Painfully slow slide

chunker21 · 03-30-2018, 08:55 PM

The Crusader 355BHQ has 4 slides and the 2 in the bunk room are very slow and inconsistent in the operation and speed. Girlfriend called and said the street side slide basically wouldn't come in, barely creeping. Went out just fine and timely. Not sure of the brand but has the toothed tracks under the slide. I have most of the original paperwork and owner's manuals but don't recall one for the slides.

I'll be back there tomorrow so what should I check? I understand that grease lube on the track is not advised and I'm not sure what if anything is on it. Trailer is level on a concrete slab with front and rear jacks down. Plugged into shore power 50amp, and a relatively new battery.

I'm more familiar with the HWH hydraulic slides in the motorhome but these electric should be relatively easy to understand. Seals in pretty good shape but I'll check them for obstruction or stiffness just the same. The LR slide which is close to twice the size moves just fine.

EDIT: adding that those slides have been working fine but slower than the others.

SeaDog · 03-31-2018, 08:29 AM

Lube the slide operating gear with slide lube (doesn't attract dust) if they are getting slow it may be an indication that the battery is low or getting tired. Make sure it is fully charged I would do a load test on it just to be sure.

chunker21 · 03-31-2018, 09:37 AM

Thanks, I'm not going to be near an RV place anytime soon but is the slide lube a graphite or silicone base dry? The battery is a typical "deep cycle" that I got as a trolling motor for a kayak last summer. The trailer had a dead battery in it when we got it and I put this one in. I haven't checked it lately but will later today and do that load test. If there is any grease on the gears I'l clean with brake cleaner and apply appropriate lube.

SeaDog · 03-31-2018, 10:17 AM

I think he slide lube I use is dry graphite but any of the products designed for slide lube will be better then nothing. Like I said slow or none working slides more then not can be traced to a dead or dying battery they are normally wired directly off the battery with a resettable fuse. Two batteries are better then one for these rigs.

chunker21 · 03-31-2018, 04:54 PM

Got home and took a look. The street side slide switch was jammed on the "in" position. Slide was in and she said it was out when she left. I suspect that some time later the slide came in and something now is burned up, either switch or motor. I looked in battery compartment and don't see any fuses except one on a battery + cable. Fortunately I can access the fuse box and there are 4 25amp fuses. Since 4 slides figure 4 fuses. All are OK and with all out, one slide does work. Not them obviously. There are several 15amp fuses and some other 10 and 5 amp. 1 30 amp as I recall.

Do you know what amp fuses protect the slides or if they are in the fuse box? Since the slides are hot they could be anyplace. Unfortunately don't have a wiring diagram to follow. I'll pull the switch and see if it looks OK.

chunker21 · 04-01-2018, 12:05 PM

Follow up to troubleshooting. A poster on another forum sent me the LCI maintenance manual for the slides and I followed the troubleshooting guide. I did the troubleshooting and according to the book, the motor is bad. I have power to the motor but motor not operating. There is an access panel in the underlayment that lets me get to the motor and actuator. That manual gives instructions for removing the actuator but not the motor itself. It looks like one bolt attaches the motor to the actuator rod. Looks way to easy and my conspirator mind says there is a hidden attachment someplace. Since the actuator itself is OK I hate to remove the whole thing if I can just remove and replace the motor.

I'm unsure what the correct replacement motor is since the motor numbers don't pull any results on LCI pages or any after market sellers. I think I'm going to cut the wires and take the one bolt out and hope for the best. Removing the whole actuator appears to be a pain.

The 25amp fuses are not for the slides and not sure where the customer supplied auto reset breaker is. Have power to motor anyway.

chunker21 · 04-01-2018, 01:46 PM

Another update. There are 2 bolts that hold the motor and gearbox on the shaft. Took the shaft bolts off, L bracket and rotated the assembly to remove the second bolt. Put on bench and connected to battery charger and nothing. Hit it with higher amp charging and it turned over and now spins freely. Touched to trailer batter posts and spins up good. Going to reinstall but will write down the motor numbers in case it craps out again.

rracer5 · 04-01-2018, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chunker21

Another update. There are 2 bolts that hold the motor and gearbox on the shaft. Took the shaft bolts off, L bracket and rotated the assembly to remove the second bolt. Put on bench and connected to battery charger and nothing. Hit it with higher amp charging and it turned over and now spins freely. Touched to trailer batter posts and spins up good. Going to reinstall but will write down the motor numbers in case it craps out again.

If it's a brush style motor, when the switch got stuck, it may have burnt a spot in the contact ring where the brushes touch it. The extra amp. charge probable jolted it past that "dead spot" but, may land on that dead spot again at any time. This happened to me once when I took the 4wd actuator out of my truck and dropped it on the concrete floor on my way to the workbench. When I applied voltage then, it worked! Unfortunately, a month later it quit again. In your case, if you can get the motor apart, a light sanding of the brush ring may clean up the burnt spot.

rracer5 · 04-01-2018, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chunker21

Follow up to troubleshooting. A poster on another forum sent me the LCI maintenance manual for the slides and I followed the troubleshooting guide. I did the troubleshooting and according to the book, the motor is bad. I have power to the motor but motor not operating. There is an access panel in the underlayment that lets me get to the motor and actuator. That manual gives instructions for removing the actuator but not the motor itself. It looks like one bolt attaches the motor to the actuator rod. Looks way to easy and my conspirator mind says there is a hidden attachment someplace. Since the actuator itself is OK I hate to remove the whole thing if I can just remove and replace the motor.

I'm unsure what the correct replacement motor is since the motor numbers don't pull any results on LCI pages or any after market sellers. I think I'm going to cut the wires and take the one bolt out and hope for the best. Removing the whole actuator appears to be a pain.

The 25amp fuses are not for the slides and not sure where the customer supplied auto reset breaker is. Have power to motor anyway.

Look for this type of breaker. Usually located in or near the battery compartment.

chunker21 · 04-01-2018, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rracer5

If it's a brush style motor, when the switch got stuck, it may have burnt a spot in the contact ring where the brushes touch it. The extra amp. charge probable jolted it past that "dead spot" but, may land on that dead spot again at any time. This happened to me once when I took the 4wd actuator out of my truck and dropped it on the concrete floor on my way to the workbench. When I applied voltage then, it worked! Unfortunately, a month later it quit again. In your case, if you can get the motor apart, a light sanding of the brush ring may clean up the burnt spot.

Rick, as a matter of fact as your emoji suggest, I'm having a cold Yuengling as I write. I considered that a burnt spot might exist but didn't try to take the motor apart. Sometimes brushes won't go back in place. Since this trailer won't be traveling much, I decided to make a $400+ gamble that I won't hit that spot. I put it back in and it works fine, for now. I did write down every number I could find and may call Lippert tomorrow to find what the current version is. I also figure that if I do hit the spot, a short turn of the retract/extend nut on the motor should get it off it. Just means crawling under briefly to make the slide move. If it becomes an annoyance, I'll get a new motor.

rracer5 · 04-02-2018, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chunker21

Rick, as a matter of fact as your emoji suggest, I'm having a cold Yuengling as I write. I considered that a burnt spot might exist but didn't try to take the motor apart. Sometimes brushes won't go back in place. Since this trailer won't be traveling much, I decided to make a $400+ gamble that I won't hit that spot. I put it back in and it works fine, for now. I did write down every number I could find and may call Lippert tomorrow to find what the current version is. I also figure that if I do hit the spot, a short turn of the retract/extend nut on the motor should get it off it. Just means crawling under briefly to make the slide move. If it becomes an annoyance, I'll get a new motor.

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