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Old 12-06-2015, 06:41 AM   #1
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Discovery FWS locking arm popped??

2013 Fleetwood Discovery 40G

When I brought in my full wall slide (FWS) on the Rv this morning, it came in nicely as usual and then the locking arms started to extend and do their thing. Normally they extend out until they hit the wall, push a little more to lock the wall in snug, and then stop.

This morning the front locking arm did that but just as it was about to finish it popped and stopped. You can see from the frame grab picture below that my finger can fit between the locking arm and the wall.

Sounded like it slipped a gear maybe.

Has this happened to other Discovery owners with the FWS locking arms like mine? What is the fix??


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Old 12-06-2015, 07:42 AM   #2
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I have the same FWS looking arms you can access them thru the hidden panel held in with 4 Phillips screws. Maybe you can see what happened once opened.
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Old 12-06-2015, 07:51 AM   #3
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Discovery FWS locking arm popped??

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tha_Rooster View Post
I have the same FWS looking arms you can access them thru the hidden panel held in with 4 Phillips screws. Maybe you can see what happened once opened.

Yup..I plan to. Just tapping the forum to see if anyone here has had the experience and if so, how they resolved it. Trying to narrow my efforts if possible...
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Old 12-06-2015, 09:20 AM   #4
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Morning,
Never in our unit, but the fix will be interesting, sounds like a gear.
Brian
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Old 12-06-2015, 10:56 AM   #5
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First thing you need to do is get access to the backside of the fingers. I found a frayed wire on the back end of my FWS.
Keep us updated
No gears. Just a jackscrew setop. Also check that the microswitch is functioning.
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Old 12-06-2015, 05:35 PM   #6
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Discovery FWS locking arm popped??

Ok folks, here's the update on my slide out locking arm. I'm sharing this for the good of the community. Hopefully this won't happen to others who have the same FWS build as I do, but if it does, maybe this will hasten your troubleshooting!

I was able to access the locking arm mechanism from inside the Rv. The front mechanism is located above my kitchen table inside the far left storage cabinet. It is simple to remove 4 screws that hold a felt-covered board or two on the back corner of that cabinet and you have direct access. I will say that it's dark and tight and not simple to work back there.


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Above is the motor and the screw drive that should NOT have been freely sitting in that cabinet, but it was. A closer look at where it used to connect revealed that the motor connects to ...wait for it ... plastic. I am shocked that they made it this way, but sure enough I found these two broken pieces:


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They are part of this harness:


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So now I need to call Fleetwood and see how they want to handle this. I've no nearby dealer who (1) will work on my Rv because I didn't buy from them, or (2) that I TRUST to do the work. I think I can do the install myself, but will likely need a little advice on how to "tune" it so that it goes in/out just the right amount.

Even though I'm well past my 1 year honeymoon period, I hope they will replace this part for free, given that it failed so soon in its life, and there's really no "user error" possible. I suppose it could have been installed wrong by FW, but that's on them.

Oh--the brand name of this component is Smith Richards. I have never heard of them before.
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Old 12-06-2015, 06:59 PM   #7
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Thanks! Have to snoop around ours and keep notes!
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Old 12-07-2015, 07:56 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Statgeek View Post
2013 Fleetwood Discovery 40G

When I brought in my full wall slide (FWS) on the Rv this morning, it came in nicely as usual and then the locking arms started to extend and do their thing. Normally they extend out until they hit the wall, push a little more to lock the wall in snug, and then stop.

This morning the front locking arm did that but just as it was about to finish it popped and stopped. You can see from the frame grab picture below that my finger can fit between the locking arm and the wall.

Sounded like it slipped a gear maybe.

Has this happened to other Discovery owners with the FWS locking arms like mine? What is the fix??


