Emergency Slide Repair - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Team Murc · RV-Dreams Family Member

Emergency Slide Repair

Genecolleen · RV-Dreams Community Member

We also have a NH. What kind of problem?

Lynn and Ed · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you have the ability to travel to Oregon, I would recommend Elite Remodel & Repair. http://eliternr.com. Small shop, very knowable and experienced.

CJSX2fromCT · RV-Dreams Family Member

rvservicereviews.com

Team Murc · RV-Dreams Family Member

Gene, When setting up a couple of days ago we heard an unfamiliar noise when the slide was about 1/3:out. After some investigation I discovered one of the shear pins had sheared. After replacing that pin I again tried to extend the slide. At that point the two ends were not traveling in unison and sheared another pin. After a great deal of work we did manage to pull the slide in. At this point the slide is not tracking correctly and needs to be professionally adjusted. This is outside my pay grade.

Genecolleen · RV-Dreams Community Member

Mike, I was thinking it was shear pin. We had that happen and replaced both. Slide adjustment is above my pay grade also.

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

Team Murc wrote:
Gene, When setting up a couple of days ago we heard an unfamiliar noise when the slide was about 1/3:out. After some investigation I discovered one of the shear pins had sheared. After replacing that pin I again tried to extend the slide. At that point the two ends were not traveling in unison and sheared another pin. After a great deal of work we did manage to pull the slide in. At this point the slide is not tracking correctly and needs to be professionally adjusted. This is outside my pay grade.

Mike, maybe not referring to you last two comments.

OK, when the sheer bolt broke - replace with a Grade 8 1/4-20 BTW which is what was in there from the factory - and the slide continued to move one side of the slide most likely just got out of sync and then you replaced the bold keeping it out of sync.

Let's assume that is what happened - Sounds like it. So now what? - Here's what I do / have done:

Extend the slide until one side is flush with the inside wall. That's the reference point. Now, remove the slide bolt on the end that is against the wall. Get a wrench, put it on the square tube on the end that is not against the wall. Turn the tube to move the slide end that is not against the wall to the wall. When that is done the bolt hole in the tube will be close to lining up with the bolt hole in the round gear shaft at the end where you removed the bolt. Move the tube with the wrench to line up the holes in both the square shaft and the round shaft and install the Grade 8 bolt you removed. Done.

That should do it. Naturally I can't say for sure but I doubt any additional adjustment is necessary unless some damage was done - which I doubt.

If you are coming to the NHOG Rally in Spearfish be glad to review all this with you. A discussion / presentation has been requested on this subject and I got elected to share how to do this along with "manual" operation of the slides in an emergency - Big Foots as well.

We'll also share some tips as to how to keep those bolts from breaking. There is a right and wrong way to open the slides based on experience that has been proven. Tony, one of the tech's at NH, showed me why this happens and how to prevent it. Well, nothings guaranteed, this is a Lippert system.

Take all FWIW but hope this might help.

Bill

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you're still looking for a repair center, Sumner RV might be a good option, when we lived in the area they had a good service department. I've heard that they had some turnover, so can't speak from recent experience.

