Slideout not closing - RV-Dreams Community Forum

cherylbrv · RV-Dreams Family Member

Slideout not closing

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

Possibly a "Shear Pin"???

cherylbrv · RV-Dreams Family Member

For the newbie -- what is a shear pin, and where would one find it?

bigboomer · RV-Dreams Family Member

Cheryl, Are these electric cables slides? If they are possibly a cable broke. Are they hydraulic? If they are possibly the hydraulic fluid is low or maybe a line or connection is loose and leaking.

Penny and Paul · RV-Dreams Family Member

Cheryl,

The shear pin is part of the gear assembly that moves the slide. It locks the motor gear to an axel shaft, (or something that performs the same task) which in turn is connected to the mechanism that moves the slide. If the slide meets undue resistance when it tries to move, the shear pin will shear rather than breaking a gear, burning up the motor, or tearing itself to bits. It kind of sacrifices itself coz it's an inexpensive part, and the rest of the works are $$$. When the pin shears, the motor gear can turn, but the axel won't turn because it is no longer locked to the motor gear. Start looking at the motor and go downstream from there. I can't be more specific than that without knowing how your slide is built. It can be a DIY, if your comfortable with doing mechanical work, and have the tools. If you need to have a service guy work on it, the main cost will be labor.

Paul

cheryls-other-half · RV-Dreams Family Member

Penny and Paul wrote:

Cheryl,
The shear pin is part of the gear assembly that moves the slide. It locks the motor gear to an axel shaft, (or something that performs the same task) which in turn is connected to the mechanism that moves the slide. If the slide meets undue resistance when it tries to move, the shear pin will shear rather than breaking a gear, burning up the motor, or tearing itself to bits. It kind of sacrifices itself coz it's an inexpensive part, and the rest of the works are $$$. When the pin shears, the motor gear can turn, but the axel won't turn because it is no longer locked to the motor gear. Start looking at the motor and go downstream from there. I can't be more specific than that without knowing how your slide is built. It can be a DIY, if your comfortable with doing mechanical work, and have the tools. If you need to have a service guy work on it, the main cost will be labor.

Paul

Howdy y'all (we ARE in Florida now, after all!)

Thanks to all.

1) it's a Hydralic slide.
No I didn't check the hydraulic fluid yet.
2) the other two slides (liv room and bedroom) are working fine.
3) I did check the voltage on the RV battery, and it was 13.6 volts.
Have been drydocking for 2 days now (moved yesterday, slides were ok closing).
Can I plug my battery charger/conditioner (100Amp starting) into the RV battery too?

They said no one is available until mondy because of the holiday.
I will try and see what the level of the hydralic fluid (I was told it uses Auto Transmission fluid) in it, but as the other two slides are fine, I agree it sounds like a pin.

Not sure where to look to see if one of the pins sheared off.

Thanks again for your ideas and suggestions..
Meantime, couldn't have happened at a better place (unless my brother actually had a 50 amp circuit for me...)

Cheers and happy 4th to all

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

cheryls-other-half wrote:

1) it's a Hydralic slide.
No I didn't check the hydraulic fluid yet.
2) the other two slides (liv room and bedroom) are working fine.
3) I did check the voltage on the RV battery, and it was 13.6 volts.
They said no one is available until mondy because of the holiday.
I will try and see what the level of the hydralic fluid (I was told it uses Auto Transmission fluid) in it, but as the other two slides are fine, I agree it sounds like a pin.

Not sure where to look to see if one of the pins sheared off.

Thanks again for your ideas and suggestions..
Meantime, couldn't have happened at a better place (unless my brother actually had a 50 amp circuit for me...)

Cheers and happy 4th to all

If the other two slides are working it’s (not likely) the battery. No need to put another battery charger on the batteries.

Based on what you are saying it is probably:

1 – The hydraulic value (next to the pump) isn’t opening to put fluid to the cylinder due to whatever reason - age - loose connection, etc.

2 – Yea, it could be a sheer pin and that's no unusual

3 – If the pump is running when you press the button to close the slide then it is most likely #1

Most hydraulic valves can be opened manually and you can try that when the button is pushed - read the manual as to how to do this.

cheryls-other-half · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bill and Linda wrote:

cheryls-other-half wrote:

1) it's a Hydralic slide.
No I didn't check the hydraulic fluid yet.
2) the other two slides (liv room and bedroom) are working fine.
3) I did check the voltage on the RV battery, and it was 13.6 volts.
They said no one is available until mondy because of the holiday.
I will try and see what the level of the hydralic fluid (I was told it uses Auto Transmission fluid) in it, but as the other two slides are fine, I agree it sounds like a pin.