Attachment 113487
I have a 2012 Southwind with a full slide, same thing happened with me. Three years old; part cost $1010.00. Had extended warranty. Good luck.
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Old 12-07-2015, 11:37 PM   #9
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All models are different. My rear finger required just 4 screws to remove a cover but the front finger and jackscrew assembly was behind a cabinet interior side so I had to pop some nails.
Be careful with the FWS. If you don't understand the functions 100% you can do some major damage. The electric motors are high torque. Also note that the retract and extend stops are programmed into the controller. If you monkey with the stops you can go too far and end up stripping gears or shear pins IF your lucky.
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Old 12-10-2015, 11:22 AM   #10
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OK Guys... Just a quick update. I have the replacement parts on the way to me. I will update you on some details about both obtaining the parts, and eventually the repair. I'll plant a tantalizing seed for now, and let you know that Fleetwood's Customer Service and Parts Department went above and beyond for me here, as did HWH, the manufacturer of these locking arms. I'll reserve details until it's all worked out, but I'm reminded about why Fleetwood RV gets such positive reviews for customer service. :-)
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Old 12-17-2015, 08:06 AM   #11
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And the replacement...

As promised, here is my final installment on this thread.

First, I want to give props to the customer service people at Fleetwood, in particularly a kind woman named Joy. I have worked with Joy in the past to find part numbers, etc., and she's always so friendly and helpful. This time she went above and beyond. I shared the pictures of the broken part, and she was fantastic. As I said earlier, I'm past my 1 year warranty period, so Fleetwood couldn't replace this free of charge. She put me through to Sindi in parts, and Sindi was able to provide part numbers and pricing. This part is officially called a Travel Clamp, and it is made by HWH. HWH uses that motor that I posted a picture of, but they build the who clamp mechanism so it's officially an HWH product. I ordered the part on my own tab from Fleetwood and paid rush shipping to get it.

MEANWHILE.. Joy at Fleetwood didn't give up. She contacted Mitch from HWH, showed him my pictures, and Mitch was surprised and disappointed. So much so that he insisted that he send me a new part for free! So I canceled the order from Fleetwood (had to pay a small fee) and I received a new Travel Clamp part from HWH. If that is not a company that stands behind their product, then I don't know what is!

So a shout out to Joy and Sindi at Fleetwood, and Mitch from HWH. Top notch customer service!!


Now to the repair... The mosaic picture below shows the old/broken part next to the replacement one, and you can see how the motor was supposed to be attached to the bracket. In that picture you can also see that Fleetwood installed an aluminum spacer bar to position the travel clamp the correct distance from the sidewall of the full wall slide. This was just sticking to the travel clamp with a little DEP, so I could just pull off the spacer bars and relocate them to the new one. You can also make out some gray DAP around the area where the travel arm comes out. This prevents water from entering the FWS when the wall is extended, and it needs to be applied to the new one too.

The install was literally a 4-bolt install. In one of the pictures you can see the shut-off switch (lower left of the mosaic). When the arm is pulled all the way in, it touches a metal switch and shuts off the motor. When it extends out to lock the wall for travel, the motor draws more amps as the resistance increases until an internal switch shuts off the motor.

With this design, there are no adjustments to be made. That means 4-bolts out to remove the broken clamp, 4 bolts back in to replace the new one, and it's done. I tested the operation a couple of times and everything worked perfectly.

So.. if you have the HWH travel clamp in your RV and it needs to be replaced, here's my advice:

(1) Call your RV manufacturer or HWH to order the new part. There is a "right" and a "left" clamp, and the determination of which one you need is made from the OUTSIDE of your RV looking at the slide-out. The one on the right side of the slide-out is the "right" clamp, and the other is the "left."

(2) Find the access panel that gets you to the travel clamp. In my case, it was 4 small wood screws that held on a felt-wrapped access door.

(3) Remove the old travel clamp using the 4-bolts and also unplug the original motor from the 12v switched power supply.

(4) Check to see if your original clamp had a bead of DEP (or similar) like mine did, and if so, apply a fresh bead of DAP sealant around the foot area of the new unit.

(5) Replace the new motor using same bolts and same power supply.

(6) Test the system.

In my case, everything went smoothly and I'm good to go. Hopefully you will have the same!!
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