2005 Fleetwood Excursion slide issue

[johntelling]

I have a 2005 Excursion 39R, on a Spartan chassis. It has four slides. The passenger side bedroom slide stopped working (fortunately in the closed position) and I can't  find the motor or the mechanism.

I can hear a relay clicking, but the is no motion at all from the slide. The other three work fine.

Can anyone tell me how to get to the motor?

Thanks,

[hermanmullins]

John,

Have you looked under your bed. Sometime the motor is located under a false bottom of the bed. It may be a sheared pin.

Herman

[johntelling]

No I have not - but I will look under the bed!

 

Thanks, Herman.

[rossboyer]

Also in the electrical bay, on the very back wall of the bay, there may be a circuit board.  If you find the board there is a 20 amp(I think) fuse.  The fuse is not shown on the RV diagrams because it is part of the board.

[johntelling]

Thanks, Ross. I checked the fuse, and it is O.K. Also, I can hear a slight click, which sounds like a relay, but no suggestion of the motor getting power.

I looked under the bed, as Herman suggested, and the motor for the driver's side slide is under there - but not the one for the passenger side. I just wish I could find the motor!!

 

[dickandlois]

John, Not sure, but this link might lead you to the problem or clear up how it works.

https://www.lci1.com/assets/content/support/manuals/pg_82_S0010_01.pdf

A complete power gear slide manual - More them most owners will ever use.

http://www.liveworkdream.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/PowerGearSlides-ServiceManual.pdf

Some of the drive motors fail because the gear casting that holds the gears in place wears in an oblong manner. This issue is caused by the lack a shaft sleeve in the soft mettle casting. A good machine shop can repair that problem in many cases. 

Rich

[rossboyer]

The motors for my slide outs are centered on the width of the slide out. The motor is mounted to drive a shaft with a rack and pinion on each end of the shaft if that is the type of mechanism you have. One end of that shaft is like a hex nut that can be turned manually with a socket wrench. As I remember the motor is less than 4” in diameter and about 8-9” long, so it could be hidden in the toe kick under a cabinet or accessible under a plate in the ceiling of the bin below the slide.

I had to have one replaced. I was asked did I want the same motor or the newer more powerful one? Go figure they didn’t know there was a problem of underpowered drive motors. 

[johntelling]

Thanks for the manuals, Rich.

Ross, I suppose that the motor must be behind the toe kick, or it might be accessible by taking out a drawer. Unfortunately, with the slide 'in', I can't get the drawers out, and I am reluctant to rip the toe kick off - although it may come to that.

If the motor has burned out, it will be the third, but I have never been offered more powerful motors.

 

[huffypuff]

22 minutes ago, johntelling said:

Thanks for the manuals, Rich.

Ross, I suppose that the motor must be behind the toe kick, or it might be accessible by taking out a drawer. Unfortunately, with the slide 'in', I can't get the drawers out, and I am reluctant to rip the toe kick off - although it may come to that.

If the motor has burned out, it will be the third, but I have never been offered more powerful motors.

 

I had a slide that stopped moving a couple of years ago and I took a wrench and turned the driveshaft a couple of turns and it work ever since.  Must of been cobwebs in the motor. 

[hermanmullins]

John,

If the Drivers side will work can't you get to the kick plate with it out?

If this is your third motor then you must have another issue that is causing them to burn out. There may some binding in the slide and a new motor is strong enough to work when new but the strain is too much over the long haul. 

Does your owners manual say anything about a manual crank for the slide? Might be worth looking into.

Herman

[manholt]

My passenger side slide out is assessable from the middle bay door, under slide.  When mine stopped working it was not the motor, but a 1 1/2" bolt and nut had broken in half, it holds the shaft to the motor...one on each end of the horizontal motor.  Since your slide is in, you'll need to get 3 feet into bay!   

[johntelling]

Herman, the kick plate is not easily removable, and I can't tell what is holding it in place - there is only about a foot between it and the end of the bed, even with the driver's side out.

The motors burning out have each been on different slides over the life of the vehicle.

Yes, the slide can be cranked manually - but you have to be able to get to the motor to do so.

[hermanmullins]

Talk about a catch 22. Please let us know what you discover.

Good Luck,

Herman

[Lenp]

Do you operate the slides with the engine running or engine off?  The slide motors will have less voltage available when the engine is off than when it is running.  With engine off the motors will draw more current and run hotter.  Many manufacturers recommend extending and retracting slides with engine running.  Jacks also when engine running.

If your operating with engine off this could explain why three motors have failed.

Lenp 

[manholt]

lenp.

I can and do that with mine.  Same, when I had the 2007 WB 40 Tour.  My 2011 Allegro Bus, was wired so that I could not, per Tiffin it's a safety issue!  My SO, has a Phaethon 40 and she can not run engine and run slides or Jacks!  

[manholt]

John.

I just remembered. My rear passenger slide motor was under the bottom drawer of the bureau.  On my WB 40.

[hermanmullins]

Ditto, the slides on our Dynasty will not operate with the key on. 

Herman

[elkhartjim]

1 hour ago, hermanmullins said:

Ditto, the slides on our Dynasty will not operate with the key on. 

Herman

Same on our Newmar. 

[manholt]

I can see it being a safety issue, in regards to Jacks.  On mine as long as brake is set, I can leave engine running and operate slide outs.  I have to turn key to on, before slides are operational.  My only wish, is that I had a relay, that would prevent me from disconnecting brake with slides out.  If I'm on Jacks, I can't turn off brakes!  I mostly use my Air leveling.

John.  As long as I have had a slide out, I have never had to replace a motor!  My first slide out was in 1997, for 30 years prior to that, I had no slides! Must say, life was simpler.

[johntelling]

Thanks for all those who responded. The access to the slide motor is, in fact, behind a board below the bedroom drawers. It was not much fun getting to it. The motor is getting power, but not responding at all. Funny thing, I was just commenting how well all the slides were working. There was no indication of a problem - it just stopped. Usually, if electric motors are dying, they do so gradually.

About the fact that I have had to replace two motors to this point - the first was about 12 years ago. The second was about 3 years ago, when a gigantic storm blew one of the slides out of alignment, and when I brought it back in, the chassis of the motor itself cracked.

I am hoping that this issue is a limit switch or something beyond my comprehension (which wouldn't be hard) so I am taking it to a repair facility.

JT

[manholt]

JT.

Glad you found it.  Hope it's a cheap fix!  Good Luck & great journeys!

[johntelling]

Thanks to all who responded. I was getting power to the motor, but only 4 volts, it seems. I needed a new controller board. Less than a new motor now Lippert owns Power Gear.

 

 

[dickandlois]

On 3/13/2018 at 11:11 AM, johntelling said:

Thanks to all who responded. I was getting power to the motor, but only 4 volts, it seems. I needed a new controller board. Less than a new motor now Lippert owns Power Gear.

 

 

John, For what it is worth, the low voltage could be caused by a cold solder joint.  This is a picture of a slide control board - where the white connector (in this case) connects to the board - very off ten there a crack in the solder around the pin(s) on the back side of the board. Do you know of a person that repairs electronic boards?