Slide out problem

[sailingsuppo46]

It sounds like it. Mine broke 5 days before our trip to Pine Hurst last year for Thanksgiving. We did not go because the dealer had the TT. It took me calling the owner to get it back In a reasonable amount of time. Have you tried to manually move the slide? If the motor leakage is broke, yon still might be able to crank it out and in manually. Maybe not, but wroth a shot. I will check out the campground. Sounds nice. Send me a private message and I will give u my number. Be more then glad to help out if I can. Thanks, George

[phoyt916]

Hi George,

My husband (Wayne) finally got through to service dept manager at Beckley's yesterday (that is where we bought it). He said to call in the morning and he will see if he can fit us in. Wayne went to triangle yesterday to buy the T-crank we need to manually slide it out and the one they sold him was 1 inch too short. He got so frustrated he but the underbelly back on and is basically going to wait until Beckleys can fix it. Even if we get it in tomorrow, they will probably need to order parts so I am sure it will not be fixed in time for our trip. We are too scared to manually crank in out in PA for fear we might not get it back in. I think we are just going to tough it out. I will let you know how the repair works out. Thanks again and happy camping! Pati

[sailingsuppo46]

Understand. Hope Beckeley's come through for you. Enjoy your trip. If I can be of help, just drop me an note. Good luck, geoege

[bill and theresa]

I did discuss this with forrest river. It originally was supposed to be grade 8. You can tell grade 8 by the gold color or the markings on the head of the bolt. I got mine at fasten all. I put a flat washer on both sides and a self locking nut tightened well. No problems since replacing all mine.

[Bill_C]

Originally Posted by bill and theresa

I did discuss this with forrest river. It originally was supposed to be grade 8. You can tell grade 8 by the gold color or the markings on the head of the bolt. I got mine at fasten all. I put a flat washer on both sides and a self locking nut tightened well. No problems since replacing all mine.

Don't go by colour to determine a bolt grade. ( I have gold coloured grade 4 bolts in my shop). Count the raised lines on the top of the bolt and add 2. 6 raised marks around the head, add 2, makes a grade 8 bolt.

This is the American Standards of bolt grading and is the only reliable way to determine a bolt grade.

[phoyt916]

Hello. We have some great news that some of you long-time campers might find amusing. Our slide is working great. It turns out that our battery was bad and although we had the camper hooked to our house it still depends on the battery to operate. I am very grateful to Beckleys Camping Center for fitting us in!

I also give glory to God because a storm caused a power outage and let us know the battery was bad when it didn't hold a charge overnight when the house circuit tripped. That put Beckleys on the right path to diagnosing the problem! Thank you Lord for answering our prayers and allowing us to go camping on 08/02 with a working slide!

[Mario 28bhss]

I just recently bought a '08 28BHSS, and was told to open the slide entill I hear the ratcheting noise (same for fully in) and the rear bolt sheared off after about the 8th time opening the slide.. I was wondering if this is the recomended way to fully open and close the slide, and if so is there an adjustement for the ratchet to keep it from over torquing the mecanism and poping the bolts?

[bill and theresa]

I never leave mine on til I hear ratcheting. I come in or out til it is sealed and quit. DW usually does this and I am outside and tell her when to stop.

[rlocicero]

The bolt that FR used may have been what is called a shear bolt. It is made of a softer material that will allow it to shear before a malfunction damages the system. These are commonly used on outboard props, snowblower augers etc.. I do not know if this the case in this application but it sounds like a plausable answer. You may want to check with your RV terch.

Originally Posted by TWO4THEROAD

Actually, I just had the same problem with MY slideout. It made the same noise and stopped working on 1 side, I crawled under the slide and found that the bolt that hold the shaft from the gear to the motor had sheared off, so the motor was only turning one side of the slide. I replaced the bolt with a "hardened" bolt. for some reason FR put a regular steel bolt not hardened so it sheared off. Just be sure that the slide in even on both sides before replacing the bolt. This seemed to solve the problem for now. Good luck

[Mario 28bhss]

Thanks for the reply,
We can hardly wait for next season to realy try out the virtues of a fifth wheel ( our previous RV was a fleetwood travel trailer)