Bedroom Slide Cable

[birchbark]

Has anyone experienced a frayed cable on the electric bedroom slide? Does this happen often?

We were having some trouble with the slide traveling smoothly. Investigation found the one corner of the bed rubbing the carpet pretty hard. Looking under the compartment floor in the bed we found a bent caster.

While determining a plan of action, we discovered the cable near the front closet had become frayed. Picture an elongated ball of wire on the cable that opens/closes the slide that is behind the cornice.

I wouldn't think is is typical.
Guess it's time to comtact Customer Service at Montana.

[dieselguy]

Why several Keystone products are going back to the cable system on some of the slides is beyond my comprehension. I had cable slides on my 2000 2850RK ... I am soooooo glad they never gave me trouble. Hydraulic slides are way easier to repair and maintain. I feel it must be the almighty dollar ... enough of my rant. You'll definitely have to go back to your dealer or the service center for the fix on this one as you'll be hard pressed to find any local business with the capability or know how of cable routing to solve your repair. In other words ... any fraying or caging of the slide cable is a sign of imminent failure. Undoubtedly a splice is out of the question. And by the way IMHO backed by endless examples ... best of luck with the highly documented and limitedly skilled tecs at the dealer.

[WeBeFulltime]

Royce, You better hurry and get it repaired so "ya'll" can hurry back to the plantation and have some boiled peanuts! Bahaha. Tell your lovely bride we said hello and look forward to seeing you both in a few weeks. We decided not to do the southwest trip as we had planned. Opted for an Alaskan cruise in early September sailing out of Seattle. Do you think maybe that HUGE slide was just too much for an electrical/cable system?

[DQDick]

I'm assuming your rig is new. Call Keystone Customer service and get it fixed under warranty. Someone at the National Rally last year had an issue with that cable so it's not a new problem for them.

[Montana3800RE]

On our 3800RE our top bedroom cable frayed due to Frame Flex, Keystone has a so called Field Repair for this, good luck...

[Irlpguy]

Birchbark, it is likely not a bent castor it is most likely to be one like mine where the 5/8" screws came loose because they were not long enough nor into anything substantial. This first picture shows where the original screws were and the second shows the piece I added to allow for longer screws and more material as backing.





Although mine is a hydraulic slide I would expect the bed frame will be very similar. After having an issue with frame flex supposedly repaired with the "field repair", after several in and outs my slide went out and the bed did not. It's a long sad story of crap workmanship from the factory through the dealer who made the repair.

Insist they repair your cable and castor under warranty and make sure they do it right.

[birchbark]

Thanks Ed. I agree my problem could be like yours. I can feel the one screw is about half way out. From your picture it looks like you had the bed apart. They way mine is sitting I can't get to it. Is the bed easy to disassemble?

I still have an issue with the cable, but you comments and photo are most helpful.

[Irlpguy]

Removing the King mattress and getting it out of my way, then the hinged part of the frame had to come off before I could get at the storage bottom, I removed that which allowed me to see the hydraulic ram and all it's workings. My bed had already pulled away from the wall, it was only held on there by 8 screws that went into the inner wall which is made up of paneling and insulation, not one of the screws hit a frame member.

I took the whole bed frame out of my unit and basically rebuilt it, the original construction was pathetic and half the staples meant to hold everything together did not even go into anything. This had been removed as I said when the dealer performed the "field flex repair". It was re-assembled by the dealer paying no attention to the fact it was bound to come apart. I showed him pictures of what had happened, while they offered to fix it, I said "my Montana will never grace your yard again", and it will not.

I have no idea how the cable works Royce, but it would appear you have issues with the bed frame and I would ask then to ensure it is fastened to the inner wall in a proper way so as not to do what mine did.

Sadly what is hidden from view will be the thing that gives us problems down the road.

Good luck, if you need any more pictures of the frame I would be glad to email them to you.

Ed

[Montana3800RE]

Royce, as far ad your bedroom cable frayed, if you hook up to the tow vehicle and put pin weight on the trailer, open bedroom slide and look at the lower right hand corner behind the rubber seal, you should notice the bedroom slide frame pulling apart, that is part of the Frame Flex issue that Keystone is having with some models. When you take the pin weight off, the gap closes back up. While you are traveling down the road, and the frame is pulled apart, it is rubbing on the cable causing it to fray. Her is a pic of our 3800RE before the Field Repair... http://i42.tinypic.com/swtswp_th.jpgh
http://i44.tinypic.com/jt4dow_th.jpg

[birchbark]

Interesting Ron. My cable is separating where the only way to see it is looking behind the cornice from inside the bedroom. Once we open the slide (want to be where it can repaired before doing) we'll check for flex. Looks to me about half of the strands are broken.

[birchbark]

Thanks for all the input. Just got back from the nearest Keystone dealer (not Montana). They installed a new cable, said they couldn't find any place where the cable had rubbed. It looked to them that some strands had pulled out of the connection and then tangled around the cable.

Customer Service says sorry, your unit is almost 2 years old and out of warranty. Have trouble believing they turned it down. There has to be somewhere to appeal. I have pictures and the old cable.

May not be spending any more bucks for a Monty.....

[8.1al]

I have a hard time believing any other manufacturer would treat you any different in this situation.