside as she held button to retract slideout.

Swan-Bull · 07-25-2016, 09:43 PM

Get up on the roof and watch the corners of the slide as it goes out - specifically the side where the awning brake hits against the side of the coach. I had a "popping" noise on my bedroom slide on my 2016 33C and found that it was the awning getting stuck as it went out. The awning would actually stop spinning, and would cause the slide to jerk as it went out. The noise did not happen going in. This is what I found and how I fixed it...

There is a brake on the end of the awning that stops the awning from spinning when the slide is in. When the slide goes in, the brake pushes up against the wall of the coach and moves into place. This stops a plastic piece at the end of the awning tube/spindle from spinning when the brake is in so there is not pressure on the spring. When the slide is going out, the plastic piece pushes against the brake and extends the brake so the plastic piece does not hit against it as it is turning. What was happening for me was even though the brake was initially getting pushed out by the plastic piece, it was still hitting and getting stuck temporarily as it would go out. I would get 4 pops, and each pop was due to one revolution of the awning spindle. I just needed to adjust the brake/plastic piece and it no longer gets stuck.

You can see the brake assembly I describe in the Carefree parts list below. The brake is to the left of the #5 (the circle piece that has the screw going into it that goes up against the coach) and the plastic piece that spins is to the right of the #5 (has 2 screws going into the spindle).

I was surprised that mine needed adjustment, especially on a new coach. You would think the brake mechanism would be spring loaded. Mine was not, maybe thats why. Spring could have been missing. Although, I don't see the spring in the diagram...

http://www.e-carefree.com/documentat...over%20IPL.pdf

Heavy-13 · 07-26-2016, 09:36 AM

Swan-Bull, thanks for the research. Have similar issue, you made the diagnosis easier.

lfdeluca2 · 08-19-2016, 07:43 AM

I agree with NAOABETH, you are not going to like this but that popping sound is not something that should be ignored. We heard the same sort of thing when our unit was brand new. First indication was very minor pops. Then came the intermittent slide would not retract. Ultimately the slide would not retract at all requiring a mobile service visit to manually wrench it in followed by a visit to the factory where the box required a complete rebuild! We were there for a week and we were not alone with a slide issue. There were a complete line of Fleetwood products in for the same type and scope of repair. Fortunately the slide was under warranty at the time. The damage was significant (and not visible until the box was off of the unit). Please do get your unit checked and don't assume that the popping sound or the slow or no retraction can be fixed with lubrication.