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Old 09-19-2019, 04:09 PM   #1
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Brand New GT5 - Slide Electrical Plastic "Chain" Separated

We've had the motorhome for two months and have taken three trips.

On the rear side of the dinette slide on our 34H5 (and on other model number's slides as well) there is a large plastic rectangular chain that holds the wiring. As the slide extends, the chain slides along the floor, pushed by the slide, and goes through a rectangular opening in the floor. If you open the basement compartment below the chain you'll see a black plastic panel on that side at the top. If you bend the black plastic panel back a bit you can see the chain after it goes through the rectangular opening. When the slide retracts, the slide pulls the plastic wiring chain up through that rectangular opening.

As we were extending the slide today it made loud clicking noises and my wife stopped the extension. We looked at the chain and saw that it had become disconnected from a hinged bracket attached to the slide. The chain was rubbing against the Power Gear SlimRack teeth and bunching up against the exterior wall (so it was not going through the opening in the floor). Had she continued the extension it could have damaged the wiring and/or the SlimRack teeth.

We retracted the slide and I managed to get my hands into that small space and squeeze the chain link back into the hinged bracket attached to the slide itself. This bracket floats up and down but not side to side.

I looked at the hinged bracket and saw one of its screws sticking way up. I have no way to get at it so hopefully it does not cause any problems before we get back to the dealer in a month.

When we were at one dealer looking at a 2019.5 34H5, never titled, we saw that the same chain had a link come apart mid-chain. We could not reach it to re-attach it. When we visited the factory I specifically asked about this problem and was told that the rectangular opening had been moved so the problem would not occur in the future. Uh huh...

From the looks of it, it you have a link detach and you cannot reach it, you could either feed the chain through the rectangular hole somehow or go into the basement compartment and help it along while someone else runs the slide. It would be a lot easier to re-fasten most of the links if done from inside the basement compartment because you have a lot more room to work.

After I re-attached the link to the hinged bracket she extended the slide while I watched it. It again started to bunch up against the exterior wall. I pushed it lightly and it fell through the rectangular opening and the slide extended normally. Unfortunately, what I did not do was go underneath to see what it was hung up on first. <sigh>

After the slide extended I went down there and it all looked normal, of course. Inside that area there's a piece of thick curved black plastic that is intended to act as a guide for the chain. The chain hits it and the curved plastic guides it towards the inside. I decided to help it a bit in the future so I took some ski wax and rubbed it on that plastic curved panel. I also rubbed some on the other side of the chain to help it through the rectangular opening. I did notice that the bottom of that curved plastic panel is cut off square instead of being beveled so it's possible that the chain got hung up on that squared edge as it was going up or coming down.

So if your slide with the wiring chain starts making odd noises you might want to stop what you're doing.

And yeah, shoving something through a 90-degree turn and into or out of a hole in the floor? Really? There should be rollers in there instead.

Ray
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Old 09-19-2019, 04:21 PM   #2
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You were lucky in that the energy chain didn't break it just came disconnected at a joint. It will most likely happen again.
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Old 09-19-2019, 06:12 PM   #3
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Because it separated at the slide-attached hinged bracket I'm guessing it happened when we last retracted the slide. It most likely hung up, popped the chain apart and then yanked on the wires until they came up.

Add another thing to the checklist, I guess.

Ray
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Old 09-20-2019, 11:33 AM   #4
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Plastic chain

Mine broke when it was extended half way out because it was not going in the rectangle and was humped up a few inches off the floor. I was able to snap the chain back together and extend the slide all the way out. The rectangle hole on mine is not 90 deg. to the chain and rubs at the outer (upper) part of the hole as it tries to go down. I sprayed slide lube on the plastic chain and it helped, but we watch as we extend the slide because it has hung up again. I will look underneath like you did to see if something can be done there. I am thinking that a curved piece if plastic screwed to the floor above the chain will force it into the hole correctly. Will let you know if I figure something out

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Old 09-20-2019, 01:05 PM   #5
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I've used that stuff a bunch in my career. I always heard it called "Cat Track" wireway.

It'll snap back together easy as pie. It's entirely possible that the person who mounted the end piece with the bolts did not have it snapped fully together. I have seen cat track bend 2" angle iron mounts when it gets snagged without breaking.

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Old 09-20-2019, 07:01 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by Cowracer View Post
I've used that stuff a bunch in my career. I always heard it called "Cat Track" wireway.

It'll snap back together easy as pie. It's entirely possible that the person who mounted the end piece with the bolts did not have it snapped fully together. I have seen cat track bend 2" angle iron mounts when it gets snagged without breaking.
Didn't know its real name. Thanks.

Because we had seen one separated on a new unit at a dealer I specifically looked ours over closely during the PDI. It was all together. Maybe we should just change to a better quality when it goes out of warranty.

