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Old 01-03-2015, 07:04 AM   #1
SRD
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Black and Gray tank valve hard to pull

I have a new to us, 2012 3100RL 5th wheel we bought end of Sept. When emptying the tanks the black and gray valves inside the convenience center are very hard to pull out when emptying the tanks. It takes both hands to get the valves started and once started the valves will pull out but are very hard to push back in to close. I bought valve lubricant and put in both tanks and it hasn't seemed to help. Any suggestions?
thanks
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Old 01-03-2015, 07:39 AM   #2
DQDick
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Go behind the convenience center and lube the cables going to the valves.
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Old 01-03-2015, 11:10 AM   #3
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Ours are very hard to pull as well. Thought they would get easier with some use but no dice so far.
What would you use for lube? Silicone, lithium, WD40?
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Old 01-03-2015, 11:54 AM   #4
Tom S.
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Silicone or some type of dry spray lube that won't attract and trap dirt and end up making the problem worse. Stay away from WD40 as it is NOT a lubricant.
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Old 01-03-2015, 01:28 PM   #5
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Our galley tank was nearly impossible to open and shut. the seal was "rolled" and had to be replaced.
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Old 01-03-2015, 03:38 PM   #6
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Our problem was sloppy flush cable installation with unnecessarily long runs and looping of the pull cables.
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Old 01-03-2015, 03:46 PM   #7
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I checked behind the convenience center and looks like mine is the same as Mike's. They both take a quick turn from the convenience center towards the tanks. Looks like just a sloppy job with several bends in the cable. not sure how to correct.
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Old 01-03-2015, 03:59 PM   #8
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One of mine broke on the SOB that I still own. Along the same lines as above issues issue, can you just detach the cable from the gate valve and replace with the proper length of Valterra cable without taking the gate valve out?
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Old 01-04-2015, 01:23 AM   #9
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To detach the cable, all you need is a common screwdriver and Allen wrench set. IMHO, 95% of problem is gunked up blade housing or seal damage. A piano wire inside a housing shouldn't cause many problems. Just changed black & grey tank valves. Now have 2 spares, cleaning old ones up was easy.
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Old 01-04-2015, 03:14 AM   #10
DarMar
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Our 2015 model seems worse than our 2010 was. I will have to get behind the convenience center, lube the cables back there and try to perhaps uncoil some of the twists and turns.

Was that Thetford valve lube that you used in the tanks with little success? We have also heard of dumping a half gallon of cooking oil down there with some water and letting it sit for awhile, we shall see.
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Old 01-07-2015, 04:02 PM   #11
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We just had this one fixed today (haven't operated the valves yet). The tech says the last guy to replace the black tank valve put in the wrong valve, a Valterra. It doesn't fit in our Montana (2012 3150RL). The holes don't line up. He found the seals all bunched up, causing the hard movement at the closed end of the travel. Also, the wrong cable. There is a hexagonal cable that is hard to operate, and is not used any more (except apparently the last place we were at had some left over). The proper cable is round. Another issue is the routing of the cable. There is not a straight shot from the convenience center to the black valve, and if you route it with several 90 degree turns it gets hard to operate. Each 90 degree turn is equivalent to an additional 10 feet of cable, he says. He changed our routing to a more gradual bend.
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Old 01-18-2015, 10:20 AM   #12
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Darmar,
sorry for the slow response. Our camper is in storage and I finally made it by yesterday to check. Yes, we used the Thetford valve lubricant and really didn't do anything. I got behind the convenience center and it looks like it's a long cable that snakes to the tanks. I haven't been able to pull it home to work on it, but based on these posts, I plan on pulling the underbelly and working the cables to a straighter/better feed to the tanks. Hopefully that will do the trick.

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