Community Forums

wamcneil · 02-22-2019, 09:35 AM

Hi All,
I'm replacing the HWH hydraulic cylinders under my slide out rooms, and don't have enough clearance under the curb-side slide-out to extract the cylinders.
This is an 03 Dynasty with HWH hydraulic dual-cylinder rail system underneath the slide-out.
I've been told that others had to raise their slide out room to gain enough clearance for the ram. (see photos)
The alternative is cutting the bottom of the slide for access... which I would prefer not to do.
So I'm trying to figure out how to raise the room. And from what I can see at the top of the slide-out, I'm not positive I can gain enough height for the cylinder to completely clear the aluminum skirt on the lower edge of the slide. I'm estimating that I'll need to raise the slide at least 2".
I've experimented with just jacking at the corner of the slide, but the support arm only allows a small amount of vertical movement. To gain any significant vertical movement, it looks like I will need to disconnect the slide-out from the horizontal arm and jack it up by one or both sides.
Couple questions:
1- Are there any big dangers in disconnecting the horizontal support arm(s)?
They appear to be supporting a significant load, so I assume I'll need to lift the slide-out and relieve this load prior to loosening anything.
2- Should I remove the arm at the vertical adjuster or remove the support's end bracket from the slide-out wall?
3- If I disconnect both sides, will the slide-out be inclined to tip or otherwise move around in an unpredictable and destructive manner?
This is my first time working with slide out rooms, and if I'm honest... I'm pretty intimidated by the task. But I've got 3 floor jacks that can easily handle the weight.
Thanks!
Walter

8.3Oilbuner · 02-22-2019, 10:35 AM

Good morning Wamcneil; Wow, looks like you have a job on your hands. As reading lots of posts here over the years, I do not remember reading about how to remove the hydraulic cylinders from the coach and see the problem you posted. I am sure this procedure has been done before. I was going to suggest you try and contact Elite RV in Harrisburg Oregon as the people who work there used to build the coach's at the factory in Coburg Oregon. I just read some of the Yelp reviews and they are not to encouraging. Have you tried putting a search in at the top right of this page to see if there is any info out there on the job you want to accomplish? Something like, removing the hydraulic cylinders on the curb side slide on a 2003 Monaco Dynasty. I would include your model in the question. To me, I am going to guess that you might need to disconnect the support arm to get the height you need to get the cylinders out. Mabey you need to remove one support at one end and remove that cylinder, reinstall the support and then move to the other end! There has to be some info out there as I am sure this happens on a lot of other coaches like yours. I hope someone here in this forum will have more info for you. Looks like quite a job. I wish you luck on your repair!

wamcneil · 02-22-2019, 10:47 AM

Thanks. I've done some searching and found posts that talked about lifting the slide for roller replacement, but haven't found anything specific to my situation. In the case of roller replacement they mostly push the slide halfway out and then tilt the top out to lift the rollers; kind of the opposite of what I need to do.
The few references I've found to lifting the slide with jacks talk about placement of lifting blocks under the slide, but nothing about if or how to disconnect the arms.

vito.a · 02-22-2019, 10:57 AM

Some of our members are also working on slides.
You can click on "Private Messages" in the upper right corner and send them a PM.
Contact Mike (CountryB).
Links to Mikes threads.
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f115/hwh-...ut-425180.html
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f115/do-a...ds-430134.html

Also kenwyatt.
This is a link to Kens thread.
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f115/beav...es-387059.html

Hope you get this figured out without cutting.

8.3Oilbuner · 02-22-2019, 11:01 AM

Hi again Wamcneil; Yes I understand. Have read many posts on slide roller replacements and understand you need to go the other direction. I don't know weather it would be a long shot to try to contact HWH. I did a search in the box mentioned in my previous post. I searched for, replacing the HWH hydraulic rams for the curb side slide on a 2003 Monaco Dynasty. There was some info on a person to contact that works for HWH. Had his phone number and I think a web contact. Sorry, I did not write the info down, but the post is not that old. I will go back and see if I can locate that info again. You also could try with the search question I posted.

