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Cousin Ed · 10-25-2021, 09:27 AM

We were in Cabela's campground, Sidney, NE, put the slides out at "Ride Height" and stayed the night. Next day back to ride height; brought the slides in. All came in fine except the front DS which stopped 2" short. I tried pushing it while it was being retracted to no avail. We decided to drive anyway. I notice the R/F tire was in a small hole. When I drove out of the little hole the slide slammed in with a vengeance!
So far it's been in and out 4 times and works fine

hpykmpr47 · 10-25-2021, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cousin Ed

We were in Cabela's campground, Sidney, NE, put the slides out at "Ride Height" and stayed the night. Next day back to ride height; brought the slides in. All came in fine except the front DS which stopped 2" short. I tried pushing it while it was being retracted to no avail. We decided to drive anyway. I notice the R/F tire was in a small hole. When I drove out of the little hole the slide slammed in with a vengeance!
So far it's been in and out 4 times and works fine

If I had to guess I would say that your slide is running real close in one of the top corners and is not real square with the opening and it caught in that corner and as soon as you moved your coach it shifted enough to allow it to go back in. Been there done that now on 2 different coaches.

Gary.Jones · 10-25-2021, 10:24 AM

The frames of our coaches, while quite strong (Spartan construction) none-the-less will torque and distort fairly easily. That is the single reason that I wont let the Equalizer "level" my coach automatically. The automatic function has distorted my frame enough that I could not open or close/lock my front entrance door in easy RV park locations in the past and my slides sticking or getting "hung" up is a fairly common problem due to the poor job done by the "automatic" leveling function. So, I NEVER use the automatic function of the Equalizer as it is is terrible at leveling my coach. Learned that a long time ago.

So I use a $2 plastic level bought at Walmart laid on a horizontal tile on my floor to do the leveling. Since I started doing that no more problems.

Now, I don't believe that Entegra welds in cross steel structural supports in the basement anymore. I had cross welds in the basement of my 15 Anthem, but I don't believe I have any cross welds at all in this 19 Cornerstone. They were there to add additional "rigidity" to the chassis.

Gary

bevandtomH · 10-25-2021, 11:18 AM

Vowed I won’t accept un level sites unless we had no choice….even if you are at ride height, on Un level ground it can be challenging to get large slides in when they are fighting gravity and trying to climb that ramp up and into the coach

Ohio44718 · 10-30-2021, 10:23 AM

After reading a number of posts came back and deleted my statement " Always have struggled with the slide out then level", in fear of starting a rash of posts all over again. A couple of points which made sense in that can maybe change the default approach were: Evaluate the overall spot. If way out of level one side or the other, level first to minimize strain on motors. The other important condition before extending the slides was to make sure you look at the gaps around the slides themselves. Final point of interest was whatever way you selected, make sure you follow the same when retracting slides.

dcphil_98 · 10-30-2021, 03:06 PM

I guess I would be a little nervous following advice that contradicts the procedures provided by the manufacturer. If a spot is totally out of level, find another spot.

Ohio44718 · 10-30-2021, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcphil_98

I guess I would be a little nervous following advice that contradicts the procedures provided by the manufacturer. If a spot is totally out of level, find another spot.

I hope to be able to go to the Homecoming next year and ask the question. I understand the reluctance, but as long as things are square in the opening, I would like to have someone explain to me the downside of leveling first.

fqberful · 10-30-2021, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ohio44718

I hope to be able to go to the Homecoming next year and ask the question. I understand the reluctance, but as long as things are square in the opening, I would like to have someone explain to me the downside of leveling first.

Ask Ted Cook, he designed them. His explanation is really pretty good. Long story short, coach on the air bags at ride height, doesn't have to be level, move the slides.

Using the jacks *will* twist up the frame and bind the slides.

BobG88 · 10-30-2021, 08:32 PM

I copied (and kept) this explanation from a post by Angie at NIRVC - excellent info and explanation:

"Entegra’s slides are completely flush when retracted. The tolerances are very tight. You can barely fit a finger in between the slide and wall of the coach all the way around the slide.

Therefore, it’s of paramount importance with an Entegra to retract and extend your slide-outs at ride height. When you arrive at your RV site, extend your slides at ride height, and then put the jacks down. When it’s time to leave do it all in reverse. Retract your jacks, bring the coach to ride height, and retract your slide-outs.

