Slide Lock info needed

[AkTrek]

OK, how about a bit different problem? On our way out of Death Valley (Super Cool Place BTW!) to Louisiana we stopped at a small Gas Station to refuel and during our normal walk-around,we noticed something odd about our drivers side slide. HeckArama! It had slid out about three inches on the bottom!. The top was tight but the bottom was out there! Pushing the slide switch brought it in tight but it just drifted out again. Not Good! We sweated the seven mile drive down the valley into Monaco Las Vegas and implored them for advice. Andy the Shop Manager, brought out his lead Tech to check it out for us. Upon inspection the tech Darren said he suspected the 'cog lock' had vibrated to the freewheel position, normally used to bring in the slide manually in case of motor failure. After tracing down the gear shaft we discovered that the slide motor is completely enclosed with an aluminum box above the wheel well that could probably be removed in under six or seven hours if the right tools were available. #*&!@#!*%!! He instead recommended cutting a hole big enough to reach in and re-trip the lever back to the automatic position and then resealing it. No charge for the advise and wished they had more time to help us out. They said the motor sounded strong and didn't think we'd have a problem driving with it for the next few days if we braced it on the inside. The DW and I placed a 4x4 on the floor and shimmed it with some paperback books to get it tight. We've already put 500 miles on the coach this way and all seems to be doing alright. Anybody out there aware of what the heck we're talking about or has seen this lever on the slide motor? We'll be able to work on it in about four or five days and would like to be as prepared as possible.

[AKBrick]

Dang Denny... that's a bummer. I have no idea what my slide mechanism looks like, so I'll be watching this post for all your new information. Gee, ain't I a big fat help. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that the "cog" is not broken and just popped out.
BTW, CheetahGirl and I are leaving Louisiana today to meet up with some friends in east Alabama for a week before heading over to DisneyWorld in Orlando.

Good luck you two,
Tom

[Pusherpilot]

Our coach was delivered with the mtor brake lever in the freewheel position. We noticed it after we got about 20 mi down the road from the dealer. Repeated stops and using the slide switch to bring it in got us home. Over a period of 3 weeks we compiled an extensive list of squaks to be fixed and we headed back to the dealer. We were there about a week, camping in their full hookup parking lot. After days of working on the slide someone finally called Monaco and was told to check the lever on the gearbox assy, sure enough...............

[AkTrek]

Sounds like the same thing that's happening to us. Did you or one of the techs reset the lever?

[Pusherpilot]

In our case they did. Later the teeth in the drive assy for the Bed slide broke off. We had it replaced under the powergear warranty in Calif. The techs were trying to figure out why the side came out just a bit after being closed, I showed then the "lever", they were appreciative.

[AkTrek]

Thanks for the info! Confidence is gaining ground over concern.

[Jim Stewart]

If you do end up cutting a hole, do a neat job and install one of the access ports like for you have for your sewer hose. Then, you have a sealed access for any future needs!

[Rex]

Denny, the lever only has two positions, lock and unlock, assuming yours is an electric slide motor which it sounds like is the case. The locking mechanism in the motor is controlled electrically when you operated the slide switch. The lever in the LOCK position is supposed to keep the slide from moving back out when you close it. Problem is that the internal parts of the LOCK can break. That happened to mine. Monaco wanted $600 for a new motor plus installation. I removed the motor, pulled the cover off the back end where the lock lever was, and found the makers label. Called them up after doing lots of Internet searches to identify my unit. The manufacturer does not sell direct, but gave me a local dealer that I ordered from. Cost $130 delivered FEDEX to my house. Took a few minutes to remove the old lock and install the new one on my motor.

The motor is mounted to a gearbox. I removed the entire unit which is easier than pulling the motor off the gear box. I can easily access my motor/gearbox and pulling it only took about 30-minutes.

When you get to the point you can see the motor, and the lock lever, place the lever in the opposite position and close the slide. Watch the slide to see if it moves back when you release the switch. If it does reverse the position of the lock lever on the motor and again close the slide. If it still moves back, the unit is bad. If you have a Power Gear motor, it should have a label with a number. Power Gear will not tell you who made the lock part that fits on their motor, but they will sell you a new motor with lock.

If I can be of more help contact me rbdtanasi @ yahoo.com (remove the two extra spaces).

[mohotravelers]

Ditto what Rex said. Same process for me except I only took the motor out. 4 bolts and 2 wires. Monaco wanted 800 dollars to fix it and I did it for 154.00 The part that went bad is called a motor brake. Basically a big electromagnet to keep the drive motor from turning. No worries on the repair if you are handy. I would rate the difficulty of my repair a 2 on a scale of 10.

Rich

[AkTrek]

Our 1,700 mile dash from Death Valley will be over tomorrow afternoon when we set feet down at our familys place in West Monroe, Louisiana. It was a wonderful drive through some beautiful country that we MUST return to and visit at a more leisurely pace (we made notes!). We'll be able, with all our kinfolks tools and such, to tear into things and fix what needs to be fixed. Thank you all SO MUCH for your help and advice. We will post our results when we gettem. Pictures too if we have to do anything major.

[AkTrek]

Well, after cutting through the box to inspect our slide motor, we've discovered that ours is a style that has no external switch to bypass the slide lock feature! When we run our working slide in and out there is a strong 'click' when the switch is released and no click on the malfunctioning one. The owners manual doesn't address a switch either when giving directions for what to do if the motor goes out. It just says to disconnect the wires to the motor and use a 1" wrench to turn the drive shaft. Here's the odd part of the instructions.

Step 5. Once the slide room has been manually retracted, apply pressure to the wrench to firmly set the the room. This will prevent room drift.

Huh? Is there a brake somewhere we don't know about?
We stopped at a local RV repair service yesterday and they hadn't a clue what was going on. There are a couple more in the area we'll stop in at today to get their opinions and we'll let you know what we find out. The journey continues!

[AkTrek]

Well, we've tracked down the problem with our slide drift. The slide motor has a magnetic brake on it that had a worn out spindle. Keiths RV here in West Monroe, Louisiana removed the old motor and braced our slide in with 2x4's so we could move it off his lot and live in it.

Slide motor with rubber cover on


Slide motor with cover removed


Magnetic Brake removed and showing the wore out center spindle


We found a company in Eugene Oregon, Northwest RV Supply, that had two complete motors in stock for $120.00 each. Klauber Machine Part Number #K01285D300. They were shipped immediately and got here yesterday. We have an app. in the morning to replace the bad one and we're keeping the other for a spare. Just in case, if ya know what I mean!