27BHSS / 2701SS Slide motor mount problem

[kristler]

All,
I found a problem with the slide motor mount in our new 08 27BHSS (same as the Rockwood 2701SS) today. Here is a copy of the email I sent to Forest River along with the pictures. Thought I would post it so everyone would have a chance to check out their trailers also.

-Bill

Brett,
I don't know if you remember me, but I emailed you a few times back in October / November 07 when our new Flagstaff 27BHSS was being built. Since that time, we have not been able to go out and use a trailer yet (because of the weather and other commitments). Anyway, after first getting our 27BHSS, our converter went out 3 times. Finally it was replaced with a new model, and is now fine. Today I went out to check things out and get ready for a trip next week. While vacuuming under the couch I saw that the slide motor was bet up and the 2 bottom screws (out of the 4 holding it in) had ripped out. Also I noticed that the wall near where the slide motor mounts has been cut (it almost looks like in manufacturing, they started to cut the opening for the slide too low, but then moved it up). The cut is 2-3 feet long. The bracket that hold both the slide motor and the front slide gear straddle the cut. Since there is very little wall left above the cut (1.5 inches), when the bottom 2 screws pulled out of the slide motor bracket, it also pulled the wall above the cut out (away from the rest of the wall) about 1/4 an inch. I did not like the way the motor was mounted (4 wall screws holding the whole thing in place (weight), and taking all the stress of moving the slide). I therefore made up my own bracket out of wood, metal strapping, a metal L bracket and screws to hold the motor both up from the floor (to take the weight) and down to the floor when the motor is moving the slide. I have attached pictures to show this and the cut in the wall. I think this is a much stronger way of holding the motor. I also noted that there were already a set of holes where the motor had been moved once before. I also put wood glue on all the screws I installed. Finally I decided to check the rear slide bracket to make sure it was secure. I noted that it too spanned a cut in the side wall, but also found a lot of debris behind the access panels as well as a wet area from near the hot and cold water lines that tee up to the kitchen sink. I tightened both water lines. Hopefully that takes care of the leak, but I will check as we use it. All in all the quality of construction on this unit is really lacking. We did a lot of research and thought Flagstaff would be a good brand. I hope we have found the last of the issues with our trailer, but I wanted to inform you of this as much to make you aware as to document it in case there are future problems with either the slide motor mount or the wall of the trailer, or delamination near the cuts in the wall.

[rcnhoward]

I sure hope you get a reply from FR!! I bought a 2007 2601ss, that has been in storage since October. I will have to inspect for the same workmanship. Good luck, and I hope this is the end of your issues, not the start!

[Dave_Monica]

I've had a few issues with the mounting of the slide motor drive on our 2008 Rockwood 2605. As some of the lags mounting the drive motor pulled out, you may want to check the position of the stop on the drive track for full in. The stop may be allowing the drive to run although the slide is in...then the torque of the drive motor does the damage you've seen.

[kristler]

The stop?!? That maybe a problem. Best I can tell (and what I thought our dealer told us), there is no stop (at least not one that turns off the power to the motor). When the slide reaches full in, or full out I try to release the button before the "clutch" starts clicking, but it usually clicks 1 - 2 times before I stop it. I agree a shut off would work better, but our trailer doesn't have that. Either way, I don't think the lag screws are really strong enough to be carrying all the weight of the motor and gearing all the time. I think there should have already been a bracket to the floor.

If I am suppose to have a shut off / stop, please let me know and send me a picture if you can. If you mean a physical stop on the track, I think the motor will see a high load when it reaches that also.

By the way due you have a similar cut in the wall where your motor is mounted (picture 1)?

Thanks,

Bill

[Dave_Monica]

I've attached a picture of the drive mounting in our Rockwood. There's a stop bracket held with a carriage bolt in a slot where the drive shaft passes through the channel (righthand side of the photo). The physical stop is a tab punched out on the side of the channel. There's a similar arrangement on the other side of the channel for the full out stop. I think that the stop is what causes the drive clutch to disengage.

Our problem was that the full in stop allowed the room to come in too far at bottom after the top met the wall. This would break the seal at the top and caused a leak. Once I adjusted the stop to disengage the drive sooner, all is well.

As you can see in the photo, there is also a horizontial cut in the outer wall about 3' long. I have no idea why they would need to do this?? Perhap a horizontial line for alignment??

[kristler]

Wow, Thanks for the feedback. I think I understand what you are saying now. I went out and looked, and it does look like the stop could be moved about 1/4 inch for a better stop point. One last question, does your clutch click "pop" if you keep driving at the stop? I think it does, but please correct me I am wrong here. I want to make sure I understand everything. I think one of our problems is also the horizontal cut goes (between) the top 2 and bottom 2 lag bolts at the motor mount. All in all I still think a bracket from the motor to the floor is a good idea, if for nothing else then to unload the weight of the motor and gears from the wall.

Thanks!

Bill

[Dave_Monica]

I believe that the clutch drive is spring loaded...it will continue to drive until it meets sufficient resistance at which point it continues but is disengaged. Continuing to operate the drive motor with the slide against the stop will not do anything other than damage the clutch mechanism if done a lot. I was told to use the sound of the clutch disengaging to know if the room is all the way in or out.

I'm not particularly happy but how the whole drive arrangement is mounted. It looks like everything is mounted with lags...nothing is bolted through. I'd expect, over time, that these will eventually pull out. I've been looking at ways to strengthen the mounting...I'll post if I find some way of doing it. Our slide is only a counch...not a lot of weight compared to a couch/dinette combo.

[kristler]

I totally agree about not continuing to drive passed the clutch sound. I think I worded what I was trying to say wrong. What I meant to ask is if the sound of the clutch disengaging is a clicking / popping sound? When I hit the stop, I get a click, click. If I am careful, I get 1 click, but usually 2 and sometime 3. I think (as you said) it is the spring loaded clutch, but I wanted to make sure the sound was not actually something else (teeth in the drive system slipping, etc). Also, any idea who makes our slide (we have the same one it looks like). Several posts talk about Lippert, but none of their slides on their website look right.

Thanks again,

Bill

[Dave_Monica]

Bill:

That's correct as far as the clicking/popping sound indicating that the clutch is disengaged. I'm not sure who the manufacturer of the slide is either...I'll have to dig through the stack of manuals to see if I can find something.

I'd be interested in any feedback Forest River gives you in regards to the slide drive mounting. You'll probably have to chase them. I spoke with a fella at Forest River, I believe he was their Service Manager. I told him about the support bracket that's held with 4 - 1" wood lags to the floor with a carriage bolted through the plastic wheelwell liner. I said I wanted to weld the bracket to a 1/8" plate 6" x 12" and attach it to the floor with 12 wood lags. He told me that I should remove the backer board and insulation under the floor and bolt the plate through the floor and make sure that its good and secure. Funny that they can figure out great ways to fix it after!!

As far as how the slde drive is attached to the side wall, I guess it looks like it only lagged with wood screws too!