I can give you advice on places to avoid! I would stay away from any of the Poulsbo RV service centers and the Camping World in Tacoma. We had used Auburn- Kent Valley RV repair and had reasonable success when we lived here, however, they didn't do a good job with our hydraulic repair 2 years ago.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bill and Linda wrote:
Team Murc wrote:
Gene, When setting up a couple of days ago we heard an unfamiliar noise when the slide was about 1/3:out. After some investigation I discovered one of the shear pins had sheared. After replacing that pin I again tried to extend the slide. At that point the two ends were not traveling in unison and sheared another pin. After a great deal of work we did manage to pull the slide in. At this point the slide is not tracking correctly and needs to be professionally adjusted. This is outside my pay grade.
Mike, maybe not referring to you last two comments.
OK, when the sheer bolt broke - replace with a Grade 8 1/4-20 BTW which is what was in there from the factory - and the slide continued to move one side of the slide most likely just got out of sync and then you replaced the bold keeping it out of sync.
Let's assume that is what happened - Sounds like it. So now what? - Here's what I do / have done:
Extend the slide until one side is flush with the inside wall. That's the reference point. Now, remove the slide bolt on the end that is against the wall. Get a wrench, put it on the square tube on the end that is not against the wall. Turn the tube to move the slide end that is not against the wall to the wall. When that is done the bolt hole in the tube will be close to lining up with the bolt hole in the round gear shaft at the end where you removed the bolt. Move the tube with the wrench to line up the holes in both the square shaft and the round shaft and install the Grade 8 bolt you removed. Done.
That should do it. Naturally I can't say for sure but I doubt any additional adjustment is necessary unless some damage was done - which I doubt.
If you are coming to the NHOG Rally in Spearfish be glad to review all this with you. A discussion / presentation has been requested on this subject and I got elected to share how to do this along with "manual" operation of the slides in an emergency - Big Foots as well.
We'll also share some tips as to how to keep those bolts from breaking. There is a right and wrong way to open the slides based on experience that has been proven. Tony, one of the tech's at NH, showed me why this happens and how to prevent it. Well, nothings guaranteed, this is a Lippert system.
Take all FWIW but hope this might help.
Bill

Bill,

I have a question for you that will satisfy my curiosity. You stated above to get a grade 8 bolt, but if this is to be a "shear pin," wouldn't a softer bolt (grade 5 perhaps) be better and safer? Wouldn't it take more force to break a grade 8 with the possibility of something else in the system breaking first?

The reason I ask is because at one time in my life I managed a country grain elevator and the company built a new 150,000 bushel grain bin. They used grade 5 bolts when they should have used grade 8, so when we got the bin filled and the temperature dropped, the combination of cooler temp and the weight of 148,000 bushels of grain pushing outward sheared off all the bolts in the lower rings of the bin. They rebuilt and made sure that grade 8 bolts were used so that no shearing would occur again.

Terry

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry and Jo wrote:

Bill,
I have a question for you that will satisfy my curiosity. You stated above to get a grade 8 bolt, but if this is to be a "shear pin," wouldn't a softer bolt (grade 5 perhaps) be better and safer? Wouldn't it take more force to break a grade 8 with the possibility of something else in the system breaking first?
The reason I ask is because at one time in my life I managed a country grain elevator and the company built a new 150,000 bushel grain bin. They used grade 5 bolts when they should have used grade 8, so when we got the bin filled and the temperature dropped, the combination of cooler temp and the weight of 148,000 bushels of grain pushing outward sheared off all the bolts in the lower rings of the bin. They rebuilt and made sure that grade 8 bolts were used so that no shearing would occur again.
Terry

I'll jump in here as Bill and I have discussed this several times…and I'm a recovering mechanical engineer for whatever that's worth.

You need a grade 8 because a grade 5 just isn't strong enough…from examining the several bolts that I've broken and talking to both Bill and others it's typically the living room slide on a NH that breaks the bolt…due to the length of the slide and the flush floor nature of the slide so it comes up before it comes in. My personal opinion is that when Lippert developed the longer slide mechanism for the newer longer trailers they didn't do the engineering properly and that the bolt (which is just serving as a shear pin) should have been replaced with a larger diameter one. Unfortunately…that would have required re-engineering of the whole rack and pinion assembly that makes the slide work and Lippert just didn't do that in my opinion.

Even a grade 8 is weaker than the rest of the stuff in the mechanism and will break first.

In addition to having spare bolts in your parts bin…what's really important is to make sure that you extend and retract the slide in the proper configuration. Bill had a long discussion with the guys at NH and they concur with the general procedure that I'm describing here. Basically the slide is aligned and installed with the rig sitting on the wheels and the front jacks…and anything that disturbs that alignment can distort the hole in the side wall a bit and cause binding which makes it more likely to break the bolt.

I know of about a dozen bolts that broke on NH slides…and about 8 or 9 of them were the forward LR slide bolt…again my engineering guess is that is because it's the closest bolt to the hydraulic cylinder on the LR slide.

