Slide motor clicking FIXED for > $1000.00

[H. John Kohl]

Fixed POST
Thank you to all who posted and especially NCFISCHER who keep kicking me in the back side saying check and clean the electrical connections. Today I stated with the solid contacts and finally cleaned the battery ground since I lifted it to prevent electrical arching. Then I touched the positive terminal which I never touch. YEP it was loose and corroded. Cleaned the terminal, put it back together and all is well.

I was almost ready to order a new motor/pump/tank system for $1000.00. Thanks to all who posted.


Original post
Monty has been parked for a couple weeks with the slides out. It has been plugged in so the converter has charged the battery.
The battery raised the landing legs with no problem after the slides were retracted.

When bringing the slides in I stop after a little movement (a half a foot or so) and then start again. When the living room slide started the first time it was from a cold start the motor just clicked. By cold start I mean the lines had pressure and I was trying to start retracting/raising over the nylon lip.

When I started retracting the slides the motor sounded week on the bedroom slide. It hesitated on the kitchen slide and refused to retract the living room slide which has to raise over the nylon lip. I backed off a little (extended the slides for a few seconds) and then attempted to bring the slides in. The living room slide started to raise but hung with just one corner starting up. I extended the slides for a longer time) and tried again with a "running start". The slide almost stopped but did come in. Once it was over the lip there was little problems. This is the first time I have had to use the running start concept.



Is this a brushes issue in the motor?

Any suggestions what to check. I hate to have this fail on the road.

Thanks in advance.

[steves]

John...the most obvious question is do you have enough fluid level in the reservoir?

[Crossthread]

John, I would check the ground connections for the pump and all electrical connections for the solenoid.Bill

[SlickWillie]

quote:Originally posted by Crossthread

John, I would check the ground connections for the pump and all electrical connections for the solenoid.Bill

That would be my first check too. Bad connections mean high resistance which equals less amps to operate the motor. I can't really believe brushes would be an issue as little as the slides are extended/retracted.

[Crossthread]

Also check the connections on the switch, the crimp is not always the tightest that they could be . Even the switch could be arcing internally. Bill

[racerjoe]

Did you take a physical check of your battery voltage? Even though you were plugged in,you could still have a charge problem or a weak battery

[JimF]

John, I have found that our battery is dead as can be, the only way we can run the slides in is hooked up to shore power trhough the converter. Not good for the converter but it works. We also have an 07 year model. All the other suggestions are worth checking also, if you have the volt/amperage that hydraulic pump will definately move that slide or destroy it if it's stuck.

[bitterbrook]

John,

Which end of the slide stopped moving? My living/dinette slide did a similar thing last month. The front part of the slide (where the hydraulic piston is) moved, but the rear side would not move. I persisted, and ended up stripping the teeth off the front gear.

The rear gear had frozen solid, so that end would not go out. The shear pins on the rod connecting the two gears did not shear (!), and the front gear's teeth got stripped off by the moving gear track on the power end of the slide.

While it sounds like you have other problems, I'd be leery using the slide if there's a possibility of a frozen gear.

[NCFischers]

John,
Another thought, how old is your battery? They normally last about 5 years. It might be worth taking it to Auto Zone or a similar place to have a load test done on it. Your Monty is 3 to 4 years old but the battery could be a bit older as they sit in stock for a while before being used.

[old turbo]

Plug into shore power and run the slides,see what happens. Then plug your 5vr to your truck and see how things run. Spray some lube on any part of the slide system you can get at you may have a dry bind on some moving parts.

[MIMF]

H. John,

These are all good suggestions! 90% of the time when there is a pump issue of any kind, it is due to low voltage. Low voltage happens because of a dead battery or poor chassis ground conections. There are 3 of them. One at the wall switch, one at the pump and of course, the battery.

If, you were to plug the bargmen connector to the back end of your truck and that pump came back to life, it points to a discharged battery that is not producing the amperage the pump motor needs. That also tells you that all of the ground connections are good. But, it may also point to the fact that the converter and battery(s) may beginning to take a crap.

Last year when I discovered my converter was bad, I had these same symptoms. I back the old Chevy to the front end and plugged in the bargmen 7 prong connector and nothing worked! It did not take me long to discover that the 40 amp fuse up under the hood was bad. As soon as I replaced that, the 12 volt power in the Challenger came to life.

The next thing I had checked was the battery. Load test showed it was still good. I bought and changed the converter and life has been good ever since.

Keep us posted on what you find.

Dale

[jackel1959]

John,
About a year and a half ago you helped me work through a problem similar to this one. I went through all of the procedures here and checked grounds, fluid levels and replaced the auto reset breakers. The problem ended up being a converter which I replaced and fixed the problem. My indications were when I would retract the slides the 12 volt lights would dim drastically and the slide motor would surge. It would only happen when plugged into shore power. After going through the other troubleshooting procedures, I checked the voltage output of the converter it was varying from about 13 to 6 volts so it wasn't doing a good job at providing the proper charging voltage or voltage while running the 12 volt accessories. Good luck and keep us posted on what you find.
Jack

ON EDIT: I did a search of the archives and found the thread regarding the problem I was having and the steps everyone walked me through. Here it is: 12 Volt Problem I hope it will provide some help.

[WorkerB]

John,
I hate to ask a dumb question but is there any snow on the slides roof?
John

[H. John Kohl]

John,
Great question, and yes there was but not this time. We sure have had some funny weather this year.

[WorkerB]

Ain't that the truth..... As I look out my window while typing this, snow is falling on the Monty with the slides open. I'm supposed to leave tomorrow for a rally at Siskiyou.
Assuming there is enough oil in the reservoir, correct voltage & current is available, and all connections are good, have you opened valves to determine if a specific slide is the culprit? After all is said and done you may have been correct from the beginning concerning the brushes.
John

[H. John Kohl]

Again, thanks for all the comments. Great forum.
I want to thank John Goff (Johnnyg) for stopping by with his load tester and checking my batteries for me. The trailer battery is fine. The reservoir is half full so I will add some oil once I verify what kind. He helped me lube all the teeth on the slides. Truck batteries will need replacing soon and my two spare batteries are paper weights.

Most important he noticed a crack on one of my aluminum wheel spokes on wheel.

[NCFischers]

Get that trailer ready and we'll see you Saturday.