Slide-out hydraulic line on 2008 3400RL

[daveinaz]

So, when I got ready to close the slide outs on our unit, the bedroom slide in went okay, the kitchen slide out started to come in, but then I heard a pump go high pitched like it had no load. About then my neighbor yelled out that I had fluid coming out from underneath the trailer.

I came out and saw ATF leaking from the hole in the under covering where the sewer pipe exits. I removed the under covering and found the problem. The hydraulic hose to the slider had a small cut on one side and it was spewing fluid. Quite a mess to clean up! Anyway, I happened to have a 1/4" brass barbed fitting in the garage and I used it and some small hose clamps to splice the hose back together. It blew one end of the hose off twice but I was able to reattached it, clamp it a little tighter, and finally get the slide outs closed.

I know I need to replace this hose since everyone says that even a hydraulic hose splice won't hold up to the pressure the system operates under. I need to remove the under covering and replace this hose. I think that I can just unscrew the under covering along the street side of the trailer and get to it? I'm hoping that the slide doesn't have to be extended to get to the fitting at the slideout?

The slideouts haven't been operated that much in this unit so I am not sure why the hose had a problem. My GUESS is that I noticed that the plastic cable / hose guides have all broken at the flex point where they attach to the outer wall of the slide out. I'm thinking that with them no longer holding the hoses/cables in proper position that the hose got pinched when the slides were retracted?

Now I'm debating whether to replace the hose guides or just repair them. It kind of looks like a design flaw that the plastic piece flexes at point that it attached to the slideout and eventually it will simply snap at that spot from the bending back and forth. So instead of replacing it, I'm thinking about just reattaching the broken guide to the slide out with a hinge so it could truly flex 180 degrees instead of just bending back and forth. I could just get some hinges and screw them in -- one side of hinge to plastic hose guide and the other to the slideout. Plus I wouldn't have to disconnect everything to get it threaded back through the new guides. What do you think? Or would you just replace the guides? My main concern with replacing the guides is that they will eventually fail at the same point that these did.

Thanks!

[fatcatzzz]

As I remember on my 07' 3400 the Hyd. hoses are accessible from underneath, don't think it matters if the slide is in or out. If you drop the chloroplast on the side that is leaking it should be visible. You may have to drop the it all the way down the side because if you are talking about the hose that is coming from the pump, it is a very long hose. I would try coulpling them together first and see if you can feed the new hose through by pulling it through with the existing hose. If not you will have to drop the chloroplast to get access.

As for the plastic cable support on the slide, it can be repaired with a gate hinge . I have done this on mine and several others rigs. The hyd. line does not use this support. It is for 110v/12v power, cable for tv etc.

Hope this helps.

[daveinaz]

Wow. Today I removed the underside of the RV and removed the defective hose. Of course, it was the longest one (27.5 feet) to the main slide out. When removing it, I was shocked to see that the hose had a severe kink in it -- the kind that would shut off the water if it were a water hose. I am surprised it even worked at all. Once I got it off, I could see that even the inside inner plastic sleeve was broken. I'm guessing that when they put this thing together they couldn't take the time to make sure all the coils were out of the hose and just pulled her tight...

[CarWin]

Gotta love that good "old fashion world craftsmanship",that is used to build these coaches.