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Old 04-28-2021, 08:24 PM   #1
mdmarmd
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Need Urgent Help--Main Slide Outs Stuck

I just drove 500 miles to where my Montana 3720RL had been hauled from storage and set up at Lake Almanor, CA.

We discovered that the living room and kitchen slide outs that move in tandem are stuck in the in position. In either direction the motor starts running but there is no movement of the slide outs, and then a grinding/grating noise occurs. I tried to hold it long enough to see if it might build up enough tension to push through the initial hump up, but I stopped after the grinding noise, afraid I will destroy something and burn out the motor or make a bad situation even worse.

I don't have an easy path for servicing this. I don't haul this myself and have no truck. I guy hauls a bunch of RVs in my camp to storage about 15 miles away, and brings them back in the spring. The nearest Montana Dealership is in Reno, about 130 miles away. I don't know if they will work on it as I didn't buy it there. I bought it from Paul Everts RV in Fresno, CA but they said they won't even accept calls from customers for service problems. They insist you bring it in first--over 600 miles away.

Anyway, I would really appreciate any light or advice that anyone can give me on this, preferably ASAP, as we are in limbo and can't really even stay in the RV at this point. So we have to stay in a motel until we find out way.

Thanks

Doug
 
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Old 04-28-2021, 08:56 PM   #2
hemiallen
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I would give RV travelworld a call

Roseville, CA
916-770-4242

A long shot, but they said they will work on keystone's purchased from other sales places.

Good luck

Finally going to get lake-worthy temps.

Allen
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Old 04-28-2021, 08:58 PM   #3
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There is a Jim's Mobile RV Repair Service in Westwood, CA, close to the lake, that I would call before having to transport the rig. I have never used this service, but it appears to be a good option considering your situation. The phone number is 530-596-3859.
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Old 04-28-2021, 11:23 PM   #4
Montana Man
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Have you checked to see if the slide selector valves are in the correct position?
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Old 04-29-2021, 04:14 AM   #5
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In addition to the valves, check that your battery(ies) are good. Even on shore power, the hydraulics require good battery power as the converter can't supply the needed power on its own. Also, check your hydraulic fluid. The reservoir should be just under half full with jacks down and slides out. DO NOT add any fluid with your slides out and jacks down. If you fill the reservoir and do get the slides in, the additional fluid will overflow the tank and make a mess. Just make sure the tank isn't empty. That would indicate a leak somewhere.
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Old 04-29-2021, 11:07 AM   #6
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Not sure, but I think you can move the slides with a open-end wrench. There is a square bar running from one side (with the hydraulic) to the other. This should move the slide. Perhaps somehow the rubber seals are stuck to the wall??? Have you checked on the inside to make sure something isn't blocking the edge of the wall?
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Old 05-02-2021, 08:18 PM   #7
mdmarmd
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Unhappy Update on this Problem

Sorry, I didn't stay on this thread because I had to transition back and forth from the nearest town and I didn't have a link for a day.

So, while I was at the hotel, I communicated with the Lippert tech who was very helpful. I found out from Keystone that my slide out mechanism is a Lippert hydraulic system.

I told the technician that there was a terrible grating sound coming from beneath the floor in either direction. It got so loud I was afraid to keep on the switch because I thought it was going to destroy something. He told me that if my system is hydraulic, there should be nothing underneath that would generate such a sound. He said there were no motors and he suspected I was hearing the hydraulic pump straining. I couldn't believe this because both I and my friend were sure the direction of the sound came from under the RV. The next day I returned to the RV, and surprise. Sure, enough the pump in the forward compartment was where the noise was coming from. It makes an awful, high pitched screeching sound with high pitched clicking.

Another surprise was when I retried the switch, the kitchen side went out slowly and haltingly and at the end the interior led lights dimmed. That made me think the battery might be undercharged even though the panel read 14.4 volts. So, I exchanged it for my 60 lb. agm boat battery that I knew was good. The slide out went out, maybe a little bit faster, but at the end the system voltage dipped enough to reboot the In-Command control panel. So just to completely rule out a battery problem, I parallel jump cabled my 80 lb. trolling motor batter to the 60. It still did not push the living room out. There was no hint of movement at any time.

