Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
RV Trip Planning Discussions

Go Back   iRV2 Forums > THE OWNER'S CORNER FORUMS > Excel Owner's Forum
Click Here to Login
Join iRV2 Today

Mission Statement: Supporting thoughtful exchange of knowledge, values and experience among RV enthusiasts.
Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on iRV2
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 06-22-2013, 01:00 PM   #1
Senior Member
 
janieD's Avatar
 
Excel Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 296
Hydraulic slide questions

I recently had a problem pulling in the large dinette slide on our 2010 30RSO. When beginning to pull the slide in, it would hesitate while the hydraulic pump would grind away followed by a loud ka-chunk, followed by the slide beginning to move in. I crawled under the slide and noticed the hydraulic ram had a threaded end with large nuts on either side of a bracket attached to the slide. Two nuts on the inside of the bracket were locked together and would push against the bracket when running the slide out. Only one nut was on the outside of the bracket to allow the ram to pull the slide in. This nut had backed away from the bracket by almost an inch, so I tightened it up (as shown in the picture). I checked the parlor slide also: same thing, so I tightened it also. That fixed the ka-chunk noise and both slides appear to work normally. My question is: since both slides looked similar, do you think the outside nut was intentionally left lose to allow for misalignment of the ram and bracket? Is that what you guys are seeing also? Am I missing an outside nut to lock that side in, similar to the inside pair?
Unrelated to the above, I recently replaced the original 60 amp converter (after replacing the battery failed to fix a low voltage problem). I stayed with the original Intellipower model since it got good reviews, which got me wondering why it failed. I decided that with the new one, I would run the slides in and out on battery power only (i.e. converter off), since the slides would probably exceed the max output of the converter. The converter should limit itself, but it's easy to do, so I thought I would try it. Does anyone else do this? Or am I being paranoid?
Also, the new converter came with a remote pendant that indicates what charge mode the converter/charger is in (boost, normal or storage) which I thought would be handy, so I installed it. It can be purchased separately, and works with all the 9200 models.
- John
ps: photo added to photo gallery but not available yet when we posted this, should be available soon.
__________________
JanieD (and her DH JohnnyD)
2010 30RSO Limited , 2014 Ram 3500 Lone Star DRW
Flamingo On A Stick
janieD is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 06-22-2013, 02:18 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
drfife's Avatar
 
Excel Owners Club
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Whitney, Texas, USA
Posts: 2,284
Here's the picture to keep everything in one location:
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	image.jpg
Views:	108
Size:	76.3 KB
ID:	41086  
__________________
Russell
'13 Excel Winslow 34IKE

'16 GMC Sierra 3500HD
drfife is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-22-2013, 02:27 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
rockintom's Avatar
 
Excel Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Fulltime TX Escapee
Posts: 8,901
Hey Johnny,

Regarding the slide noise, I can't state exactly what that is from here. However, I do know that the set up with the slack (about 2") is designed to be in there on your model (there are some models that don't but that's another thread). PI wants the ram to be at full cylinder extension in both full room extension and retraction. That's why you have that slack. With the nuts together (no slack) you are pushing the room beyond the limits going in and/or out. PI used a dab of silicon caulk on the nut and shaft after setting to keep the single nut from turning easily (and because probably because it's cheaper then additional nut). Sometimes the nut does move if the silicone doesn't adhere to the shaft/nut due to dirt, residue or grime. You can add jamb nuts easy enough.

OK now that you have the nuts misadjusted, how do you reset them correctly? When you have the room fully extended, the cylinder shaft should be fully extended and bottomed out or at the end of travel in the cylinder. There should be no bow in that shaft. After setting that, run the room all the way in. The outside nut should be adjusted to just have the room closed and the shaft in the cylinder should be bottomed out or in all the way (again, end of travel). Another words the cylinder shaft should be bottomed out with complete extend and retraction of the slide room, thus giving you the slack between the nuts. (that doesn't sound right!!!)

Caution....please be very careful with dealing with the nuts, room and cylinder shafts as they are very powerful and dangerous when you have someone inside working the switches. Keep your hands away from moving parts!!!! You can get hurt very badly if you get careless.

I'll go back and read you converter question before I can see if I can help on that deal. rockin'
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	Excel Slide Ram Nuts 006 (Copy).JPG
Views:	106
Size:	100.6 KB
ID:	41087  
__________________
2012 Excel L33ft. GKE named Charm as in 3 times is a Charm. Love Fulltiming. Bullet '14 Chevy D/A 3500 LB CC DRW Summit White - Ebony Interior. Check out our blog at: https://claphamstravels.blogspot.com
rockintom is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-22-2013, 05:55 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
janieD's Avatar
 
Excel Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 296
Thanks Rockin. I think I can get the nuts back to where they were just by looking at the rust pattern on the threads, but I'll check adjustment per your directions. Good thing I didn't clean them up for the picture, like some people do.
Another thing I learned with the voltage problem was that the Norcold refrigerator will warn you of a low voltage condition on the refrigerator's seven segment display (DC LO I think it was) when the 12V falls to around 10V. The voltage meter that is part of the control panel is still well within the green "OK" zone, although noticeably lower than it should be at full charge. When on shore power, the converter should hold the voltage above 12V, even if the house battery is toast, but I replaced the battery anyway because the converter tested good at no load (you should measure more than 13V at the converter with the output disconnected at the converter, which is not easy to do). Replacing the converter fixed the low voltage problem, so it was the converter, even though it tested ok at no load.
- John
__________________
JanieD (and her DH JohnnyD)
2010 30RSO Limited , 2014 Ram 3500 Lone Star DRW
Flamingo On A Stick
janieD is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-22-2013, 08:12 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
rockintom's Avatar
 
