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Old 09-17-2019, 07:39 PM   #1
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Adventures in slideout repair

The dinette slideout on my 2013 2500ts failed while we were on a trip from Ohio to Texas in June this year. I was able to push it in, and we finished the trip with it in the rest of the time. It is the Lippert (Venture Ind.) above floor rack and pinion slideout assembly. On mine, the upper gearbox, called the ragbox, failed internally, after what I estimated to be 100 to 150 cycles in and out. Some internet research concluded that the repair was upwards of $5000 at a repair shop, something I was not willing or able to come up with. How hard could it be?


This is a pic of the jig I built in my driveway. The part on top that looks like a ladder has casters on it, which allowed me to roll the room out of the coach. Since I have a gravel driveway, I couldn't make the whole thing roll. I used a car jack and a piece of 4x4 underneath to slightly raise the room and used wood shims to get everything level and square and put the weight of the room on the ladder thing.
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Old 09-17-2019, 08:01 PM   #2
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Keep us posted! Interesting!
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Old 09-17-2019, 08:06 PM   #3
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This is a look from the inside. The rope is attached to the grab handle next to the door, and then to a C clamp I clamped to the cabinets. I put it there just to make sure the room didn't tip over when I slid it out; it is a little top heavy.

You can see the hole I cut in the dinette floor, which proved to be a waste of time. I countersunk a 1/8" steel plate into the OSB and it worked fine after the carpet was stapled back in place. As you can see, there is really no way to change out the gear assembly without removing the room. The gears on the shafts are captured by the black steel frame work. I also marked the gears with a carpenters square and a sharpie to make sure they were timed properly after reassembly. The black shaft that runs from the gearbox to the far gear on the right has multiple holes in it in order to time the gears to each other. I also found that the blue wire in front of the gear in the one pic was not properly secured out of the way, and the gear had chewed off a portion of the insulation and was in the process of cutting the wire. I was able to repair and secure all the wires away from the gear.


I couldn't buy just the ragbox, so I purchased the whole assembly. It was back ordered for 3 weeks. They must sell quite a few. I put the new assembly in, pushed the room in by hand while my daughter held in the button, and lo and behold the gears grabbed perfectly and it slid in and sealed up just like new!


In all, I had about 12 hours of work involved, including building the jig. Total cost was about $700-$800.
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Old 09-17-2019, 08:12 PM   #4
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Thanks for the photos and taking the time to write it up. I love these DIY repairs! Too bad we cannot get better parts as replacements!
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Old 09-17-2019, 08:19 PM   #5
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This is the after pic. I had cut the carpet along the bottoms of the cabinets, pulled all the original staples (they use many staples) and then stapled right back in place. Looks and functions good as new!
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Old 09-17-2019, 08:43 PM   #6
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Thanks for posting this, I have the same slide out and I now have a much better understanding of the slide mechanism. I hope I never have to do this repair.
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Old 09-18-2019, 01:22 PM   #7
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Wow What an amazing feat of work. Thank you for the photos and the information.

I will save this one in case i need it down the road.
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Old 09-18-2019, 02:22 PM   #8
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Really cool write up. Was the part that you ended up replacing the motor-gear box assembly with both shafts or was it the framework also. If possible a picture of what exactly you replaced would be appreciated. Thanks, Jay
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Old 09-18-2019, 02:36 PM   #9
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Wow. I don't have that kind of skill. I would have called 1-800-fix myrv. Not a real number but I would have found one!! Nice work I envy your skill.

Marty
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Old 09-18-2019, 03:43 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by Jay2504 View Post
Really cool write up. Was the part that you ended up replacing the motor-gear box assembly with both shafts or was it the framework also. If possible a picture of what exactly you replaced would be appreciated. Thanks, Jay

It was the motor-gearbox-ragbox assembly. Here are a couple pics, one with the part number. I took the bottom cover off the lower gearbox while the unit was still in the coach, it was accessible thru a basement storage compartment under the slideout. Everything inside looked and performed fine, it's basically a reducer gearbox. The ragbox, as you can see, has 4 phillips head screws holding it together. They stripped when I tried to open it. I plan on grinding the heads off and splitting it open to see what failed.

The motor and gearbox are fine, I'll keep them as spare parts. The gears in the lower box are all plastic, and apparently also prone to failure.


