Slide out motor

[Croninj]

We have a 2000 Montana Trailer that has been faithful to us since we bought it new. This week the slide out stuck and the repair shop said we need a new motor, but none are available in the old style.

I need to know how to manually disengage the slide out and how to remove the motor for repair. There is not much information online for this classic trailer. Any help is appreciated.

We are leaving for a road trip to Yellowstone in two weeks-so a working slide would be great!

[Carl n Susan]

Welcome to the MOC!

Wow!!!! A 2000 Montana. Knowledge here will be scarce but it does exist. To help us old timers remember; how about a memory refresher?

• What Model do you have?
• How many slides and on what sides>
• How are the slides driven = hydraulic or electric?
• What motor has failed?

As I recall, most model had two slides: dining/LR and bedroom. I thought they were all hydraulic using a pre-Lippert pump/motor. Give us a little more detail on the problem and we should be able suggest solutions (with a little help from our older friends).

[Croninj]

It is actually a 2001 310TBS Montana Mountaineer. (Interestingly it cost $23,775.) It has one long slide in the living area for the dinette and couch that is pretty heavy. It has a plastic ramp that lifts a little as it moves in. It uses a Dewald Hydraulic system. I will try to attach the schematics of the system.
The slide has needed a little push assistance for awhile, but last week would not close at all. Service came out and got it closed by hooking it to his car, but the relays were smoking. They said the motor was bad and not to open it again. The motor is outside under the trailer. We are hoping to remove the motor and get it repaired at an electronics shop since replacements are not available. Our documents don’t detail what exact motor we need.
Also considering manual release of the slide for motor removal and to get us through our September trip.

[Croninj]

There is one additional page of Fitting and Tightening Instructions if needed. The original Dewald phone numbers are out of service.

[Foldbak]

Welcome to the MOC.

Dewald is still in business but I don't think you'll need them for this fix.
https://dewaldfluidpower.com/



I'll let the hydraulic guys chime in.

[rohrmann]

I had our Lippert electric motor on our hydraulic system rebuilt a while back. The motor was totally rebuilt with new brushes, bearings along with being rewound. The service was quick and very reasonable compared to a new motor. I called ahead of sending the motor to them and the fellow I talked to said they rebuild all kinds of motors, DC and AC. They can give you a quote on the phone. https://eurtonelectric.com

[Carl n Susan]

You can disconnect the ram under the slide and close the slide using a come-a-long. I think DaryleS posted how to do that in his video.

[Ttman]

Originally Posted by Croninj

We have a 2000 Montana Trailer that has been faithful to us since we bought it new. This week the slide out stuck and the repair shop said we need a new motor, but none are available in the old style.

I need to know how to manually disengage the slide out and how to remove the motor for repair. There is not much information online for this classic trailer. Any help is appreciated.

We are leaving for a road trip to Yellowstone in two weeks-so a working slide would be great!

This might help. Our Montana is a 2002, so yours should have one of these configurations.

EDIT: This might also help: Replacement motor: https://www.customcylindersint.com/p...-motor-dn11027

[Carl n Susan]

Great find on the Dewald manual and replacement motor! That is some old equipment compared to today but there are members who still have that vintage RV. I added the manual and the link to the motor replacement to the Files Section for future reference.

[BB_TX]

I googled electric motor repair Kalamazoo mi and found 4 electric motor repair shops.

[Croninj]

We did get the motor off. Bushings and power seemed okay. Local shops declined to work on it, but a Grand Rapids shop checked it out and said the torque was okay. We replaced some wiring and the relays that burnt up when the service guy forced it in. Cleaned the tracks-which weren’t too bad because of prior service. Trailer is back together now and working pretty good and ready for our Yellowstone trip this week. I am hoping to get one more season from her before buying a retirement 5th wheel. Hope we get to join you all on the road in a couple years.

[twindman]

Originally Posted by Croninj

We did get the motor off. Bushings and power seemed okay. Local shops declined to work on it, but a Grand Rapids shop checked it out and said the torque was okay. We replaced some wiring and the relays that burnt up when the service guy forced it in. Cleaned the tracks-which weren’t too bad because of prior service. Trailer is back together now and working pretty good and ready for our Yellowstone trip this week. I am hoping to get one more season from her before buying a retirement 5th wheel. Hope we get to join you all on the road in a couple years.

Have fun at Yellowstone! We drove thru from Jackson area to W. Yellowstone a month ago. Be prepared to walk to see anything and probably long waits. At one of the hot springs area with a large parking lot, there were cars parked on the edge of the road for at least 1/2 mile!


I had planned for 9 nights at Fishing Bridge (canceled) and was figuring on going next year. After seeing the crowds I have crossed it off my list. However, I have spent time there probably 4-5 times in the last 16 years and every 4-5 years for the 50 years before (relatives near by), so I don't have much new to see there.