Not sure where to look to see if one of the pins sheared off.

Thanks again for your ideas and suggestions..
Meantime, couldn't have happened at a better place (unless my brother actually had a 50 amp circuit for me...)

Cheers and happy 4th to all

If the other two slides are working it’s (not likely) the battery. No need to put another battery charger on the batteries.
Based on what you are saying it is probably:
1 – The hydraulic value (next to the pump) isn’t opening to put fluid to the cylinder due to whatever reason - age - loose connection, etc.
2 – Yea, it could be a sheer pin and that's no unusual
3 – If the pump is running when you press the button to close the slide then it is most likely #1
Most hydraulic valves can be opened manually and you can try that when the button is pushed - read the manual as to how to do this.

Interesting. Thanks for the suggestion to check #3, if pump was running.
I was watching as the pump was running and I saw a piston going nowhere fast.
Turns out the door slide, (and I guess the bedroom slide) both have only ONE piston going to pull slide in and out,
it looks like the bedroom slide is missing the NUT on the end of the slide, thus not in the frame and closing.

So. it looks like (is this normal?) or very common??
the bolt that holds the piston which extends the slide, is now freely going in and out, as it is not connected via a nut to the part that the frame goes in.

Interesting, is life. is it not?

Penny and Paul · RV-Dreams Family Member

cheryls-other-half wrote:
Bill and Linda wrote:

cheryls-other-half wrote:

1) it's a Hydralic slide.
No I didn't check the hydraulic fluid yet.
2) the other two slides (liv room and bedroom) are working fine.
3) I did check the voltage on the RV battery, and it was 13.6 volts.
They said no one is available until mondy because of the holiday.
I will try and see what the level of the hydralic fluid (I was told it uses Auto Transmission fluid) in it, but as the other two slides are fine, I agree it sounds like a pin.

Not sure where to look to see if one of the pins sheared off.

Thanks again for your ideas and suggestions..
Meantime, couldn't have happened at a better place (unless my brother actually had a 50 amp circuit for me...)

Cheers and happy 4th to all

If the other two slides are working it’s (not likely) the battery. No need to put another battery charger on the batteries.

Based on what you are saying it is probably:

1 – The hydraulic value (next to the pump) isn’t opening to put fluid to the cylinder due to whatever reason - age - loose connection, etc.

2 – Yea, it could be a sheer pin and that's no unusual

3 – If the pump is running when you press the button to close the slide then it is most likely #1

Most hydraulic valves can be opened manually and you can try that when the button is pushed - read the manual as to how to do this.

Interesting. Thanks for the suggestion to check #3, if pump was running.
I was watching as the pump was running and I saw a piston going nowhere fast.
Turns out the door slide, (and I guess the bedroom slide) both have only ONE piston going to pull slide in and out,
it looks like the bedroom slide is missing the NUT on the end of the slide, thus not in the frame and closing.

So. it looks like (is this normal?) or very common??
the bolt that holds the piston which extends the slide, is now freely going in and out, as it is not connected via a nut to the part that the frame goes in.

Interesting, is life. is it not?

Way to go. You da man!

RickandJanice · RV-Dreams Family Member

Mitch & Cheryl, glad you found the problem. It is not common for these rams to come loose, they should have double nut where they connect to prevent this from happening. Sounds like a nut was left off either at the factory or when someone was doing maintenance on the slide at some point. Also left you a message on the SOITC forum about checking hydraulic fluid and the proper sequence for operating the slides.

The slide on these units do have only one hydraulic ram. You will also notice there are heavy square tubes located at each end of the slides that have gear teeth on the under side. These are the actual slide mechanics that the slide rides on and keeps the ends in line while moving because they are held in sync by the same gear. The hydraulic rams only apply the force to move the slide in and out. For future reference, if a pin on either of these gears breaks, the slide will either bind up or not close evenly.

cheryls-other-half · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well, I did see that the other two slides had two nuts on them. Wish I had known to check under the, slide before.. At least I know that is most likely problem when I get tech out here Monday... Cheers to all

rv-vagabond · RV-Dreams Community Member

There are several different types of ATF. Be careful in what fluid you put into the hydraulic reservoir. The wrong type of fluid can destroy seals.