2004 Montana Mountaineer slide outs won’t come in

[Lisa Joy]

We have a 2004 Montana mountaineer 37 foot camper with two individual slide outs on driver side. There is hydraulic fluid underneath the motor however, jumping the solenoid on the motor worked to get the slide out to go out. Now we have to move the camper onto our property and we can’t get the slide outs to go back in Using a hex bit on the end of the motor. It just spins, but nothing comes in. Is there a manual option to bypass the motor since it’s not working. We have to get these slide outs moved in today. There was a bar that we found that looked like it connected Somewhere for a manual crank however there’s no hole anywhere to put it on and we are looking for any fully manual options to get the slide outs in so that we can move our camper that has to be moved today. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Carl n Susan]

Is there hydraulic fluid in the reservoir? If you were able to "jump the solenoid" to run them out, then coming back in (you did reverse the polarity?) should work. I am guessing there is a problem using the switches?

 

[Lisa Joy]

Yes, there is a problem with the switches that the seller told us about. He said that he used a brown wire to slide out and shorted the solenoid on the motor to get it to go out. The hydraulic reservoir is empty so we will have to put more hydraulic fluid in if that is required. We were able to take a crescent wrench to the square bar to be able to come out a little further, but when we use the crescent wrench to go the other way, it’s like it’s completely locked. There’s nothing in the way to keep the slide out from moving it just will not move and using the hex bit on the end of the motor does nothing but spin. Do we need to change polarity and put hydraulic fluid in or is there a way to disable the hydraulic system and manually crank in the slide out? It sounds like you know exactly what we’re going through and hopefully you can help us figure this out so we can move off of the farm where we are renting space and get onto our paid for property and begin our lives. I just wanna cry, but we are hoping somebody can walk us through this process without us having to pay for a service technician to come out and fix this problem.

 

[Carl n Susan]

First, hydraulic fluid is required before anything will work correctly. Use Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) and do not fill the reservoir all the way if the slides are out.

Second, once there is fluid, you can use a drill motor to run the motor and consequently the pump. One direction opens and the other closes. I don't remember which way is which. But it will be obvious.

I am reluctant to tell to jumper the motor not knowing your knowledge of the system. But the solenoid has three posts on it. The center one is 12V power. The left causes the motor to rotate one direction. The right one cause the motor to operate n the other direction. The change in direction of rotation is what determines opening or closing.

I am guessing the "Brown wire' the dealer supplied jumps the center post to either the left or right posts. But is doesn't matter if you don't have sufficient hydraulic fluid in the reservoir.

The square bar is driven by a hydraulic ram. It the ram is good (and apparently it is) you won't be able to turn the bar and overcome the ram's pressure to move the slide. You can cut a 3 sided flap in the coroplast and detach the ram which will allow the slide to be pushed in. Be sure to block it in place before you move as as easy as it came in. it *WILL* come out!

The safest route is to call someone who knows RV hydraulic systems. There are things there that don't react well to unknowledgeable tinkering.

 

[Lisa Joy]

Thank you SO MUCH for this explanation! You made the description so clear on what we think the problem is and what we need to do. It looks like there may have been a leak of hydraulic fluid somewhere and by putting some more fluid in I think we will be able to get things working. My husband and I are going to try that option was some hydraulic fluid after we get up and see what works. Your help and explanation is so greatly appreciated! Will let you know how it goes!

 

[Lisa Joy]

First, hydraulic fluid is required before anything will work correctly. Use Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) and do not fill the reservoir all the way if the slides are out.

Second, once there is fluid, you can use a drill motor to run the motor and consequently the pump. One direction opens and the other closes. I don't remember which way is which. But it will be obvious.

I am reluctant to tell to jumper the motor not knowing your knowledge of the system. But the solenoid has three posts on it. The center one is 12V power. The left causes the motor to rotate one direction. The right one cause the motor to operate n the other direction. The change in direction of rotation is what determines opening or closing.

I am guessing the "Brown wire' the dealer supplied jumps the center post to either the left or right posts. But is doesn't matter if you don't have sufficient hydraulic fluid in the reservoir.

The square bar is driven by a hydraulic ram. It the ram is good (and apparently it is) you won't be able to turn the bar and overcome the ram's pressure to move the slide. You can cut a 3 sided flap in the coroplast and detach the ram which will allow the slide to be pushed in. Be sure to block it in place before you move as as easy as it came in. it *WILL* come out!

The safest route is to call someone who knows RV hydraulic systems. There are things there that don't react well to unknowledgeable tinkering.

We added ATF fluid to make sure there was enough. We attempted using the hex bit and we do get resistance going counterclockwise when trying to push the slide outs out, and they are still fully extended. When we change the direction to clockwise to bring the slide outs in we get no resistance. We see the three posts on the top of the solenoid and we know how to short or jump with a screwdriver the first two post to get the motor to go out but jumping the middle and the back post doesn’t do anything but spark and doesn’t bring the slide outs back in. We have three wires running from the switch to the motor that are red green and yellow and I can show you those pictures. Can you explain again how to change polarity with the wires?

 

[Lisa Joy]

First, hydraulic fluid is required before anything will work correctly. Use Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) and do not fill the reservoir all the way if the slides are out.

Second, once there is fluid, you can use a drill motor to run the motor and consequently the pump. One direction opens and the other closes. I don't remember which way is which. But it will be obvious.

I am reluctant to tell to jumper the motor not knowing your knowledge of the system. But the solenoid has three posts on it. The center one is 12V power. The left causes the motor to rotate one direction. The right one cause the motor to operate n the other direction. The change in direction of rotation is what determines opening or closing.

