FIXED -Livingroom Slide - Montana Owners Club

bw2 · 08-08-2011, 11:01 AM

2006 3400RL: OK, it must be my turn. I just posted about the front AC and a water dripping issue. NOW, my living room slide will not slide out. The pump is working, the slide will slide part of the way and then labor and sloowly slide out. But not all the way out. I can hand twist the rod/rail between the two gears and help it complete sliding out. The slide WILL slide back in with no assistance. My thought, the slide is sliding out "crooked" and pinching the slide mechanisim? I see the nuts on the end plate of the rails, I am thinking of loosening them and adjusting the slide on the side to side alignment. Any thoughts or ideas will be appreciated. The fuses is NOT blowing, I have assured there is plenty of fluid in the resevoir.

UPDATE: YEAH! Lippert replaced the cylinder this morning and all is right again. For those who know Ron from Trail-aire, he is now at Lippert. He is the lead tech for Level-up and also performs other repair as well.

Art-n-Marge · 08-08-2011, 12:35 PM

It does sound like the slide out is out of adjustment. It wouldn't be unusual for the slideout to extend or retract differently like when my slides used to stutter when my circuit breakers were underrated. Those are my thoughts, unfortunately, other than reading how to adjust the slides in the manual some time ago I have never actually done it, so I am out of ideas.

Others have posted how to and hopefully they will post soon.

snfexpress · 08-08-2011, 12:46 PM

See my post here.

bobsals · 08-08-2011, 01:47 PM

Just a thought, if the slide is not binding on either side, the slide topper wouldn't be seizing up, would it?

snfexpress · 08-08-2011, 02:09 PM

The slide topper material, in my opinion would rip (or another part of the mechanism) because of the tremendous force exerted by the hydraulic ram.

Question: when running out your slide, when it stops does the pump lower in pitch like it does when you are at the end of the stroke of the ram?

dieselguy · 08-08-2011, 06:53 PM

Assuming there is no binding since you say you can help it by turning the balance shaft and it retracts OK ... This is just an alternate thought ... There are two opposing lip seals on the piston in your ram ... perhaps the seal on the extend side is failing but not the seal on the retract side. This scenerio would account for the ability to retract, but not to sucessfully extend.

bw2 · 08-09-2011, 03:00 PM

Michael,

I had to work on the stick house bathtub/shower today. The water faucet went and failed. So spent the day removing the panels to gain access and replacing the faucet and re-plumbing! IT IS NOT MY WEEK!

The pump motor does not increase pitch until I reach the end of the piston stroke. Again with hand assistance to extend all the way. I am contemplating swapping the hose between valves to see if the valve is bad at the pump. My thought is the valve is open for the extend (orange hose), but the return path is on the "black" hose which is common?

snfexpress · 08-10-2011, 03:55 AM

I like DG's opinion. Makes sense with the information we have.

bw2 · 08-10-2011, 01:22 PM

UPDATE: Ok, I used The Lippert Hydraulic Slide-out and Hydraulic Landing Gear System and Operation Service Manual, page 23, trouble shooting a bad cylinder. It indicates closing the slide, loosen the hose from the manifold (extend) port. If more than a few drops, the internal cylinder is leaking.

I loosened the hose and fluid flowed, not a few drops. So, it appears I have a bad seal on the cylinder for the living room slide.

Has anyone else read this manual and came up with the same conclusion?

Thanks everyone for your comments and direction.

bw2

Bob

dieselguy · 08-10-2011, 03:08 PM

We use the test Lippert describes often in the field troubleshooting hyd cylinders. Just to be sure we're on the same page ... after extending the slide full travel, you loosened the line on the rod end of the cylinder not the frame mounted end, then operated the slide pump in the extend mode. If more than a few drops (as in small stream) ooze out while the pump is running ... the lip seal is shot on one or both sides of the cylinder. Don't run the pump any longer than is necessary to make a determination. Assuming you've already dropped part of the belly pan to loosen the hose, replacing the cylinder is simple. Be sure and measure the spacing of the 1 1/4" nuts on the threaded end before disassembly ... this will get you close as far as stroke adjustments when it all goes back together. Cycling the slide in and out about 3 times will automatcally bleed the air from the system. I know the Lippert manual is talking retract instead of extend, but either way, you're checking for the same thing, leakage past the piston seals on the cylinder. I prefer to make my checks at the cylinder itself if possible.

bw2 · 08-15-2011, 03:40 AM

UPDATE: I verified the test with Lippert and it appears the seal is leaking on the piston. I have an appt. for next week to have the piston replaced. Thanks to all for your help!

bw2 · 08-24-2011, 11:09 AM

YEAH! Lippert replaced the cylinder this morning and all is right again. For those who know Ron from Trail-aire, he is now at Lippert. He is the lead tech for Level-up and also performs other repair as well.

wingerphil · 08-24-2011, 04:18 PM

Bob,

Do you have any contact info for Ron? He installed a trail air pin box for me and I have a concern with it I would like to run by him. I tried calling Lipert and talking to their "service help" but they were pretty clueless.

Thanks,

Phil

01RAMer · 08-30-2011, 08:14 AM

When you say your having the piston replaced, your talking about having the cylinder repacked, correct?

01RAMer · 08-30-2011, 08:16 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by bw2

YEAH! Lippert replaced the cylinder this morning and all is right again. For those who know Ron from Trail-aire, he is now at Lippert. He is the lead tech for Level-up and also performs other repair as well.

Are these cylinder not able to be repacked??? If nothibng is broken, repacking is very cheap!

dieselguy · 08-30-2011, 03:47 PM

Mine were opposing lip seals on the piston ... Lippert sells you the whole cylinder ... I'd imagine with some investigation, you could locate the seal numbers. Sadly where I work, several of the new cylinders we get for our machines are "use em till they fail" then throw them away as they are not repairable. Ahhhh the evolving world that we live in.

bw2 · 08-31-2011, 03:37 AM

Yes, they replaced the cylinder, my bad on "piston"

You may also like: