Slide hydraulic leak on '05 Journey

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casualemt

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 30, 2015
Posts
107
Location
Whidbey Island, WA
Hi all, The good news is that I love the Journey, just returned from a 4200mi trek to Missouri and back, with only 1 rock ding in the windshield, and a pesky hydraulic leak in the bedroom slide. I want to dig in and get the leak fixed, has anybody taken the ram out of the bedroom slide? Any suggestions? I am thinking this may have been a result of the exhaust leak I had last year, that got things really hot in that area (see previous posts).
Thanks in advance!

edit by staff - changed message icon to topic solved
 
Found it! Thanks John..

The extraction of the bedroom cylinder involved removing the house batteries from the battery tray and removing a metal panel behind the tray to expose the inboard end of the cylinder. It also exposed a hornet nest of hydraulic lines and retaining bolts holding the cylinder in place. This is not an easy place to be working with tools. The outboard end is then disconnected and the cylinder is then removed through the house battery tray. After repairing/replacing the whole process is repeated in reverse.

Ooh, can't wait to get off work and dig into this!!!
 
Yeah, it's going to be a mess. Over the past few years I've had to replace all of the hydraulic lines on my loader and then have the lift cylinders rebuilt. Get some disposable nitrile gloves and some oil pads (or absorbent pads like used on a bed.) With all of my precautions I usually manage to soak part of me in hydraulic fluid  ::).
 
Thanks John, it's already been a mess with hydraulic oil leaking all over the power cord, in the cabinet, running down the side of the Motorhome spraying back on the toad....thank god for LP paint..yup, a real mess!
 
Please take lots of pix!!!
I know that plate well. All my house 12V interconnect is in that path (but higher) to extract the ram through the plate, but it don't look like no fun...
 
Hi All, I have successfully removed the leaking hydraulic ram from the bedroom slide...there are 2 rams, one is inside a steel square pipe, that's the one that leaked.

Unplug the coach from AC power, turn off the battery main switch before you dig into it.....The process is this: have the room extended. Open the pressure relief nuts on the hydraulic valves, just like you would if the system failed and you had to manually push in the bump out. Look under the bump out and see the hole in the square pipe, remove the nut and lock washer that holds the ram to the pipe.

Go inside the room, lift the bed, look in the hole in the floor behind the electrical panel, and you can see the end of the square pipe, with 2 hydraulic fittings on it. That is a steel cap that is bolted to the end of the square pipe by 2 nuts on studs that are welded to the pipe. I used a socket wrench to take the nuts off to remove the end plate. At this point the end plate with the ram attached will slide out of the square pipe, I was then able to get at the hydraulic lines to remove them.

The ram is held on to the end plate with a 1 1/4" nut..with what I believe to be loctite..that MFer fought me all the way to the end to come off!! I wish I had a socket that size. I ended up using 2 pipe wrenches, one to hold the ram at the very base next to the plate, and the other to turn that damn big nut!! 

Here's the rub....it all sounds so straight forward until you realize all this activity is going on while you are bent over the end of the bed cabinetry working through a hole in the floor about 6"x6", and there are a crapload of wires going through that hole to the main electrical panel! When you finish getting the plate off the ram, go outside to the battery compartment, remove the house batteries, if you enjoy eating as much as I do, take the tray out too, or get a skinny or small person that can operate a cordless drill and have them wiggle in on top of the battery tray.

Now at the top of the metal box behind the battery tray is a plate that has 4 fasteners, those are aluminum rivets that are easily drilled out with a 1/4" drill bit. Mine had a little surprise, as there is another plate below it that is fastened by screws from the inside, one of which went into the access plate I was trying to get off. An easy matter to access from inside and remove the one screw to get that top plate off. Once that plate is off, and all the other BS is unbolted, the ram slides right on out through the battery area.

WARNING!! When you remove the ram, it is at approximately face level, and if the ram shaft gets caught on anything when you are pulling it out, it will freely move, ejecting hydraulic oil out through the fittings facing you...how do I know that??? Luckily I wear glasses!  (Note by John - it would be a great idea to wear full coverage chemical type safety glasses.)

I have learned a couple of other lessons I might pass on here...probably should open the pressure relief nuts on the hydraulic valves before removing any hydraulic fittings from the ram..I didnt, and ended up with a spray of oil, and because the other ram still had pressure in it, when I opened the line, it caused the ram to retract the room about 10", freaked me out..also, get a butt load of rags to stuff in the bottom of that compartment to soak up all that hydraulic oil you will get all over inside there...

Trying to remove the house battery tray is a major PITA, so if you have a small or thin person that can operate a cordless drill, you may only need to remove the batteries, and they can wiggle in and drill out the 4 aluminum rivets holding on the access plate behind the battery tray. I used a ton of patience to get all that stuff disconnected through that hole, I also used a bunch of wire ties to try to get all the wires out of the way as best I could. I removed as much of the cabinet under the bed as I could, and when having to hold the ram and remove the big nut, I found it was easiest to get under the bed, and do it from that side.

There were times I wanted to just say screw it, but I just kept thinking "who the heck am I going to get that knows anything more about this anyway?" Oh yeah, also the rear bump out is out, so I'm not driving it anywhere anyway! 
I'm now trying to get a replacement ram, but HWH won't call you back.

So there you have it! I was going to take pictures, but just wasn't in the mood after working for a couple of days leaning over on my knees working through a little hole. Ugh!

Bottom line is, its doable without fancy tools, but if you have a good RV repair shop, plenty of time and money, get them to do it, it is a pain in the ass!

edit by staff - broke up one very long paragraph for ease of reading
 
Good job Rich, wow what a PITA.  I'm going to make a link to your post in our Resources thread sticky. Forgot to mention, taking pictures or video during a project requires quite a bit of discipline - it's really difficult to stop when you are dirty or focused on a task.
 
Rich,
Thanks for the"walk thru" for removing the cylinder. We have one on our '04 Journey that has a little drip every now and then. I think  I will just wipe up the little spot of oil for now, after reading the "fix".
We just returned from HWH for the nylon glides replacement on the large slide. We will probably have them do the bedroom slide cylinder when the time comes. The days of getting into those spaces are over for me. If it's not pretty easy to get to, I pay to have it done. HWH was very reasonable on the charges and were very efficient in getting the job done in a reasonable amount of time.
Keep up the good work.
Good Luck,
Indiana Journey
 
I wish there was an authorized repair facility near me, I would have had them do it in a heartbeat! But I live north of Seattle Washington, and the closest authorized facility is either in San Diego, or Texas, or Iowa...that's a long ways away! That would be about a 2 week trip, and I had hydraulic oil running down the side of the coach, flipping back all over the toad...what a mess.
Oh BTW, mine started as a small couple of drips leak too...

Thanks for the edit John, it does make it easier to read, and the bold type really emphasizes the warning.
 
BTW, HWH parts finally called me back, said they were slammed, time of the year and all. The parts gal was very nice, said they had the ram in stock, $167, they would ship right away ??

Also, when I took the batteries out, the fridge was running, didn't realize it till I heard it stop when I disconnected the cables. Well, put one battery in temporarily till I get the new ram, and the fridge no worky!
Checked the search here on the forum, found out about the black box with the red light, the norcold recall fix. Got a magnet and stuck it on the box and it reset.....fridge works as normal now! Thanks RV Forum!!
 
Just thought I'd take the time to finish this post. HWH did good, the new ram showed up 3 days after ordering it. I had a problem trying to release the bypass nuts on the hydraulic valves, and the slide was about 1/2 way out. I decided to unbolt the rear ram from the slide, and extend the slide manually. That worked great, and was not that hard to pull it out to full extension. After successfully getting the new ram installed, I had the wife inside pushing the extend switch, while I was outside lining up the 2 rams into the bolt brackets on the slide. My wife was easily able to hear me from outside, and just played the switch as needed so I could guide them into the brackets. The whole thing finished easy peasey, and I am thrilled to have it fixed.
Now, on to another project....BULL,!! Let's go on another trip!!!! Oh yeah!
 
casualemt said:
I wish there was an authorized repair facility near me, I would have had them do it in a heartbeat! But I live north of Seattle Washington, and the closest authorized facility is either in San Diego, or Texas, or Iowa......
Glad you got 'er done, thanks for checking in. I wanted to mention you can take your unit to the old Country Coach facility that Winnebago bought a while back. While they are primarily doing CC service, some techs are getting trained on Winnebago products.

As a side note, when we had lunch with the VP of Strategic Planning, one of the topics we brought up was the need/desire to have regional factory service centers since most dealers provide unsatisfactory service.
 
The ram is held on to the end plate with a 1 1/4" nut..with what I believe to be loctite..that MFer fought me all the way to the end to come off!! I wish I had a socket that size. I ended up using 2 pipe wrenches, one to hold the ram at the very base next to the plate, and the other to turn that damn big nut!! 

