2014 Trilogy - 3850RL - Roadside Slide

[John Hagen]

Has anyone experienced issues in opening/closing their roadside slide (kitchen)? It seems my forward gear drive is not working and the slide will not move at that end. The aft and middle sections start to move but then bind up due to the forward one not moving.

Not sure if the gear is broken or the drive shaft for the gear is the cause. It's all encased in the belly. Maybe a shear pin somewhere...

Argh! Always something...

John

[retamaman]

Yikes! I had a little trouble with mine but some additional hydraulic fluid cured it. No problems since.


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[John Hagen]

After trying numerous avenues to get someone onsite to look at the slide, I did it myself. Cut an access panel in the belly where the forward gear pack is located.

I used the remote control to open/close the slide to see what was happening. The drive shaft (my term for the linkage between the three drive gear/rail assemblies) was not turning. I could also see the one for the middle track was not moving. This means the problem must be with the gear pack at the aft end of the slide (one next to the hydraulic cylinder).

Cut another access panel in the belly so I could get at the aft gear pack. Sure enough, when I dropped the panel down, teeth from the gear pack fell to the ground. Here are a couple of pictures of what I saw:



The attach bolts are ok, I took the picture as I was removing the gear pack assembly.

So, I worked this through Dynamax & Lippert to have a new one sent out overnight. Should be here tomorrow.

Argh!

John

[retamaman]

Man, that stinks! Had the same issue with a long slide on a Cameo. Thankfully it was before Carriage went down and the warranty covered it.

[mcnabbwr]

Is there any indication of what actually caused the failure? Just wondering if there is something I can do to prevent it from happening. That would terrible to deal with while traveling. Hope you get it resolved soon and that it doesn't hamper your plans too much.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by mcnabbwr

Is there any indication of what actually caused the failure? Just wondering if there is something I can do to prevent it from happening. That would terrible to deal with while traveling. Hope you get it resolved soon and that it doesn't hamper your plans too much.

do you lube the track when extended. use a dry lube to do it only. those are moving parts and need a lube. I found graphite to be the best, but any will work, Napa carries a CRS white brand.

[lgray]

Originally Posted by gljurczyk

do you lube the track when extended. use a dry lube to do it only. those are moving parts and need a lube. I found graphite to be the best, but any will work, Napa carries a CRS white brand.

This is a really good question. I was in the same camp on lubing the slide, that was unitl my Trilogy PDI. The tech told me to only use silicon on the chrome guide poll (my words) but not to use anything on the external teeth. His thought was that the grease would actually collect dirt which would cause greater damage.

[mcnabbwr]

Originally Posted by gljurczyk

do you lube the track when extended. use a dry lube to do it only. those are moving parts and need a lube. I found graphite to be the best, but any will work, Napa carries a CRS white brand.

I do lube them. When I went through the PDI last year the dealer gave me a spray can of Thetford premium slide out lubricant. They stated to spray depending on use but at least once per month. Thanks for the reply.

[B and B]

I lube mine but I also clean the lube off with Varsol to get rid of the dirt attraction after the first trip. I am more looking at it like seasoning a cast iron frypan, coated the surface but no actual grease left.

[gauchoverde]

I got no instruction on lubbing tge tracks during the pdi. My one year warranty just ran out and I still have items that fun Town has not fixed in over 6 months.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by B and B

I lube mine but I also clean the lube off with Varsol to get rid of the dirt attraction after the first trip. I am more looking at it like seasoning a cast iron frypan, coated the surface but no actual grease left.

I don't know B & B, Dry lube you shouldn't be picking up any dirt at all. It's kinda like a teflon coating when it dry's. I just respray mine about 2 x's a year. Makes no difference if it is hydraulic actuated or electrical motor. That is the same gear package on our units and there's. I think if they try it they will see how easy it go's in and out and will stop any binding that will break the teeth on that sprocket. What is Varsol? With hydraulic it will not stop if the sprocket tightens up and bust them teeth. What kinda of pressure does it put out not like an electric motor. I think last year a guy had the same problem and he didn't lube either. They sent him a sprocket to. It also might not be bad idea to carry a spare with you too.

[John Hagen]

Everything I read in the Lippert data says to not lube the rail with the teeth nor the teeth on the gear pack. If the slide out is squeaking when it is moved, lube the bushings/shaft in the gear pack.

I put the new gear pack on and the slide is working but I still get a loud popping sound. Upon further inspection of the rail with the teeth (inner tube) I found a few teeth about 8 inches from the frame (slide extended) that caused the popping sound as the gear pack goes over the teeth.



Did some work to try and dress the damaged teeth and it did help to some extent. However, I am afraid this will still cause damage to the new gear pack. Lippert is sending me a replacement inner tube and that should resolve this issue.

What a pain!

John

[John Hagen]

Oh my... It has been quite the journey since I last posted about my slide out issue. For the moment it seems to be cured, but it took another trip to Indiana to get it fixed. To make a long, long story short, I'll keep it to bullet type statements.

