Slide Won't Retract

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John Hilley

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 11, 2009
Posts
1,949
Location
Buxton, ND
Our greastest fear materialized today. We were going to head home this morning. The rear slide came in fine, but the living room slide didn't move. It is a HWH hydraulic system with a flat floor slide. I used the manual proceedure to draw it in with the lug wrench. You are supposed to unscrew the 1/4" nut on the end of the solenoid. I located two solenoids on the drivers side of the pump reservoir and opened both of them. After talking to Frank at HWH I found out there are two opposite those. They are almost inaccesable. After opening the two that I could access I tried cranking it in. Taking turns on front and after pulling in about 1" the back head broke off where the threaded rod had been drilled for a pin. It is an ACME thread, so a coupling is out as a fix.

I have tried to get a mobile mechanic, but the soonest one can come out is on Monday.

We are NW of Fort Worth near Alvord, TX.

edit by staff - changed message icon to topic solved
 
On my 03 Ultimate, the four solenoids on the visible side of the tank are the jack solenoids. The slide solenoids are on the back side. My hydraulic tank is on the driver side just behind the lounge slide. I don't know about a manual procedure involving a wrench ? mine says to use the provided winch but I have no idea what we would hook it to.  I have heard of folks getting several guys to push the slide in, or even putting some padding between the slide and a vehicle, and using the vehicle to push the slide in.

It doesn't take much of a turn to open the solenoids.  If you try to turn it too far you will break off the screw ? been there done that trying to get jacks up. Mobile guy that came out loosened a hydraulic hose and used a container to catch the fluid that leaked out as the jacks retracted.
 
On this Adventurer there are eight solenoids, 4 with T handles for the jacks and 4 with 1/4" nuts for the slides. It is a flat floor slide so has to be raised as well as pushed in.
 
Sorry to hear about the slide problem John. I've always had my doubts about how well those threaded rods would work to pull my large flat floor slide in in that situation.
 
Hopefully the mobile mechanic will come on Monday. He said he would try to come today if possible. We will then head to HWH in Moscow, IA. We can then visit our grand children in Hastings and Cold Spring Minnesota on our way from Moscow to North Dakota.
 
I am just curious as to what has failed.  Does the motor for the pump run?  Does the pump run? Have you tried retracting the jacks, or do you not want to try that with the slideout out?
Hopefully, the mobile guy will come out today and get you back in business.
 
The mobile guy didn't come today, thought he would for sure because we left at 2:30PM. Didn't raise the jacks, they don't need the pump. It is the motor that is bad. HWH suggested banging on it while trying to retract. That didn't do it. I am sure the reason the one screw broke is because I didn't have the appropriate solenoid valves open. I can't access what I think are the correct valves without help.
 
Mobile RV Mechanic was here for 3 1/2 hrs. Cracked all of the hydraulic lines. Still couldn't move it. Grafted a 1/2" threaded rod on to the Acme threaded rod that broke. The plate at end of cylinder would bend, but slide wouldn't move. Jacked the slide up. Nothing. Called Winnebago Technical Support. Was on the line over an hour. Tech is convinced that the cylinder must be bent. I tried a 3" strap and ratchet, again the plate bent. Took the end cap off the cylinder assembly, still couldn't budge the cylinder. Tried pushing on cylinder with car. Nothing.

Pulled the front of the slide back to the extended position. Waiting for call from HWH. Winnebago thinks the sylinder may have to be cut out.
 
Ouch. My condolences. At least it was at the end of your vacation
 
Does one end of the slideout seem to want to go in, but stops when that end of the slide gets too far ahead of the other, or do neither of the slide mechanisms seem to want to retract?

Did the mobile mechanic loosen the hoses for both cylinders at the pump or at the cylinder?

I cant imagine having to cut out the cylinder.  The whole slide mechanism can be removed in one piece just by unbolting the attachment points and disconnecting the hoses to the cylinder.

Hopefully, you can get an answer soon.
 
The hoses are loosened at the manifold and the cylinders. The 1/4" nuts on the solenoids are screwed out 4 turns. The fron will go in but I've been careful to no let it get ahead of the the rear. The rear won't budge at all.

Winebago is convinced that the cylinder is bent, I don't know what could have bent it. Winnebago says the cylinder can be removed if you can compress it.

HWH hasn't returned my call. I am hoping they have some ideas.

I guess something is protecting us from the bad weather in North Dakota.
 
I'd recommend that you give Paul Maddox a call at 1-602-549-3638. He lives in Arizona, works for HWH, is active (as azpete) on iRV2.com (and other forums?) and has always been extremely helpful to folks with HWH issues.
 
John Hilley said:
The hoses are loosened at the manifold and the cylinders. The 1/4" nuts on the solenoids are screwed out 4 turns. The fron will go in but I've been careful to no let it get ahead of the the rear. The rear won't budge at all.

Winebago is convinced that the cylinder is bent, I don't know what could have bent it. Winnebago says the cylinder can be removed if you can compress it.

HWH hasn't returned my call. I am hoping they have some ideas.

I guess something is protecting us from the bad weather in North Dakota.
Click to expand...

On the inside of the motorhome, on the end that wont move, is the slideout level with the floor of motorhome, or is the slideout lower than the floor?

Hopefully, you can get this taken care of soon!
 
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