Just FYI,
To tame the red loctite just heat it with a hair dryer, or other safe source. It will turn to liquid and can then be easily removed.
 
staggerlee said:
..To tame the red loctite just heat it with a hair dryer, or other safe source. It will turn to liquid and can then be easily removed.
Exactly, red Locktite needs heat, blue doesn't. I rarely use red on fasteners.
 
Hi All, I have successfully removed the leaking hydraulic ram from the bedroom slide...there are 2 rams, one is inside a steel square pipe, that's the one that leaked.

Unplug the coach from AC power, turn off the battery main switch before you dig into it.....The process is this: have the room extended. Open the pressure relief nuts on the hydraulic valves, just like you would if the system failed and you had to manually push in the bump out. Look under the bump out and see the hole in the square pipe, remove the nut and lock washer that holds the ram to the pipe.

Go inside the room, lift the bed, look in the hole in the floor behind the electrical panel, and you can see the end of the square pipe, with 2 hydraulic fittings on it. That is a steel cap that is bolted to the end of the square pipe by 2 nuts on studs that are welded to the pipe. I used a socket wrench to take the nuts off to remove the end plate. At this point the end plate with the ram attached will slide out of the square pipe, I was then able to get at the hydraulic lines to remove them.

The ram is held on to the end plate with a 1 1/4" nut..with what I believe to be loctite..that MFer fought me all the way to the end to come off!! I wish I had a socket that size. I ended up using 2 pipe wrenches, one to hold the ram at the very base next to the plate, and the other to turn that damn big nut!!

Here's the rub....it all sounds so straight forward until you realize all this activity is going on while you are bent over the end of the bed cabinetry working through a hole in the floor about 6"x6", and there are a crapload of wires going through that hole to the main electrical panel! When you finish getting the plate off the ram, go outside to the battery compartment, remove the house batteries, if you enjoy eating as much as I do, take the tray out too, or get a skinny or small person that can operate a cordless drill and have them wiggle in on top of the battery tray.

Now at the top of the metal box behind the battery tray is a plate that has 4 fasteners, those are aluminum rivets that are easily drilled out with a 1/4" drill bit. Mine had a little surprise, as there is another plate below it that is fastened by screws from the inside, one of which went into the access plate I was trying to get off. An easy matter to access from inside and remove the one screw to get that top plate off. Once that plate is off, and all the other BS is unbolted, the ram slides right on out through the battery area.

WARNING!! When you remove the ram, it is at approximately face level, and if the ram shaft gets caught on anything when you are pulling it out, it will freely move, ejecting hydraulic oil out through the fittings facing you...how do I know that??? Luckily I wear glasses! (Note by John - it would be a great idea to wear full coverage chemical type safety glasses.)

I have learned a couple of other lessons I might pass on here...probably should open the pressure relief nuts on the hydraulic valves before removing any hydraulic fittings from the ram..I didnt, and ended up with a spray of oil, and because the other ram still had pressure in it, when I opened the line, it caused the ram to retract the room about 10", freaked me out..also, get a butt load of rags to stuff in the bottom of that compartment to soak up all that hydraulic oil you will get all over inside there...

Trying to remove the house battery tray is a major PITA, so if you have a small or thin person that can operate a cordless drill, you may only need to remove the batteries, and they can wiggle in and drill out the 4 aluminum rivets holding on the access plate behind the battery tray. I used a ton of patience to get all that stuff disconnected through that hole, I also used a bunch of wire ties to try to get all the wires out of the way as best I could. I removed as much of the cabinet under the bed as I could, and when having to hold the ram and remove the big nut, I found it was easiest to get under the bed, and do it from that side.

There were times I wanted to just say screw it, but I just kept thinking "who the heck am I going to get that knows anything more about this anyway?" Oh yeah, also the rear bump out is out, so I'm not driving it anywhere anyway!
I'm now trying to get a replacement ram, but HWH won't call you back.

So there you have it! I was going to take pictures, but just wasn't in the mood after working for a couple of days leaning over on my knees working through a little hole. Ugh!

Bottom line is, its doable without fancy tools, but if you have a good RV repair shop, plenty of time and money, get them to do it, it is a pain in the ass!

edit by staff - broke up one very long paragraph for ease of reading
Thanks Man.
I just found this forum looking for the procedure you just described.
I now have 2 months to get this done before a trip to Winthrop over North cross.
 
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