1. New gear pack I installed ended up with broken teeth after traveling from Oklahoma to Mississippi, Florida, and South Carolina.
2. Mobil repair in South Carolina worked on it 4 hours, no luck with repair so they manually closed slide.
3. Notified Dynamax and Mark agreed to service it in Indiana.
4. Repir facility in Indiana (not Dynamax) made the repairs. When we tested slide, it needed a minor adjustment to seal properly in kitchen. After the adjustment, the gear pack broke teeth again.
5. I requested Lippert be consulted to determine once and for all what the problem is with the slide and get it fixed.
6. Had an appointment the next day with Lippert. Tech changed all three gear packs for slide, replaced all three "T" sections that attached to slide out, added gussets to the "T" brackets and did full alignment.
7. Slide now works flawlessly. Never worked this well since day of delivery.
8. Tech claims the slide was not properly adjusted when installed before being painted. You can now see the paint stripes don't match on the outside, indicating it was not adjusted correctly before it was painted.

We are very nervous when we run the kitchen slide in or out. But after about 10 in/out operations, so far so good!

Thanks to mark and Dynamax for OUTSTANDING support in resolving this major issue.

John

[lgray]

Originally Posted by John Hagen

Oh my... It has been quite the journey since I last posted about my slide out issue. For the moment it seems to be cured, but it took another trip to Indiana to get it fixed. To make a long, long story short, I'll keep it to bullet type statements.

1. New gear pack I installed ended up with broken teeth after traveling from Oklahoma to Mississippi, Florida, and South Carolina.
2. Mobil repair in South Carolina worked on it 4 hours, no luck with repair so they manually closed slide.
3. Notified Dynamax and Mark agreed to service it in Indiana.
4. Repir facility in Indiana (not Dynamax) made the repairs. When we tested slide, it needed a minor adjustment to seal properly in kitchen. After the adjustment, the gear pack broke teeth again.
5. I requested Lippert be consulted to determine once and for all what the problem is with the slide and get it fixed.
6. Had an appointment the next day with Lippert. Tech changed all three gear packs for slide, replaced all three "T" sections that attached to slide out, added gussets to the "T" brackets and did full alignment.
7. Slide now works flawlessly. Never worked this well since day of delivery.
8. Tech claims the slide was not properly adjusted when installed before being painted. You can now see the paint stripes don't match on the outside, indicating it was not adjusted correctly before it was painted.

We are very nervous when we run the kitchen slide in or out. But after about 10 in/out operations, so far so good!

Thanks to mark and Dynamax for OUTSTANDING support in resolving this major issue.

John

Wow, what an ordeal, hope they got it right.

Did Lippert provide any suggestions on care and maintenance?

[loislee]

John, We have been trying to get our slide fixed right since the day we bought it. We had it fixed in Az (gear pack) fixed in Ca. two gear packs and broken bolts in the drive rod. One more gear pack in Ca. Brought it to bakersfield where camping world put in all new inner slide tubes and gear packs. Now we are in Kanab broke again. In all the time we have had the 5th I dont think we used the slides more than 25-35 times. Now all the bolts are gone in the drive rod. I cut open the bottom and you can turn the rollers on the end of the tube.The rollers are not in contact with outer tube so the inner tube grinds together causing a bind. Also on the other slide one end roller was never installed in the tube. For some reason the roller doesnt seem to be big enough. Dont know what to do now Lippert and Dynamax wont return my emails or calls.

[lgray]

Originally Posted by loislee

John, We have been trying to get our slide fixed right since the day we bought it. We had it fixed in Az (gear pack) fixed in Ca. two gear packs and broken bolts in the drive rod. One more gear pack in Ca. Brought it to bakersfield where camping world put in all new inner slide tubes and gear packs. Now we are in Kanab broke again. In all the time we have had the 5th I dont think we used the slides more than 25-35 times. Now all the bolts are gone in the drive rod. I cut open the bottom and you can turn the rollers on the end of the tube.The rollers are not in contact with outer tube so the inner tube grinds together causing a bind. Also on the other slide one end roller was never installed in the tube. For some reason the roller doesnt seem to be big enough. Dont know what to do now Lippert and Dynamax wont return my emails or calls.

What year and model?

[loislee]

Originally Posted by lgray

What year and model?

2013 3850 rl trilogy

[lgray]

That is what I was afraid of, I have a 2013 and hear a lot of strange noises.

Since your original problem was not resolved under warranty, I would think it should still be covered.

Please refresh my memory, how do you operate and where are the manual slide controls in the Trilogy, for the dinnette and kitchen slides.

[loislee]

There is no way to bring the slide in when it is stuck out. You have to go under unit and try to pry the end of the slide tube loose and have 6 friends push it back in. The problem we have now is fixing the bolts in the drive rod that we sheared off.

[John Hagen]

Originally Posted by lgray

Wow, what an ordeal, hope they got it right.

Did Lippert provide any suggestions on care and maintenance?

Ron, the technician that did the repair, used a dry lube on everything. He even sprayed the teeth on the rails. I had read in one of the Lippert manuals that said to not spray the rails. For squeaks when the slides are moved, to squirt a lightweight oil on the gear pack shaft, but not the gears. Mine are running fairly quiet at the moment.

John