New Kid on the Block slide out help?

[jerryharmon]

Hi all. My name is Jerry Harmon. My wife and I very recently acquired our first RV. We have a 2003 Forest River Cherokee with two slide outs. It is 34 ft. We took it out Christmas for the first time. We spent a week in Charleston SC at the County Park. We fell in love with camping, and the festival of lights was amazing also. I had a blow-out on the way down, but was able to get thru that with little aggravation.
the RV'ers we met at the campground were super nice people.
We are so looking forward to this, but can only do it as weekend warriors, for we both are still working. She is a lighting specialist for commercial and residential, and I am a performer. I have a question I would love some help with. I will try to solve this problem permanently later, but for now the living room slide stops about three inches from fully opening. It doesn't seem like a big thing, but it blocks the area where the tv is enough to be irritating, and doesn't allow the fold out sofa to work properly for it hits the cabinet. Is there a place I can finish rolling it out manually. I have looked but can't find one, and I am sure it may be because I am sooo much feeling my way thru these things that I know nothing about. I also thought I was good at backing a trailer, but this fifth wheel has got me pulling my hair out. It seems to be a different animal. OK lol I have dropped a lot on you guys, but I do not know where else to turn for help. Jerry and Maria

[MillerTime]

Welcome!
You should have a hole on the side of your trailer opposite your slides. It will be about an inch or so in diamater and you should see a shaft inside with roll going through it. You
May also have the shaft behind your folding steps. Once you have located these you should be able to move manually with the slide crank tool.
Your slide motor may need adjustment, and that may be the root of your problem, but others will have to help you on that.
- if you still have trouble locating the rods, I can take some pics of mine if needed.
Happy camping!

[Len & Cheri]

Welcome to the forum.

I would not use the manual method to finish extending the slide until I found out why it's not going all the way out with the motor. There is a reason it's stopping and you may cause serious damage using the manual method. You may get it extended, but cause enough damage to not be able to bring it back in. Just a thought.

[prairiecamper]

Originally Posted by Len & Cheri

Welcome to the forum.

I would not use the manual method to finish extending the slide until I found out why it's not going all the way out with the motor. There is a reason it's stopping and you may cause serious damage using the manual method. You may get it extended, but cause enough damage to not be able to bring it back in. Just a thought.

X2

[SAILINGERIE]

Just my 2 pence....these slideouts are designed to be fully slid out with the flange of the slideout resting in contact with the walls of your RV. This is where the support for the slideout comes from. You MUST have the slideout extended fully or you WILL damage the track and frame. This should be as simple as an adjustment or a low battery which is not allowing the motor to clutch out entirely. You definately want to get to the cause before walking on the floor of the slideout. Also never walk on the floor of the slideout with it closed or fully in.

[Pchop365]

Welcome, Since Everyone else has addressed the Slide-out issue, I Will attempt to Help with the "Backing-Issue". As You have Probably aldeady noticed, it Takes more ( A Sharper angle Between the truck, and the Trailer) with a 5th Wheel to move the Rear End of the Trailer in to "Place". This can be a Blessing, but also a Frustration. Out on the Hi-Way, this is a Blessing, as they are More Forgiving. In tight Quarters, However, You Need to use this to your Advantage. When I Can, I try to Pull into the Site across from my site, and get everything straight. (Just a Suggestion, I took my/our rig to a big parking lot like a Wal-Mart on a Sun. Morning when I had the Place to myself, and Practiced. I Took along along a couple Traffic cones, and set up a "Campsite Entrance" and tried to hit it.) I Had to Learn (and I am an "Old-Dumb-Farm-Boy, and have been pulling a Gooseneck Horse Trailer since 1990) that most of the time, I am Not going to park the rig in one "Shot". You need to start far enough away from the Camp-site Entrance (it is sometimes farther than you'd think you need), I try to start out in the center of the Drive-way /camp-road, so I have Room to swing the nose of the Truck, and not take out Obstructions...etc. and every rig is different, so it will take Practice, and several times to "Re-Learn" how to back a 5th-Wheel. Since my Trailer is 42', and I have a
4-Door/8' box, w/Duals, I Try to go to camp-grounds that offer "Pull-Thru" sites. I used to think these were a Cheating way out, I Don't care any more. Ultimatly I Plan to add a "pup" with a Golf Cart, so The Pull Thru's will be my ONLY Option. Again the best way to learn, is Practice, Practice, and More Practice! Enjoy the Camping Life-style! Feel free to contact me with any Questions. JLK

[MillerTime]

Yes, what pchop365 said. And of course a spotter is a must have if backing and turning.
- snapped some pics of what I was refering to for the slide cranks.