Every time your jacks go down there is a certain amount of torquing taking place. The tolerances are so tight, any torquing at all, and you risk your slide not going all the way back in. The opening the slide fits into is now torqued just enough that the slide won’t fit all the way back in. And, if it does, chances are you’ve scraped paint off the side of your slide, or your coach."

BG

Ohio44718 · 10-31-2021, 07:17 AM

I understand Entegra instructions and follow them, but

. Someday, hope to talk to PJ, from Entegra, and ask what do you do in the real world when you pull your 45 foot coach to your site and it is a gravel site and not a nice level concrete pad? As I am typing this, I started to think about the fact that we have a SLS. Something new to me. When pulling into a space and parking, would it be prudent to press the SLS button and force it to air level? Obviously based on the OP, there are times these things do not work as expected when just at ride height.

BobG88 · 10-31-2021, 05:57 PM

We recently camped at Blue Springs Lake, and had an unlevel gravel site (only one available).

We couldn't get completely level, but we followed Entegra's slide instructions, and had zero problems setting up or leaving

[One note: we always level manually, as per Gary's, Chuck's, and others' recommendations...]

BG

Gary.Jones · 10-31-2021, 09:34 PM

What the heck does "SLS" mean?

You don't have to have a completely level site to follow Entegra's instructions. it simply says to keep your coach at ride height (Its natural position when traveling. So while still at ride heighten with the engine off, even on an unlevel RV pad, you move your slides out fully. Then, if your coach is down in front, tilted left or tilted right, or down in back, now you turn on the Equalizer and get out your $2 plastic level from Walmart, find a nice flat tile on the floor, and let the Equalizer begin to level the coach automatically. You will notice that the coach drops maybe two inches and when it feels like the jacks have hit the ground or when you feel the Equalizer begin to raise some part of the coach on the jacks, turn the Equalizer off, which stops its "automatic" operation. Then turn it back on and after looking at your level, raise either the left side (by pushing the left bottom half button down to raise the left side (both front and bacj left side jacks), or the bottom half of the right side button to do the same to the right side, etc for whatever part of the coach that needs to be raised or lowered. Keep consulting the plastic level..... BINGO!!! you are level..... Priceless!

Always better than letting the Equalizer do the job.... in case you haven't noticed, the "automatic" Equalizer only ever goes up, never down !!! Usual process is for it to raise the left side, but overshoot "level", then raise the right side to level, but overshoot, then raise the left side again, but overshoot level again, and keeps up this stupid see-saw process until your coach is so out of level that you might not even be able to open your entrance door. Has happened to me before I started doing it myself.

Screwing up a slide's motion would be short work for that stupid Equalizer... !!!!!!!! As they say in Philly.... forgetaboutit !

Gary

Ohio44718 · 11-01-2021, 05:52 AM

"press the SLS button and force it to air level". SLS stands for Self Leveling System. At least in my coach, it is manufactured by Hadley and controls the ride height plus offers the ability to air level the house portion of coach independent of how the tires are positioned since they have to sit on the road surface.

Having the coach house level, even if the axles are not, wouldn't that have prevented the binding the poster encountered? However done, the key is to minimize that twisting and get everything inline with the slide framing to prevent any binding or worse yet scratching of the paint.

It is kind of like a door in a house. If something is twisted in the framing, the door will not set square in the door frame and will bind or not set flush in the door jam. Thus my reasoning for checking the gap in my slides before extending them.

The poster stated "When I drove out of the little hole the slide slammed in with a vengeance!" In this particular situation, if the coach house was leveled using the jacks or the air leveling, the twist caused by the wheel being in a hole could have been minimized or eliminated.

rggarrott · 11-02-2021, 04:04 PM

When Pam and I started RV'ing, we had a freestanding RV garage with an interior width of 15 feet. The first time I backed it in, I extended the slideouts at ride height and then started the leveling system. I about had a heart attack when I saw how much the top of the coach rocked back and forth as the coach leveled on the jacks; I was fortunate I didn't violently bounce the slide topper rollers off the walls. From then on, over at least a hundred times extending/retracting slides inside the garage, I would move the slides in and out AFTER I leveled the coach. Never had a problem with binding, scraping, etc. In over ten years and three coaches, I had one case where the small bedroom slide got bound up and wouldn't fully retract while at ride height.