I am guessing the "Brown wire' the dealer supplied jumps the center post to either the left or right posts. But is doesn't matter if you don't have sufficient hydraulic fluid in the reservoir.

The square bar is driven by a hydraulic ram. It the ram is good (and apparently it is) you won't be able to turn the bar and overcome the ram's pressure to move the slide. You can cut a 3 sided flap in the coroplast and detach the ram which will allow the slide to be pushed in. Be sure to block it in place before you move as as easy as it came in. it *WILL* come out!

The safest route is to call someone who knows RV hydraulic systems. There are things there that don't react well to unknowledgeable tinkering.

And also, we can see the hydraulic ram rod for each slide out, and it has a double nut system on one end and a triple nut system on the other end. If we decide to go with removing the ram rod, do we have to drain the hydraulic fluid from the lines 1st before attempting to do that, or is there enough play that the ramrods won’t fully expand and cause damage or injury? If we can’t get the polarity switched with this next try, we’re gonna take off the ramrods and manually slide it in and block it, but I’m just not sure how much pressure the ramrods are under if weback the triple nut system off of the end while it’s still hooked up to the hydraulic lines. If that makes sense. Picture of each end of the hydraulic ram line included.

 

[Lisa Joy]

Both ends of hydraulic ram line from slide out

 

[Lisa Joy]

First, hydraulic fluid is required before anything will work correctly. Use Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) and do not fill the reservoir all the way if the slides are out.

Second, once there is fluid, you can use a drill motor to run the motor and consequently the pump. One direction opens and the other closes. I don't remember which way is which. But it will be obvious.

I am reluctant to tell to jumper the motor not knowing your knowledge of the system. But the solenoid has three posts on it. The center one is 12V power. The left causes the motor to rotate one direction. The right one cause the motor to operate n the other direction. The change in direction of rotation is what determines opening or closing.

I am guessing the "Brown wire' the dealer supplied jumps the center post to either the left or right posts. But is doesn't matter if you don't have sufficient hydraulic fluid in the reservoir.

The square bar is driven by a hydraulic ram. It the ram is good (and apparently it is) you won't be able to turn the bar and overcome the ram's pressure to move the slide. You can cut a 3 sided flap in the coroplast and detach the ram which will allow the slide to be pushed in. Be sure to block it in place before you move as as easy as it came in. it *WILL* come out!

The safest route is to call someone who knows RV hydraulic systems. There are things there that don't react well to unknowledgeable tinkering.

We added a couple of replies and pictures below

 

[Lisa Joy]

First, hydraulic fluid is required before anything will work correctly. Use Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) and do not fill the reservoir all the way if the slides are out.

Second, once there is fluid, you can use a drill motor to run the motor and consequently the pump. One direction opens and the other closes. I don't remember which way is which. But it will be obvious.

I am reluctant to tell to jumper the motor not knowing your knowledge of the system. But the solenoid has three posts on it. The center one is 12V power. The left causes the motor to rotate one direction. The right one cause the motor to operate n the other direction. The change in direction of rotation is what determines opening or closing.

I am guessing the "Brown wire' the dealer supplied jumps the center post to either the left or right posts. But is doesn't matter if you don't have sufficient hydraulic fluid in the reservoir.

The square bar is driven by a hydraulic ram. It the ram is good (and apparently it is) you won't be able to turn the bar and overcome the ram's pressure to move the slide. You can cut a 3 sided flap in the coroplast and detach the ram which will allow the slide to be pushed in. Be sure to block it in place before you move as as easy as it came in. it *WILL* come out!

The safest route is to call someone who knows RV hydraulic systems. There are things there that don't react well to unknowledgeable tinkering.

Do we have to drain the hydraulic system before removing the hydraulic ram bars?

 

[Carl n Susan]

One other thought. Do you have a hydraulic manifold under the pump? It will have a couple of knobs that close the hydraulic circuits to individual slides. That way you can keep one slide for moving while operating the others. I doubt this as the slides go out. If the valves were in play, the slides shouldn't move at all. Check out this Thread; Battery

There being no resistance when trying to retract the slides is not good. I suspect a broken hose in the return circuit. Did you notice the hydraulic fluid level going down as you tried to retract? Is there a pool of hydraulic fluid or major sagging of the coroplast after trying to retract? Not knowing how empty the reservoir was and how much air was introduced in the line, it could take numerous cycles of in and out to clear the air out. But as you can't get it to go in, that is a challenge.

You say the dealer sold this to you knowing the slide switches didn't work. They provided a "magic" wire to extend the slides but no information on every retracting them. I am reluctant to suggest further tricks as there are some expensive parts there (pump motor = ~$$900 / Reverse Polarity Switch ~$100 / DPDT switch ~$50 / and more). Have you asked them for help?

As for the rams, they are going to be hard/impossible to move while while hydraulic pressure exists. Those "nuts on the exposed ram are adjustments for how far the slide comes in and goes out. Removing the nuts means*YOU* will have to adjust those distances yourself later. Yet something else to learn under pressure. And even if you disconnect the rams, they wont move while pressure exists. They will stick out as they do now and be a problem even if the slide avoids them.

If you are determined to do this yourself, not knowing what you don't know, disconnect the hydraulic lines connected to the rams. This will allow the hydraulic fluid to escape, thereby reducing the resistance and creating a mess. But theoretically, it will allow a group of folks to push the slides in/out. You can buy caps and plugs for the hoses and rams to try and minimize the loss of fluid. Look here: Disconnecting a Hydraulic Hose ???