Ray
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Old 09-21-2019, 01:42 PM   #7
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I own a GT3, we had to go through the bathroom to fix the plastic chain.
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Old 10-24-2019, 10:52 AM   #8
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I forgot to watch my chain on the last slide out, it hung at the hole and snapped apart again. Mine does not look like your pictures where it is attached behind the driver. I had to remove lots of trim to even see it, but finally got it back together. Where it attaches is crooked, just like the hole, both are not 90deg, to the chain. Looked under the floor and found some other wires rubbing the chain, (moved them away and tied so they would not rub the chain) removed the curved plastic and made it straight. I am going to make a plastic cover over the chain where it goes in the hole to help guide it down. Will post pics. if it works. Has anyone Made any mods that has helped ?

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Old 10-24-2019, 05:37 PM   #9
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Mine is not back from the dealer yet so I don't know what they're doing to fix that.

TomInVegas said his dealer did a temporary fix by securing a piece of parachute cord to the chain somewhere and then underneath they installed a bungee cord on the other end to give it some help when the slide is extending. If I understood him correctly, of course.

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Old 10-24-2019, 05:39 PM   #10
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Mine does not look like your pictures where it is attached behind the driver.
Mine is on a 34H5 and the chain is on the passenger side at the back of the only slide on that side. I know the 36B5 has a chain behind the driver.

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Old 10-24-2019, 06:18 PM   #11
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Mine is not back from the dealer yet so I don't know what they're doing to fix that.

TomInVegas said his dealer did a temporary fix by securing a piece of parachute cord to the chain somewhere and then underneath they installed a bungee cord on the other end to give it some help when the slide is extending. If I understood him correctly, of course.

Ray
I can see how bungee cord could work. It will be hard to reach the bottom at the back of the underneath box to secure the bungee. The bungee will need some downward pull. If the bungee does not stretch enough I will use small dia. live rubber tube. Will post pics. when done


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Old 11-02-2019, 09:40 PM   #12
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We did the PDI on our new 31L5 today, and put the slides in and out a few times. We ended up having the same problem as you described above. We didn't take delivery of the motor home because of that and some other issues that needed to be addressed. Hopefully this will not be an ongoing problem. If so I will contact Georgetown directly for help.
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Old 11-02-2019, 09:52 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by rrtom View Post
We did the PDI on our new 31L5 today, and put the slides in and out a few times. We ended up having the same problem as you described above. We didn't take delivery of the motor home because of that and some other issues that needed to be addressed. Hopefully this will not be an ongoing problem. If so I will contact Georgetown directly for help.
I may have to do that as well. I asked our (usually superb) dealer to contact FR and pointed them at this thread as proof that it's a common problem. I asked them to query as to whether there is a fix.

They inspected it and said it was OK. Well technically true, "OK" and "Going to always be OK" are not necessarily the same thing.

Good move on leaving it, as hard as that is. It will pay off in the long term.

Ray
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Old 11-02-2019, 11:24 PM   #14
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They inspected it and said it was OK. Well technically true, "OK" and "Going to always be OK" are not necessarily the same thing.



Ray
I have not been able to figure out a way to make bungee chord work. While looking at the chain and rectangle hole I can see the problem with mine. The rectangle hole in not parallel to the center line of the M H (tilted just a few degrees to the right) The chain is also not 90deg. to the center line of the M H. ( tilted a few degrees to the left ) Both being off cause the chain to rub the rectangle hole. The chain is attached to a hing that is under the slide floor. You can see it , but it cannot be reached with out lots of tearing out. I am going to try removing the rectangle guide and line it up with the chain after I get back from our next trip.

Until then, I will use the "watch it hang--push it down the hole with a stick trick ".

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Old 11-02-2019, 11:41 PM   #15
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The dealer rebuilt the innards of that "step" with the hinge. It used to be angled a bit as if it had been kicked a few too many times but now it's straight.

This thing needs a roller, not a sharp-edged hole.

Ray
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Old 11-03-2019, 01:05 AM   #16
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Even with the temp fix the tech did I'm still babysitting it when I open the slide. The issue is still on the list for a better fix. I'll let you know what I find out when I take it back in as well. Still waiting on a few replacement parts.
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Old 11-03-2019, 08:53 AM   #17
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Even with the temp fix the tech did I'm still babysitting it when I open the slide. The issue is still on the list for a better fix. I'll let you know what I find out when I take it back in as well. Still waiting on a few replacement parts.
Likewise, on both parts.

Ray
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Old 11-04-2019, 08:11 PM   #18
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We had our MH 2 months and had the same problem first trip out. Also had the front windshield shade come down by itself, they said there's a recall on them.(FYI)
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Old 11-05-2019, 11:08 AM   #19
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We had our MH 2 months and had the same problem first trip out. Also had the front windshield shade come down by itself, they said there's a recall on them.(FYI)
Joe, can you tell me who said that there is a recall on them? We haven't picked ours up yet and if there's a recall we might as well have it done while they have it.
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Old 11-05-2019, 11:21 AM   #20
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If the unit is still on the dealer's lot, chances are that it won't need the recall for the front shade. If you can provide the last 6 numbers of the VIN I can double check that for you.
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