8.3Oilbuner · 02-22-2019, 11:11 AM

It's me again Wamcneil; The post I found was from 12/7/17. It mentioned to contact Paul at AZPETE in the IVR2 forum. His e-mail posted was, pfmaddox@att.net. Phone number, 602-549-3638. Do not know if the info is current, but so far that is all I can find. Mentioned that Paul works for HWH. I hope this will help! I also see that Vito.a posted some great info also.

Jeff753 · 02-22-2019, 11:50 AM

Cant you pull these cylinders from the passenger side? My 2001 has access from that side.

wamcneil · 02-22-2019, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8.3Oilbuner

It's me again Wamcneil; The post I found was from 12/7/17. It mentioned to contact Paul at AZPETE in the IVR2 forum. His e-mail posted was, pfmaddox@att.net. Phone number, 602-549-3638. Do not know if the info is current, but so far that is all I can find. Mentioned that Paul works for HWH. I hope this will help! I also see that Vito.a posted some great info also.

Thanks. I'll reach out to him and/or HWH again Monday. I already talked to HWH tech support about the cylinders last week (they were very helpful). That was before I ran into this problem... I was figuring this was a Monaco deal and not specifically related to the HWH gear.

wamcneil · 02-22-2019, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff753

Cant you pull these cylinders from the passenger side? My 2001 has access from that side.

Right, the passenger side is the only way they can possibly come out. I'm guessing it's different without a curb-side slideout and there's nothing to block the exit.
The problem is that the lower skirt on the passenger slideout prevents the cylinder from coming straight out of its hole (see attached pictures). There's not enough clearance for it to angle downward and pass underneath the slideout.
If the passenger slideout extended out another 12" it would probably be a non-issue, but the cylinders hit the bottom of the slideout before the rod-end of the cylinder clears its tube up in the chassis.

wamcneil · 02-23-2019, 11:04 AM

Well, I've got the cylinders all loose and the curb-side cylinders completely removed from the coach.
So today I'm going to experiment with taking off a support arm and lifting the slide out. At least one end.
Anybody taken their slide support arms loose and maybe got words of wisdom for me???
Walter

wamcneil · 02-23-2019, 02:00 PM

Well, I took the end of the slide loose and jacked it up till it hit the top of the opening to the point I was concerned about it cutting into the weather-strip at the top.
And it was still a good inch from being high enough to let the cylinder pass.
I just don't see any possible way this thing could come out without cutting or doing something more invasive than cutting the AL skirt.
So I went ahead and notched the aluminum skirt on the slide.
If anybody knows how to get this cylinder out without cutting... It's too late. Please do NOT tell me how.

I think I can put a thin AL backer behind the cutout piece with some double-sided tape or JB weld and maybe caulk in the gap so the cutout won't be real noticeable.

RustyTools · 02-23-2019, 02:08 PM

I've learned over the years that, quite often, I are the only one who sees that 'glaring, ugly, hideous, and offensive' patch-job.

More important that the repair-job solves the problem. It may not be not cosmetically perfect, but glad you got a handle on it.

CountryB · 02-23-2019, 02:36 PM

What does the other end of the cylinder attach to?

Is it like my front Roadside slideout (single cylinder) where the one goes through the frame and attaches to a mount inside the basement compartment (accessible from the passenger side)?

wamcneil · 02-23-2019, 03:07 PM

Thanks for the encouragement RustyTools.
CountryB: different mechanisms. This is HWH's "Rail" system. There are rectangular tubes welded transversely inside the chassis. These stationary tubes have smaller rectangular tubes (arms) that slide in and out of the stationary tubes and extend out to push and support each end of the slide-out.
The hyd cylinders are fully INSIDE those tubes and drive the arms directly. So the cylinder must be detatched from the arm through an outboard clearance hole, and then the inboard end of the cylinder is removed to extract the cylinder, and then it is removed out a hole in the OPPOSITE side of the chassis.
This is done relatively simply for the curb-side slideout cylinders, becasue the 4' long cylinder just barely clears its tube before it hits the bottom of the opposite side slideout.
But the curb-side (kitchen) slideout doesn't extend out as far as the road-side slideout, so the ROAD-SIDE cylinder strikes the bottom of the opposite side slideout while there is still 12" of cylinder inside the tube. And that prevents the cylinder from being angled to clear the opposite side