Rthrush
Member
Just bought our 2011 Big Sky 3400RL a few months ago. I'm the type of guy that has to have everything working like an oiled Swiss Watch. Being 14 years old this beautiful 5er has a few little tinker things to fix. One is air in the slide lines. But with the cold weather coming on and a minor glitch in my health, namely a full hip replacement in November 11 and no tow vehicle to set the rig down on to retract all the hydraulics in order to replace the fluid, it just had to wait. So in my fifth week of recovery I'm walking without assistance or contraptions. So back to tinkering I go. Have the rig parked almost all the way in front of the second garage space where the boat is stored, it sorta blocked my first door where my other vehicle is stored. So, I decided to just extend all the slides and wait it out for spring......... But Nooo, my psychosis locked in and I just had to mess with it again. As is the problem the kitchen slide didn't want to seal up, there was about two inches it creeped at the bottom to seal up the slide. And it was only 14 degrees that night before. So, I limped up the steps hit the slide button........."click". Whaaaa!? Battery must be low. Nope it's plugged in to 15amp to 30 to 50. Up front I go by now my hip is furious with me and demands a break, brain says no way we have serious work to do, "tough it out". So, curious how well the manual retract fix works I plug the drill in to the motor and zing. Nothing. Doesn't move. Now the "air in the line" becomes more like a heart attack. That metal contraption in my hip starts cooperating with the deterrent of the mechanisms not working on the 5er. I'm becoming bio-engineered and one with the 5er. Oh great. Brain says, "motor is shot" "thousands out of your fishing funds" and other unpleasant psychotic drummings. But wait. While moving the drill back out of the massive web of hoses that go to "who knows where" and matrix of wiring that function as "who knows what", I noticed the power cable to the motor moved. I had chills run down my spine. Loose connection, THAT'S ALL IT IS, my brain screams to me over my hip screaming that I'm an idiot for not going inside and putting on an ice pack. "Fix it til it breaks" wins out. I tighten up the connection. (it can't be this simple) I hobble to the grand staircase, it seemed, stepped inside, braced myself, said a little prayer, and hit the button. Halleluyah (sp)!!! I almost pee'd myself, it's working. My psychosis of "fix it til it breaks" was purely both satisfied and disappointed that the project was over........for now. The miracle of a simple fix will keep me awake for days now. But since yesterday, the day of the event, I've concluded that my new mechanical part they put in my hip became "one with" the mechanics of my 5er, I've become a bio-engineered part of the camper. Boy will my "fix it til it breaks" psychosis get a kick out of that realization of becoming "one with the machine". Gotta go, time for my meds (obviously). Conclusion: sometimes things just aren't as bad as you think they are and it only takes having a mechanical implement installed into one's body to connect with the mechanics of The Machina. Mental health therapy could now be as simple as torqueing down a 1/2" nut.
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