Heritage Glen 28R Slideout Stuck Shut

[Murbella7]

One living room slideout is stuck shut. This is just a day after leaving home where everything was OK. There is power to the motor because it is operating. When I tried moving it with the crank, the end of the manual crank shaft broke off at the motor end (not the crank handle, the shaft, I can fix this because the shaft is long enough to trim and by drilling a new hole for the split spin). The skipping gear sound you get at the normal end of travel is still there so I know that the motor is operating properly and with normal force.

I can't manually move the slideout up, down, sideways, in or out. This is most likely just the weight working against my puny version of super-strength. Thankfully it is on the settee side and although it is a tight squeeze, we can get the fridge door open enough to get access to the inside.

Any ideas. I have downloaded the Lippet manual but not much help there.

[Murbella7]

I 'fixed' the manual crank bit, tried it but it broke again, telling me that the slide is most assuredly jammed shut.

[Murbella7]

Well it's fixed, by me. Simple really, just making amends for bad workmanship and no quality control.

The Lippert screw type actuator mount was badly welded to the rail. It was at an angle and while the slide out worked up till a few days ago, it must have been under high tension for the entire 2.5 years we have had this beast.

What really needed doing was for the bracket to be removed and re-welded back in place, but square. Removing it would be a hammer and chisel affair taking a few hours I would think, being upside down and on the back. Not for me and I wasn't about to pay someone for that sort of grunt work.

I simply added a couple of fat washers under one part of the two-part bracket on one of the bolts, which lifted one side enough to get the main shaft reasonably inline, without the curve it had.

Slide out works great now and I can hear that there is a lot less strain on the thing.

I will forever be astonished at the bad workmanship, bad or nil quality control in the manufacturing process of this thing. The bracket I just fixed was painted, so not only did the unskilled, untalented, uncaring 'tradesman' ignore his/her bad work, so did everybody else. Even the painter didn't pickup on how badly it had been mounted. Considering that these frames are put together on a jig, before any body work, something as big as the slide out mechanism mounts and as misaligned as it was should/would have been very obvious, yet it was not fixed before even the painting had been done.

I am quite disgusted at their lack of pride in their own product.

So, this is item number 53 that I have had to repair and because I am so far away from the factory, I can get no warranty support, from anyone.

[amnda65]

Hi! We are brand new RV newbies. Can you please tell me where to locate the manual slide mechanism for the 2021 Heritage Glen 26 BHHL? I have watched tons of videos and I cant seem to find one that is specific to that model. thank you!

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by amnda65

Hi! We are brand new RV newbies. Can you please tell me where to locate the manual slide mechanism for the 2021 Heritage Glen 26 BHHL? I have watched tons of videos and I cant seem to find one that is specific to that model. thank you!

You've re-awakened a 3 year old thread, from a member that hasn't posted anything in those past 3 years. Also the OP is in Australia and has a different model number.
You should try sending the OP a PM instead or start your own thread in the Wildwood sub-forum.

[Murbella7]

Hi guys. It's been a while, I sold The Nostromo and The Truck a couple of years back. My HG was a 2015 model and although they kept the same basic chassis config for many years, it is probably different to yours.

The hand-crank shafts for each slideout were located under the opposite side to the slideout. So the left slideout shaft is under the right side slideout, etc. There should be a hole in the side panel to allow the crank through. Look under the RV, to the rear of the wheels and see if you can spot these shafts poking through the chassis, they will have a square section on the end. If your RV has the same linear actuatators as mine, then a crank handle should have been supplied. If you can't find it, look in the storage area under the main bed. If your RV uses a different method for sliding then I suggest you get on YouTube and search Pippi Petersen. She has loads of videos on her travels across America and all the repairs she did. Amongst them is her servicing the rack-n-pinion slideout mechanisms. They had the motors hidden in the cavity between the slideout and RV walls and were notorious for sticking. They need servicing often. Sorry I can't help more.

BTW, if you can find the shafts, make a socket driver attachment for a battery drill and use that rather than hand-cranking. You will probably also be manually cranking the rectractable awning at some point too. The electrical connection to it is in the pantograph arm up near the motor and is notorious for disconnecting when operating the awning, because the cable is too tight. Pull a bit of cable length out from the wall to relieve the strain on it and stop this maddening problem.

Finally, I added a spring-loaded bolt (usually used on trailers to lock the jockey wheel) to lock the steps in place while moving. the steps like to bounce out. Plus, with the awning open, tie back the pantograph arms to the mounting point with bungy cords or small rope to secure them against wind parachuting the thing. RVing is often a huge pain in the rear end and the wallet but also huge fun. For an overview of the many, many trials, tribulations and mishaps we had, search out my other posts here and my pictorial diary on Facebook - Ron Cork. Good luck.