So, the problem is one slide out goes out slowly and draws a huge number of amps and the other slide out doesn't have a hint of movement. Since the pump is working, it's not a power problem and hydraulic pressure is getting to the ram, at least for one side. The Lippert technician said there are a pair of lines for each side, but I have not been able to isolate where these are. The orange line from the pump goes to a block take feeds three valves, but I think they are for the leveling system. One may go up into the ceiling of the compartment but I can't follow it to the slide out area. A black line from the pump goes to a block that is coupled to four lines. It has no valves.

I saw a you tube that showed a guy using a large crescent wrench to manually turn the gears that engage the racks. But I am afraid to try that since I don't know exactly why that living room slide out doesn't move at all. Is it a lack of hydraulic pressure or is it some mechanical obstruction?

Anyway, the silver lining was that getting the kitchen out meant the RV was at least functional if not cramped. We have lights, water heat, bathroom and bedroom. Just can't use the dinette set. We are using the side-by-side lounge chairs so we can eat there and watch the media center. I read that you should not get on the retracted slide outs because the only rest on a plywood floor that is not supported when retracted. I layered some thin wooden slates and a sheet of 1/4 inch acrylic that I had laying around. pushing them fairly deep under the floor so the floor would be supported well enough for us to sit on the chairs (I hope).

Anyway, that is where things are now. I can't find a mobile repair guy to come out here and there are some in Reno, but I don't think they come out this far. I may have to live with this and tow it someplace at the end of the season.

At least, with one slide out extended we don't have to just turn around and drive 5.5 hours home, and lose out on the whole season here.

I am going to keep trying to find a mobile repair service, but they all seemed booked out to July, or they won't come this far.
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Old 05-02-2021, 09:07 PM   #8
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I am guessing here, but this sure sounds like the 12 volt breaker that feeds power to the pump motor is one of the cheap 50 amp auto reset breakers and may be about to totally fail. If this is what is feeding the pump, you should probably replace the one breaker that feeds the pump and the inside panel with an 80 amp breaker like Lippert says should be installed. The photos below show what the cheap breaker looks like, without the red protector cap, and what the preferred 80 amp breaker looks like. Another photo shows the breaker installed in our rig. The breaker can be a manual reset or an auto reset type. This is the Lippert Lip Sheet 0058 that specs out the approved upgrade. https://manuals.heartlandowners.org/...ippert0058.pdf
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Old 05-02-2021, 09:14 PM   #9
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Doug-- Have you checked the auto reset breaker in the front compartment? It could be that it has gone bad or been fried. Keystone has put either 30 or 50 amp breakers in and Lippert has recommended 80 amp auto reset breakers to be put in it's place. You can go into the Search Engine at the top of the page and key in 80 amp auto reset breaker and you should find multiple posts about this. You can purchase this 80 amp breaker at any auto parts store and it is an easy install.

While I was typing my response Bob was typing also.

I don't believe it but Bob had the same idea and showed you what the problem might be. Two great minds think the same! LOL
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Old 05-03-2021, 03:32 AM   #10
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Also, your hydraulic lines sound just like mine. There are 2 lines that serve the 2 hydraulic slides, one for in and one for out. Another 2 lines serve the 2 front landing gear, and the third set of 2 serve the rear 4 jacks. If you can follow the 2 lines from the valves in your front compartment, you should be able to find the valves that isolate the slides. That may be preventing the other slide from moving.
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Old 05-04-2021, 04:15 PM   #11
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Solved!

So, we were pretty much resigned to living in the cramped RV until the mobile repair guy could come on June 29th. But at least we could stay up here.

Then, this morning the guy calls and said he's in the camp. He had some other jobs to do at Almanor and he thought he would at least stop by and get a sense of what this job involves.

Turns out it was a simple fix. There are two knobs under the LCI panel on the outside that controls the leveling ramps. These two valves control the slide outs so that if you were somewhere where you only could put one out, you could close the other one. I recall reading about them but never touched them.

