Manual slide retraction

[DavidM]

My Camplite is getting up in its years, and we are heading for a week of camping up into Quebec province in a month or so and I got to thinking about what happens if the slide is out and it fails to go back in. An obvious thing to do is to look for physical blockages inside that affect its retraction. The other thing to do is hook up your TV and run the engine for a few minutes. Maybe the trailer's battery is low and the TV will charge it a bit and provide extra current to retract the slide.

But if all else fails then you have to manually retract the slide. Schwintek, the manufacturer of all LL slideout systems, has a nice video that shows first how to electrically override its controller and if that doesn't work, manually retract the slide by disconnecting the motors. You then push the slide back in manually and put a piece of wood to block it from working its way back out on the road. This video is the best I have seen on this topic because it shows cutaway views of the motor mechanism so you can really tell what is going on.

Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xojUdPDWNS0. I would suggest that everyone with a slide look at it so that they will know how to deal with a recalcitrant slide.

David

[GrampaKilt]

The sign of a well made product, a work-around in case of failure. Thanks for this helpful information, DavidM. GK

[DavidM]

The sign of a well made product, a work-around in case of failure. Thanks for this helpful information, DavidM. GK

Yes it is. I have discovered another one recently while helping my friend, a Class A owner, work through his electrical system. The coach like most of its size has self levelers. But if they don't retract you are stuck in place. But there is a manual relief valve that you use to bleed the hydraulic fluid in case the electric solenoid one fails. Good design!

BTW the slides on that unit are much more sophisticated than the ones on our LLs. The slide retracts horizontally but just before it goes in all of the way it drops vertically a few inches, perhaps to lock them in place. They do have a manual crank in case the electric system fails. So it is also a well designed product.

FWIW, Class A RVs are quite sophisticated but also dumb. His has a momentary push button that ties the coach (house in boating terms) batteries to the starting battery in case the starting battery was run down and needs a boost to startthe engine. OTOH the coach and starting battery are never combined. I added a $70 combiner to automatically tie the two battery systems together when the voltage on either one rises to about 13.3V which will be the case when one is being charged. Works great and eliminates most worries about a run down coach or starting battery.

David

[Merlin]

Thanks for the slide info. Much better than turning my wife loose with a 10lb sledge (with which has solved many problems).

[ADR]

The old slide systems with a tough to get to motor and gears were a pain- my father had 5th wheels and motorhomes for many years- I was his designated fixit guy.   Had to work on that junk so many times I would NOT buy a camper with a slide- hated them.
Eventually gave in and have had two with the Schwintek system with no issues.