entry steps not working

DavidMort · 08-22-2017, 11:24 AM

Steps worked fine until this morning when I went out to button up to get some fuel. Opened and closed them a few times yesterday to make sure they were working. Today the steps do not open. Checked fuse panel under bed and all say ok. Crawled under to look to see if anything obvious. See attached pictures. A green and white wire pair are hanging. On the side of the steps at brown and white pair are hanging. Not sure if they were ever hooked to anything. The wires that go from the door open/close switch look like they may have been hot, but this may have come from too much heat when they sealed them.

Have a call into Travis at Dynamax. I am heading out on Monday for two months and do not want to have to deal with no steps.

DCRiii · 08-23-2017, 04:25 PM

No help here? I have the same issue....

DavidMort · 08-23-2017, 07:54 PM

Spoke with Travis at Dynamax. Tried to get plant to fix as I will be passing by on Elkhart, Monday but they are already booked with work. Travis said to try to get into local FR dealers or where I purchased. No one has openings until 2nd week in Sept. Including the dealer I purchased RV.

At this point I just do not want it to come out while I am moving. Travis said there is an inline fuse to the motor which I pull will stop it from going out. I will check tomorrow am for this.

It is not a convenient place to get to. There is a trouble shooting guide in the manual but it doesn't cover broken wires/disconnected wires. It looks like the wiring bundles were not properly tied to the the tie down points. What I can see is the the main wiring harness for the steps bypasses one of the tie downs. The bundle with the green and white wire hanging appears to have caught in the steps when it when in and out. The brown and white wires appear to be wedged in the side of the steps. Thought they might be for the step light but I checked tonight and the step light comes on when the door is opened which indicates that the door switch is working. The entry door status is high with the door open or closed. The step fuse says ok.

At this point we have order a double step stool from Amazon which will be here Friday so we can get in and out of the RV.

Since there is an inline fuse for the steps perhaps it is blown. Will post if it is.

bubbles · 08-23-2017, 08:23 PM

Not familiar with your unit but are the steps Kwikee steps? If they are typically the inline power fuse is connected directly to the coach batteries to allow operation no matter what.

bubbles · 08-23-2017, 08:31 PM

Those loose wires appear to have a clean cut and appear to have never been terminated. Your steps have worked so they should not be the issue. The Kwikee step harness on the step side does use 4 wires, brown/yellow/red/white. The coach side harness could be different. Its been a while and I may have the color of the wires on the wrong side (steps vs coach).

**bclemens** · 08-24-2017, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bubbles

Those loose wires appear to have a clean cut and appear to have never been terminated. Your steps have worked so they should not be the issue. The Kwikee step harness on the step side does use 4 wires, brown/yellow/red/white. The coach side harness could be different. Its been a while and I may have the color of the wires on the wrong side (steps vs coach).

Agree. The wires are probably non-used from that harness or it would not be a clean cut.

More than likely it is a fuse or bad motor. Both of which can happen on the Kwikee step.

DavidMort · 08-24-2017, 11:33 AM

Found a nice large piece of cardboard to lay on so a bit easier to look at this morning.

Did not find any inline fuse in the wiring near the step.

Since I was a bit more comfortable under there. I checked the 4 wire connection that goes to the controller. I attached fig.10 below which shows the wiring for the Isata5.

Main power is present on Red

White (red/white) coming in from entry switch works properly -- Voltage with switch on--- no voltage with it off

Yellow is powered when the ignition is on, no power when off.

Brown seems to be ok as I noted before the step light comes on when you open door. Did not check continuity to ground as I must have blown the fuse on the ammeter part of multi meter.

The wires from the connector to the controller and from the controller appear to be ok

==> Controller and/or Motor is bad.

camaraderie · 08-24-2017, 01:54 PM

Sounds like a good diagnosis and maybe you can just pick up the parts and bolt on yourself. Have been on the road for a month now with steps broken and wired up to hold them up in place.after I removed the drive pin nut.The Amazon steps.are.my friend! Good luck with yours!

Desertsquid · 08-24-2017, 05:13 PM

Our Kwikee steps died. We replaced the motor and now they work great. The motor is the same motor that work on car automatic windows. We removed ours and made sure we were purchasing the same model. Bought it from Amazon. We were camping when ours suddenly wouldn't work and we used the lego type leveling pads to construct a temporary step. Sure was better than no step....

Delco Bobby · 08-24-2017, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desertsquid

Our Kwikee steps died. We replaced the motor and now they work great. The motor is the same motor that work on car automatic windows. We removed ours and made sure we were purchasing the same model. Bought it from Amazon. We were camping when ours suddenly wouldn't work and we used the lego type leveling pads to construct a temporary step. Sure was better than no step....

Back in the 1970's there was a nylon gear that would get stripped. Car glass shops would replace the gear to "fix" the window motor.

I don't know if the same system is in use today.

DavidMort · 10-22-2017, 07:50 AM

After a month on the road a miracle occurred and the steps started working. Only thing I could see was that there was a small piece of cardboard and some of the foam insulation in the the pivot points. Has worked since.

I assume step was jammed. I thought I would hear the motor try to move the steps before the current overload would shut the motor off. When they were not working there was no sound of an attempt to open.

I never found an inline fuse to the motor.

Lucubrated the steps and have worked fine since.

halla · 10-22-2017, 09:01 AM

I know there us a fuse in the panel for ours, not inline. Our step hit a patio when we first got it, blew the fuse.

vrunner · 10-22-2017, 10:32 PM

Had a similar issue. The motor is in a poor place on all RV's. Water and moisture cause it to lock up. I had to take mine off my last RV twice to clean, lube and remove rust. Keep the pivot points well greased and it should be good.

dlfishing · 11-01-2017, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bclemens

Agree. The wires are probably non-used from that harness or it would not be a clean cut.

More than likely it is a fuse or bad motor. Both of which can happen on the Kwikee step.

I carry a spare step motor and gearbox. The plastic gear in the motor strips out easily if you hit a curb. Not hard to change.

halla · 11-01-2017, 08:31 AM

DL, what is the part # for the step? I show a Quikee 25 step for the Force. Would be a good part to carry along.

dlfishing · 11-01-2017, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by halla

DL, what is the part # for the step? I show a Quikee 25 step for the Force. Would be a good part to carry along.

For my 2014 DX3:
Kwikee 379147 Motor Replacement kit
Kwikee 1101425 gear/ linkage A
Got both on Amazon.

halla · 11-01-2017, 12:27 PM

Thank you.

Jammer151 · 11-01-2017, 01:42 PM

Just ordered mine....great suggestion.

dlfishing · 11-01-2017, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dlfishing

For my 2014 DX3:
Kwikee 379147 Motor Replacement kit
Kwikee 1101425 gear/ linkage A
Got both on Amazon.

Just checked: my steps are Series 32

dlfishing · 11-01-2017, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dlfishing

Just checked: my steps are Series 32

Also we’re spelling the brand name differently???

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