Excel Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Fulltime TX Escapee
Posts: 8,901
Thanks John, If no one reads anything else out of this........never ever trust the analog volt meter on the control panel. It didn't work worth a darn new....and is almost useless. The battery has to be very low to read out of the green area. Only trust a digital read out, and then with a DVOM reading to back it up. Just FYI. rockin'
__________________
2012 Excel L33ft. GKE named Charm as in 3 times is a Charm. Love Fulltiming. Bullet '14 Chevy D/A 3500 LB CC DRW Summit White - Ebony Interior. Check out our blog at: https://claphamstravels.blogspot.com
rockintom is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-24-2013, 09:44 AM   #6
Registered User
 
Excel Owners Club
Retired Fire Service RVer's
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Farmington NM
Posts: 1,822
Hey Tommy,
Do electric slides use the same slack adjustments on the nuts?
chief02 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-24-2013, 10:02 AM   #7
Senior Member
 
rockintom's Avatar
 
Excel Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Fulltime TX Escapee
Posts: 8,901
Quote:
Originally Posted by chief02 View Post
Hey Tommy,
Do electric slides use the same slack adjustments on the nuts?
No Chief......different animal altogether. Nuts are for the adjustment on hydraulic cylinder shafts. rockin'
__________________
2012 Excel L33ft. GKE named Charm as in 3 times is a Charm. Love Fulltiming. Bullet '14 Chevy D/A 3500 LB CC DRW Summit White - Ebony Interior. Check out our blog at: https://claphamstravels.blogspot.com
rockintom is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-24-2013, 10:10 AM   #8
Registered User
 
Excel Owners Club
Retired Fire Service RVer's
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Farmington NM
Posts: 1,822
OK, but i just looked at mine. There is the same looking rod with nuts and jam nuts, The small slide has slack on the outboard slide. The big slide has all nuts inboard and outboard of the brackets are tight to the bracket.
chief02 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-24-2013, 11:59 AM   #9
Senior Member
 
rockintom's Avatar
 
Excel Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Fulltime TX Escapee
Posts: 8,901
Quote:
Originally Posted by chief02 View Post
OK, but i just looked at mine. There is the same looking rod with nuts and jam nuts, The small slide has slack on the outboard slide. The big slide has all nuts inboard and outboard of the brackets are tight to the bracket.
Once again, I may not know what the heck I'm talking about. To be honest I haven't kept up with the later model electric slides. rockin'

Can you send some pix of what you're talking about. rods, nuts, brackets, and electric motor if poss. rockin' gotta keep learnin' more.
__________________
2012 Excel L33ft. GKE named Charm as in 3 times is a Charm. Love Fulltiming. Bullet '14 Chevy D/A 3500 LB CC DRW Summit White - Ebony Interior. Check out our blog at: https://claphamstravels.blogspot.com
rockintom is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-24-2013, 02:30 PM   #10
Senior Member
 
ExcelRVGuy's Avatar
 
Excel Owners Club
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Kansas
Posts: 552
PLEASE do not adjust the jam nuts on the hydraulic cylinders if you aren't positive of what you are doing. The cylinder is DESIGNED to have a stroke between 1/2" and 2 1/2" longer than the depth of the room.

The cylinder is strong enough that if you still have stroke left in your ram after the room is completely extended or retracted, you will cause severe damage to the sidewall or the slide out itself. We just experienced this issue with our painters in Iowa. They thought the jam nuts needed tightened and we had to pull the unit back over 400 miles because they broke teeth off the rack and got the room "out of time".

The slack (gap) on the threads of the cylinder are there on purpose.

Bryan
ExcelRVGuy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-24-2013, 03:25 PM   #11
Senior Member
 
rockintom's Avatar
 
Excel Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Fulltime TX Escapee
Posts: 8,901
Quote:
Originally Posted by ExcelRVGuy View Post
PLEASE do not adjust the jam nuts on the hydraulic cylinders if you aren't positive of what you are doing. The cylinder is DESIGNED to have a stroke between 1/2" and 2 1/2" longer than the depth of the room.

The cylinder is strong enough that if you still have stroke left in your ram after the room is completely extended or retracted, you will cause severe damage to the sidewall or the slide out itself. We just experienced this issue with our painters in Iowa. They thought the jam nuts needed tightened and we had to pull the unit back over 400 miles because they broke teeth off the rack and got the room "out of time".

The slack (gap) on the threads of the cylinder are there on purpose.

Bryan
Thanks for making your comments. I learned what your saying before we ever had a unit with hydraulic slides. I think where the problem comes in....is that the layman looks at the slack and says that ain't right and then wants to fix it by taking the slack out of it!! There are some very few exceptions to what you mentioned. On certain models roadside slides are now built with the retracted/closed position is controlled with an adjustable "block/stop". The block limits the travel when closing so the room doesn't come in too far thus damaging the room. By using this you can jam up the nuts (and take up the slack) and greatly improve the "room drop" issue. You still have to be cognizant of the adjustment nuts for both extended and retracted room travel. Here's a pic the block setup on mine. rockin'
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	RS Slide Stop Installation 004 (Copy).JPG
Views:	106
Size:	112.8 KB
ID:	41212   Click image for larger version

Name:	RS Slide Stop Installation 011 (Copy).JPG
Views:	100
Size:	82.4 KB
ID:	41213  

Click image for larger version

Name:	RS Slide Stop Installation 012 (Copy).JPG
Views:	113
Size:	112.2 KB
ID:	41214  
__________________
2012 Excel L33ft. GKE named Charm as in 3 times is a Charm. Love Fulltiming. Bullet '14 Chevy D/A 3500 LB CC DRW Summit White - Ebony Interior. Check out our blog at: https://claphamstravels.blogspot.com
rockintom is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
slide



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:21 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.