I stated in an earlier post that I couldn't find just the ragbox for sale, so I had to buy the whole assembly. I just typed the ragbox part number into a search engine, and sure enough, now someone is selling it for about $147. Just my luck.
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Old 09-18-2019, 04:20 PM   #11
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Thanks, xcgx. That is what I thought you replaced. I also like the idea of cutting the hole in the dinette floor to change it out. Why didn’t it work? It looked like it would. I like others admire the skill that you just demonstrated. Jay
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Old 09-18-2019, 05:08 PM   #12
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Thanks, xcgx. That is what I thought you replaced. I also like the idea of cutting the hole in the dinette floor to change it out. Why didn’t it work? It looked like it would. I like others admire the skill that you just demonstrated. Jay
The gear on the long shaft is keyed to the shaft with key stock and set screwed. It is enclosed within the black framework bolted to the floor. You can't get access to this area without removing the room, even the hole I cut doesn't offer the access. You can't cut the hole bigger because of the aluminum rack bolted to the underside of the floor. This is the gear rack you see if you look at the underside of the slideout when it is extended.
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Old 09-18-2019, 05:11 PM   #13
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Adventures in slideout repair

Thank you for taking the time to document this procedure. Your writeup is clear and concise. I for one would not have thought to tackle this job. My slide would be a bit more involved but doable.
Any thoughts on taking the old gearbox apart and looking for the cause? Would love to see the inside and order of assembly. Oops, went back and reread the post. Looking forward to the disassembly.
I assume that you had to remove the bottom rail assembly to raise the gearbox, were there any bolts that could be used for leveling?Click image for larger version

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Old 09-18-2019, 07:36 PM   #14
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Nice piece of work!

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Originally Posted by xgzx View Post
This is the after pic. I had cut the carpet along the bottoms of the cabinets, pulled all the original staples (they use many staples) and then stapled right back in place. Looks and functions good as new!
Nice piece of work!
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Old 09-18-2019, 08:07 PM   #15
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Hi. I was stuck in Ohio and you gave me a reply that confirmed a lot about my slide. Unfortunately, I could not move my slide in. I ended up sawing my gearbox to piece to release the shaft and then I was able to get the slide in and brace it in for the rest of my trip. The problem was a sheared pin in the gear shaft. Fixable but not with the case destroyed.
Thank for your help. If you want to sell your old case, send me a message.
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Old 09-19-2019, 06:34 AM   #16
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Great write up. I have the same rig, so I feel more prepared for problems now. Just wondering does anything hold the top of the room in or guide it , or is it all just the floor slide?
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Old 09-19-2019, 06:51 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by Martsing View Post
Wow. I don't have that kind of skill. I would have called 1-800-fix myrv. Not a real number but I would have found one!! Nice work I envy your skill.

Marty
X2!!!!
I, too, admire those of you who have the talent and guts to tackle such a job!
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Old 09-19-2019, 07:27 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by Garrette View Post
Thank you for taking the time to document this procedure. Your writeup is clear and concise. I for one would not have thought to tackle this job. My slide would be a bit more involved but doable.
Any thoughts on taking the old gearbox apart and looking for the cause? Would love to see the inside and order of assembly. Oops, went back and reread the post. Looking forward to the disassembly.
I assume that you had to remove the bottom rail assembly to raise the gearbox, were there any bolts that could be used for leveling?Attachment 215308

I did not remove any bottom rail assembly, so I can't comment on leveling.
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Old 09-19-2019, 07:35 AM   #19
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I did not remove any bottom rail assembly, so I can't comment on leveling.
The slide can be leveled with the nut on the right side of the picture. There is another one for the other side in the generator compartment. With the slide in, turning the screws will set the slide flush to the side of the RV.
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Old 09-19-2019, 07:36 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TSman View Post
Hi. I was stuck in Ohio and you gave me a reply that confirmed a lot about my slide. Unfortunately, I could not move my slide in. I ended up sawing my gearbox to piece to release the shaft and then I was able to get the slide in and brace it in for the rest of my trip. The problem was a sheared pin in the gear shaft. Fixable but not with the case destroyed.
Thank for your help. If you want to sell your old case, send me a message.

I plan on opening my old case and see what is inside. IF it is fixable, I will add pics later to this thread. Here is a link to a new ragbox, get it while you can if you plan on tackling it yourself like I did, this part was not available separate from the rest of the parts when I needed it!


https://pdxrvwholesale.com/products/...agbox-890-02bk


Just make sure it matches your part number!
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