Community Forums

JGaddis · 06-22-2011, 07:21 PM

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum and a new RV owner. We just purchased a new 2011 Discovery 42C. We're at the campground now and the passenger side slide will not come in on one side (rearward side)

Any ideas on what to look for? I'm hoping just a fuse or circuit breaker for the motor on that one side?

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

Jerry Gaddis

OneRVer · 06-22-2011, 10:46 PM

Do you have hydraulic or gear driven?

JGaddis · 06-23-2011, 06:54 AM

It's gear driven.

dfunde01 · 06-23-2011, 07:25 AM

Have you called Coach Net or tech support a American Coach. Either should be able to talk you through the trouble shooting and manual retraction if needed.

Dave

OneRVer · 06-23-2011, 10:42 AM

Can you hear the drive motor when you hit the switch?

JGaddis · 06-23-2011, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OneRVer

Can you hear the drive motor when you hit the switch?

I can't hear the motor running. Only the front slide motor is running, rear motor is not.

OneRVer · 06-23-2011, 11:47 PM

Are you able to check the 12 volts DC at the motor? Would it be possible you have it in a bind and the motor can't drive?

pcurt23 · 06-24-2011, 06:56 AM

My bedroom slide used to get stuck and I would have to pull on it to help get it moving. Silicon on the gaskets cured that issue. I'm sure that you have the engine running when operating the slides and levelers.

pcurt bounder 38v

wa8yxm · 06-24-2011, 10:56 AM

Gear driven.. Ok, POWER GEAR? if so then odds are you have some bolts in that drive

1/4 inch, Grade 8 Bolts. Might be roll pins but likley Grade 8 bolts, You have 3 of them. You HAD 4 when it was new but one has snapped. Now this sounds serious but in truth it's not..

First: the emergency "GET ON THE ROAD" deal.. Just get a couple of big strong guys (At 6'3" by 300+ pounds with my shoes on I do it alone) and PUSH the dang thing in, Have someone bring the other side in on power at the same time.. Yes you can do it.

if it's the end with the slide lock bar, Lock it in with the bar and worry about it later, You can have you're dealer deal with it or you can do it yourself.

If it's the end without the bar cut a length of 2x3 (Actually the size is not critical) lumber to just fit between the outer wall and the inside of the slide in the manner of the lock bar and lay it in place to hold.

Now the repair... With the slide extended, or mostly extended, Locate the 4 shear bolts (Well the 3 remaining) they will be under the slide, Position yourself between the two RACK gears (the long toothed bars) look at the assembly where thy just enter the main motor home, You should see a gear, on the "Inside" (your side) of the gear box is a square shaft which should have a bolt connecting it to the gear shaft.. Odds are one of those is missing, Follow that shaft and you will find the motor/transmission/brake assembly and another bolt.. Other side of the Motor--etal.. IS another bolt and shaft which runs out to the other end, This way you can see what it SHOULD look like.

At the bolt store (Not all hardware will have this) get a bolt that has at lest 1 1/8" of NON THREADED shaft, (I had to go to 1 3/4" to do this) grade 8, A few split lock washers, and a NYLOCK nut.

You may have to punch out the old one. (I did)

Now comes the fun part.. Adjust the slide so the sides are the same distance from the body of the coach.. fine tune to line up the holes (A phillips screwdeiver helps here) and insert the bolt, if needed put a washer under the head before inserting (it will be needed at the gear end) additional washers on the exposed theads and start the nut, Once it binds (Nylocks do that) put a 7/16" wrench on the head and use a 7/16" Deep well socket to run the nut down. Tight.

Good luck

If you have to adjust the slide a bit look for a spring pin next to that nut or bolt, on the other side of the gear assembly will be another.. You can remove the other side pin, using a hammer tap the gear shaft to push it over a bit, then turn it one or two "Teeth" or silghtly move the slide, Work the gear back into position and re-pin.

NOTE this works best if the slide is not all the way out, Perhaps 12 inches from extended.

Note 2: Buy a dozen bolts, A dozen nuts, 3 Dozen lock washers the first time. And use an empty pill bottle or spice bottle to hold the spares, You will very likely be needing them. Later you can cut down on the nuts and washers as you recover the originals.

NOTE also that the original nut is either 1/2 or 9/16 for the wrench But it is a special nut that does not need as many washers.. I've not found direct replacements.

As the bolts shear the holes in the square shaft bedome elongated.. So every once in a while you need to re-drill and cut off excess shaft (Thankfully there is quite a bit of excess) I'm not, yet, sure how many times you can do this safely.

Job 3 after arriving here last Sunday was to push (manually) the slide out far enough to get under there, remove the shafts, cut and re-drill, and replace all 4 bolts,,, Just so you know. Thankfully I'd just re-stocked (Ok, so I only really needed to do one but I decided to do 'em all and re-drill at the same time)

JGaddis · 06-24-2011, 12:17 PM

way8yxm thanks VERY much for the advice. On my way now to get another bolt.... or two.... or three

wa8yxm · 06-24-2011, 04:03 PM

The bolt needs to be long enough that the smooth part goes all the way through, Then you use enough lock washers (Standard spilt type) to build up so you can properly tighten it down.. Good luck. I'm getting rather good at it.

heavyequipt · 06-24-2011, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JGaddis

I can't hear the motor running. Only the front slide motor is running, rear motor is not.

If pin was sheared,would it not be possiable to hear the motor run when control switch is actuated.

OneRVer · 06-24-2011, 09:23 PM

When I sheared my pin I could hear the motor running while pushing on the switch. That is what I was trying to find out.

wa8yxm · 06-25-2011, 09:24 AM

As for hearing the motor run when switch is pushed, Depends on several things

1: How good is the sound insulation between the INTERIOR and EXTERIOR (Switch is inside, motor outside)

2: Ambient noise.. Sometimes I can't even hear my GENERATOR due to ambient noise and I have good hearing, which by the way is

3: How good is your hearing.

However this I do know.. The Original poster said ONE SIDE was moving,
Thus, The motor was operating.

If you know how it's built.. Well let me describe.

The motor turns a bunch of gears which ultimately turn a solid shaft. now in theory it is possible for this shaft to break but the phrase "Snowball in an operating blast furnace" comes to mind.

Now we get into motor placement.. If the motor is BETWEEN the rails (Racks) then each end of this shaft turns, via a shear pin or bolt, a square shaft, which then turns another round shaft (Again via a pin or bolt) which turns the pinion gears which engage the rack

If the motor is on one end, then only one square shaft is turned (Again via the bolt) which turns the gear shaft, which then turns the other square shaft and the other gear. Operation is the same in both cases.. Motor in middle is more common because that splits the load onto two shear bolts.

The "Weak link" is, as well it should be, the shear pin/bolt, so it's the most likely failure mode when one end moves and the other does not.

In fact it's the ONLY failure mode that is not also very noisy. (THUNK THUNK)

The Thunk Thunk mode means the sides are not properly sinked or the motor cut off did not sense high current stall and that too is an issue.. I'm considering adding a bit of resistance to the motor wires to encourage lower motor voltage and higher current,,, but till I know how much to add (Know the current draw) I'm loath to try it.