The Lippert technician had told me to check the slide out valves but I thought he was referring to the bank of three valves near the pump, and none were labeled so I didn't know which were to the slide outs or the leveling system. I thought the outside panel was all for the auto leveling system and forgot that there were two valves there...Duh!

Before we came up, one of the neighbors called Kathryn to say she was out walking and heard a beeping from our rig. Her husband came over and turned something off.

It turns out that he must have turned these two switches to the off position. That meant both valves to the slide out were closed and so they wouldn't move and the pump was way overloaded. The repairman thought maybe the high pressure pushed through a seal and was able to push the kitchen out, or maybe that valve was open a little bit.

So, the repairman just turned them to open and the slide out went right out.

I asked him how much for his time and he said $150, and I gave him $250 because we were so relieved that he came out early, so it was worth it for us. If we had to tow it for repair, it would cost $1000-1200 probably just for the round trip tow.

So this little crises is solved.

PS--I see that in the second reply in this thread, Montana Man had the right thought. Unlike most of you, I really don't do much except live in my RV, so dealing with these valves didn't register with me as I never faced having to use them.
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Old 05-04-2021, 04:37 PM   #12
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Glad you got a premature solution. That's great news.
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Old 05-04-2021, 07:28 PM   #13
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Glad it is fixed and thanks for the follow up. The advice on changing that breaker to 80 amps is good. It will save you grief some day.
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Old 05-06-2021, 08:51 AM   #14
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This is a good story and a reminder to all of us to check the "easy" things first. "mdmard's" friend sure did not do him a service by not telling him that he had turned the valve selectors off. Something about a road paved with good intentions?
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Old 05-06-2021, 09:02 AM   #15
richeyb
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Any chance,of,sharing a picture of this valve switch that were the issue? Maybe a better explanation of where they are.
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Old 05-06-2021, 01:33 PM   #16
mdmarmd
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I don't fault my friend at all for trying to be helpful. We are a close community of friends and try to look out for each others stuff when the other is away. As I wrote, they heard a beeping sound coming from the RV and the husband came over to investigate. The Panel door was unlocked so he looked at it and saw the two valves that were marked OD and ODS and OFF. Since they are under the Auto Leveling Panel it would be easy to conclude they needed to be switched off. He does not have a newer, RV with this type of amenity so he did a common sense thing. His wife did report back to my wife that he "turned it off". I recall being a little puzzled since I knew that the panel turns itself off after a brief period but didn't think more of it at the time.

I'm the one that should have known about this since it's my RV and, looking at the valves as I attach the picture, "Hydraulic Room Control" is written plainly below the knobs.

My problem was, though I recall reading somewhere about what those knobs were for, that was back in 2017 when I bought the RV, it didn't seem relevant to me at the time since I'd never move the RV myself and didn't foresee a need to turn off one or the other slide out.

When the current problem occurred my focus was centered on the forward compartment where the pump and all the hydraulic valves and lines are located. I never thought to look at the side panel as I associated that purely with the leveling system.

Anyway, it is a good lesson for future newbies. I will attach a picture of the leveling panel as requested. It is located on the driver side around the corner from the front compartment.

I am still not sure what the beeping was about, any ideas?

Also, I mentioned that I had seen "Travel Lockout On" written in red across each item on the InCommand panel when I first opened it up. Never seen it before. It turned off when I pushed the unlock option. But I kept thinking it must have some significance to the slide out problem--association with the two events seemed too much to be a coincidence. Does anyone know if turning your slide out valves to the off position will trigger that warning on the control panel?

Doug
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Old 05-06-2021, 01:40 PM   #17
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The "Travel Lock Engaged" notice on the iN-Command screen will remain there after towing until you press "disengage," which you would have to do before you could operate the slide control. Glad you are back in business!
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Old 05-06-2021, 01:45 PM   #18
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I don't have the In Command, so I can't speak to it. The only thing I can think of beeping, unless it has to do with the In Command, would be smoke alarm or CO detector, or the inverter for the fridge if you have a residential fridge. Nothing else on my unit beeps that I'm aware of.
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