Here is the exterior hole



Here is what the rod looks like behind the hole




And here it is behind the fold up steps

[Pchop365]

Addition to my Earlier Post, We Have a Set of the Motorola (FRS Radio's) THEY ARE A GODSEND When backing an RV. There is always a BLIND SPOT, and these Go a LONG way to Fixing the Issue! Happy Camping! JLK

[Terier]

Welcome to the board and congrats on your first RV!

Happy Camping!

[Nigels]

to the forum.

Have a look at this it will help with some backing concepts:

Backing

I often prefer back in sites as they are usually on the perimeter of a park and often offer more privacy, views and wildlife viewing outside the park.

Some can be awkward but I enjoy the challenge, the secret is to take your time and GOAL, (get out and look). I always pull up in the road next to the site get out and walk the site to see where I want to end up making a mental note of where my inside trailer wheels need to end up. Put an object on the ground there if you want. Pull forward more than you think you need to by 3-4 meters and start your backing and turning, this extra distance gives you more room and time to adjust, go slow. If you are not sure how it is going, GOAL I do this 2 or 3 times and start again if its going wrong.

If you are inexperienced then your spotter will be also and will only confuse matters, so only ask the spotter to watch out for objects you might hit and when to stop so your slide out will clear the power post. I have not been good at being able to understand my wifes hand signals especially when looking in the mirror, my fault entirely. I think this is why semi drivers are such experts at backing because they are on their own. I am going to get flak for that,

Above all enjoy your rig and avoid pull thru's you will never learn to back using pull thrus.

[4kmprs]

One more slide out item.... Please inspect the top of the slide out to see if anything was placed there which is creating a wedge or blocking the slide out from going out all the way.

[Jerry Harmon]

wow what nice folks. Thank all of you so very much for taking time to share your experience, and it is very valuable.. lol I learned one thing on my first trip. I will from this day on have a hydraulic jack with me that will lift my rv off the ground enough to change a tire. I blew one in Clinton SC on a Sunday. They were going to charge me 200 just to change my tire. I said no way.. lol I tried with my truck jack,, no good would not life it high enough. A great guy stopped by, went two miles to his house and brought his floor jack back and helped me.

[Nigels]

Originally Posted by 4kmprs

One more slide out item.... Please inspect the top of the slide out to see if anything was placed there which is creating a wedge or blocking the slide out from going out all the way.

Good point, so obvious but its the obvious things we miss in life that end up costing so much

[Nigels]

Originally Posted by Jerry Harmon

wow what nice folks. Thank all of you so very much for taking time to share your experience, and it is very valuable.. lol I learned one thing on my first trip. I will from this day on have a hydraulic jack with me that will lift my rv off the ground enough to change a tire. I blew one in Clinton SC on a Sunday. They were going to charge me 200 just to change my tire. I said no way.. lol I tried with my truck jack,, no good would not life it high enough. A great guy stopped by, went two miles to his house and brought his floor jack back and helped me.

We had a similar and memorable experience 250 miles after collecting our RV from the dealer. We had a blow out in pouring rain but managed to roll under an overpass. Just getting all the tools out when a van pulled up behind, out came a floor jack and "Dave" changed our wheel for us, and off he went. We think to this day that Dave was an Angel!

[h20ski]

Mr. Jerry first off welcome! x3 and 4 on the backing and checking the slide. You may know this, but at the top of the page in the green bar is a FILES section. Go there and there is a manual for all different slide mechanisms. They may give you a better understanding of how a slide works, which will help you troubleshoot. Again WELCOME you will find some great folks here.

[rip]

Originally Posted by Jerry Harmon

I will from this day on have a hydraulic jack with me that will lift my rv off the ground enough to change a tire.

At 34' I'm guessing it's four wheels. Sometimes you can use your leveling boards and pull forward/backward using the boards under the wheel next to the flat. It may lift the flat off high enough to change in an emergency. Be mindful/careful of the load that puts on the single tire lifting on those boards.

[TeresaInCAL]

Welcome!!