Oh NO. Trailer Slide Out Not Moving

[fishfun83]

I have a 2012 Forest River Surveyor with one slide out. I went to slide it out prior to taking a trip and it extended out but was making a clicking noise. Once extended I went to see if it would retract but it would not. All I can hear is the motor running.

I have seen on other forums where sometimes there is a shear pin between the gear and the shaft so I checked that out and neither are rotating. Has to be something in the gearbox. All I can hear is the motor running.

The Gearbox/Motor is a Venture 890-70K. Are there any interchangeable parts in the gearbox or do you think I have to change the gearbox out?

[Kaadk]

First off, do you have a crank that's used to crank it in by hand? If so, does that work?

[fishfun83]

Originally Posted by Kaadk

First off, do you have a crank that's used to crank it in by hand? If so, does that work?

Yes I have the crank and the slide in moves in and out easily.

[Kaadk]

Ok, so at least you know you can pull the slide in if needed to take it somewhere for repairs. And you've pretty much confirmed the issue is at the motor, both between your previous tests and the fact the crank still works the gears driving the shaft. At this point is where I'd normally just run it over to the dealer, but that was when I still had a 5 year warranty at the dealer's.

Hopefully somebody with more familiarity of the actual motors can jump in here and isolate further.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by fishfun83

Yes I have the crank and the slide in moves in and out easily.

all fixed

[fonzie]

Most likely you have through the frame slide system, here is manual....

[fishfun83]

Originally Posted by fonzie

Most likely you have through the frame slide system, here is manual....

My gearbox is made by Venture and the system looks quite different from the Lieppert.

[Sbosserman]

Originally Posted by fishfun83

I have a 2012 Forest River Surveyor with one slide out. I went to slide it out prior to taking a trip and it extended out but was making a clicking noise. Once extended I went to see if it would retract but it would not. All I can hear is the motor running.

I have seen on other forums where sometimes there is a shear pin between the gear and the shaft so I checked that out and neither are rotating. Has to be something in the gearbox. All I can hear is the motor running.

The Gearbox/Motor is a Venture 890-70K. Are there any interchangeable parts in the gearbox or do you think I have to change the gearbox out?

I have a 2014 Forest River Wildcat Maxx travel trailer that had exactly that same problem about two months after the 1 year manufacturer's warranty expired (of course). The living room slide would not slide in, but I could hear the motor running when the slide switch was pressed. I could move the slide with the manual crank though. So, I removed the black plastic cover under the living room slide mechanism and lo and behold the slide motor was laying on top of that black plastic cover along with the one and only bolt that had held the slide motor / gear assembly to its mount. Apparently, there was no lock washer under that one bolt and it came loose (probably wasn't even tightened like many other bolts that I have found loose on this trailer). Anyway, the everything looked ok, just disconnected. So I reconnected the motor / gear assembly back to its mount along with a lock washer and made sure that it was tight and that was three years ago, and it has worked fine since. It actually took me longer to remover that black plastic cover than it did to reconnect the motor / gear assembly to its mount. But I'll bet you that if I had taken my trailer to a dealer, those repairs would have cost at least $250 to $350. I would at least check it out first before taking it to the dealer. Hope this helps.

[mnoland30]

I've never had trouble with the slide on my ROO, but I don't think I have a crank. Can someone with a ROO post a picture of the crank for me? Thanks.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by mnoland30

I've never had trouble with the slide on my ROO, but I don't think I have a crank. Can someone with a ROO post a picture of the crank for me? Thanks.

It would help if you posted which Roo model you own.
It's not listed in your profile.

[mnoland30]

Thanks for the reminder. It is a 21' 2009 Model ROO.

[CA2FL]

I found out the hard way that some travel trailers with slides do not have a hand crank, like our Rockwood Mini-Lite 2505S. It was a Sunday evening, 6pm, went to pull in the slide and start for home, it would not move or make any noise at all. All power was good. I asked some other experienced campers, none could locate a hand crank but they swore there "has to be one". After an hour of searching I knew there wasn't one. So luckily i had signal and on my smart phone I found the way to reset the motor controller and that took care of it. Mine is a Schwintek by Lippert, so if all else fails I have to disengage the motors and manually push or pull the slide. Here is a link to the instructions I found that really helped! Good luck, all!
https://www.lci1.com/assets/content/...ting_Guide.pdf

[mnoland30]

Thanks for the post. I'll find out what brand mine is and print those instructions.

[fishfun83]

My trailer is repaired!!..Ended up purchasing a new motor/gearbox by Venture. Only had to remove 2 bolts and reconnect 2 wires to get it going again. As far as manually moving the slide out in and out, there was a socket and handle combination supplied with the Forest River for moving the stabilizers up and down. That socket fit the slide out motor and I could move the slide out in and out with no problem, except, the handle was so long it interfered with the dining room seats before the slide out was all the way retracted. Luckily, I had a short version that I attach to my drill to make raising and lowering the stabilizers easier. Job done.

[KyDan]

Thanks for the follow up.
We love a happy ending!!

Happy Trails!

[Locky]

CA2FL, thanks for that link. I am printing it out and putting it in the camper. I already had to do the reset once and our camper is only 1 month old lol.

KyDan, we were in your neighborhood on Thursday trying out the hot chicken at Joellas.