So…the "sort of NH approved but not really written down anywhere" procedure for doing the slides is below. While I can't vouch for anything except personal experience…I haven't broken a bolt since I started doing it this way and I don't think Bill has either. Three of my four that broke were forward LR slide, the other one was the rear LR slide one.

So…

After parking in the site…lower the front jacks to the ground. If they don't hit simultaneously then extend just one of them so that they do. The goal here is to take the weight of the rig off of the hitch without twisting the frame at all.

Unhitch.

Raise or lower front jacks so the rig is approximately level front to back.

Extend slides.

Extend rear jacks and level.

Retract the slides in basically the opposite order…basically get the rig sitting on the wheels and front jacks with no twist in the frame. This might require lowering one of the front jacks to take out any twist that was introduced by the leveling process when parking…I just try and remember which side was lower and the side to side angle and put it back there.

For Bill…how did you get roped into doing this presentation at NHOG again? If you're recall I talked about this last time in Chattanooga…and my general feel was that most folks weren't really interested in the topic…seems strange that Gary would want to do it again to me but maybe I misinterpreted the level of interest.

-- Edited by Neil and Connie on Sunday 16th of July 2017 08:36:59 PM

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry and Jo wrote:

Bill,
I have a question for you that will satisfy my curiosity. You stated above to get a grade 8 bolt, but if this is to be a "shear pin," wouldn't a softer bolt (grade 5 perhaps) be better and safer? Wouldn't it take more force to break a grade 8 with the possibility of something else in the system breaking first?
The reason I ask is because at one time in my life I managed a country grain elevator and the company built a new 150,000 bushel grain bin. They used grade 5 bolts when they should have used grade 8, so when we got the bin filled and the temperature dropped, the combination of cooler temp and the weight of 148,000 bushels of grain pushing outward sheared off all the bolts in the lower rings of the bin. They rebuilt and made sure that grade 8 bolts were used so that no shearing would occur again.
Terry

Terry, honestly, what Neil said. The Lippert factory installs Grade 8 Bolts. I checked those on naked frames so I could make sure the bolt grade installed were OEM. Hard to believe a Grade 8 bolt is a sheer pin, but it is.

Bill

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

Neil and Connie wrote:

For Bill…how did you get roped into doing this presentation at NHOG again? If you're recall I talked about this last time in Chattanooga…and my general feel was that most folks weren't really interested in the topic…seems strange that Gary would want to do it again to me but maybe I misinterpreted the level of interest.
-- Edited by Neil and Connie on Sunday 16th of July 2017 08:36:59 PM

Thanks for jumping in. Yep, what you said.

To the other question - We have some newbie's coming, apparently 11 according to the note that just came in from June 2 minutes ago, that asked the Rally Masters (June) about "manual" slide retraction as well as "emergency" Big Foot operation. June sent me a note and said, "Can we do this as part of the maintenance gab session or something like that?" I said, yea. And for those that want more info I said we could (we being you if you like) take people to the rigs and show them at least the rear bolt and where to put the wrench, etc. to sync or retract along with the emergency drill running the hydraulic motor thing. I did confirm with Quadra my method for the emergency Big Foot retraction and I'll share that in the maintenance gab session as well I guess. That was about the entire conversation. Here's the cut from the note that just came in and you should have it.

We have a pretty full schedule. We put most of the "heavy duty" subjects early in the week with times allotted for "personal consultations" (the old Personal Helper format) and discussions of owners' questions and needs concerning the operational aspects of their coaches. Bill Napier will conduct a session on Electrical Systems. He will also moderate the discussion of operational aspects and questions as described above.

Gary Wheeler will lead a session on MorRyde.

Neil Laubenthal will discuss Internet Connectivity and Security.

Gary Wall will discuss tire weights and tire safety.

BTW, for any reading along, the New Horizons Owners Group - known as NHOG - catchy isn't it - welcomes anyone to attend. We don't really care what brand of rig you own. It's in Spearfish, SD, September 21-26. Come join us.

Here's a link to Neil's posting if you want more info:

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f269/nhog-rally-sep-2017-spearfish-sd-311116.html

Bill