Slide out is out of kilter

[Trmisinco]

I’m 2000 miles from home, and the slide out is giving me problems, new 2018 Miramar 34.2, with the full side slide out, it has skipped a tooth on one side and doesn’t fully close. Talked to LCI, and they advised that it was a installation problem, after sending pictures and measurements to them. no help from camping world. So I’m at a repair shop getting it fixed, what’s the odds I’ll get reimbursement from THOR?[emoji1317]

[Tearstone]

Pretty good as long as it is in warranty. I suggest contacting Thor directly to start looping them in on this to ensure that everyone is on the same page with your approach.

[lazinskm]

I would call Thor ASAP and see if they contract w/ this repair shop- would they pay them directly?

[TurnerFam]

you should always call Thor's customer service directly, not the suppliers, as THOR is your warranty guarantee, and they know how they've 'built' their RV with these systems.

I will say that if you've had a gear 'skip', then like us, you'll probably need the slide's wall column replaced, which houses the motor, gear, thru rod,etc... as there is no way to 'sync' a slide that has skipped 'teeth'... the good news is that you can certainly continue using your slide, even if it doesn't close all the way, it shouldn't effect driving, either.

Make a schedule with Thor's service center to bring your coach in for repair - they will understand and will give you a future 'day' for service, and you can come in the day before and hookup, as they have full 50amp service, water, and a dump station on site, as well as a nice concrete service center setup. They'll come get your coach at 7am, and bring it back about 2 or 3pm, probably finished that day. You can wait in the nice waiting room, or drive into town(Wakarusa), or down the road to Nappannee, or up to Elkhart - take a ThorMotorCoach tour of them building your units, just across the street from the service center.

It's all good. They'll take care of you.

been there and done that! 3 times! Nice.

[BobBear]

There is a way to recover from that, at least temporarily. If the slide does still move, look in the manual for the slide control panel location. Mine (2014 Palazzo) is in the compartment behind the LP gas. Look up on the top, just behind the door. I don't recall now (it was almost two years ago), but I think you press the reset button several times and then you can advance or retract just one motor at a time. LCI has the manual online also.

Ours was stripped so badly that the tracks had to be replaced. Wonderful design - steel gears in an aluminum track. The folks in Elkhart had to DESIGN a replacement because they didn't have any prints for our unit ?!? 17 days later we were back on the road.

When it was finally manufactured, they ignored our request - and offer to pay for expedited freight - and sent it by economy LTL - 6 day transit. We chased it from Chicago and drove from Fergus Falls to pick it up in the Twin Cities at one of the trucking company docks.

Bob

[Tearstone]

I am trying to understand why skipping teeth would cause this issue. It's not unusual for the slide room or overhead bunk to be out of alignment from time to time. That's why before you extend the slide, you always hold the retract button down for 5 seconds to realign and conversely do the same when you retract it.

[TurnerFam]

no, the reference is that only ONE track is 'skipped' not both on the same end, so there is no way that 'syncing' or 'overriding' the motors is going to sync or solve it, it has to be repaired/replaced....believe me, I thought about this A LOT while it happened to us, as we had 40,000 miles on the coach and had traveled extensively across the country and the slide had probably been run in and out successfully for hundreds of times. It just came out of the blue one day after we stopped at a park and set up for the night. Several 'bangs' and there she went. No reason why.

I know how to sync as I've done that many, many times and always hold down the button for several seconds after the slide is completely in or out.

I know how to override the motors as I've done that several times, and also replaced motors in at least 3 of the four motor positions, if not several twice.

I'm a pro.

But when a 'skip' happens, there's very little the owner can do. Even the dealer had 6 men try to push the slide back in after removing the motors, and it was not happening. Replacing the column solved the issue and now the gears and teeth are all back in line together. : )


joy.

[BobBear]

One trick to try if it happens again, Joy, is to use the hydraulic levelers in manual mode to tilt the coach so they're pushing downhill. We managed it that way with only 3 men and a boy - literally.

Tearstone, they skip because of bad design. Note that you can wiggle the slide when it is fully extended. If you were strong enough, you could do it when retracted, too. The tolerances are too wide. When we installed the replacement slides, we noticed that the hole in the side of the coach was wider than it should have been. That allows the slide to slide (no pun intended) to the side, causing the gear teeth to not be fully engaged on one side. A full wall slide must weigh 3-4000#, including the couch, dinette, pantry, washer, dryer and clothes closets. It's real easy to chew off - or even miss the track completely. I think we had close to 3/4" of "wiggle room".

I'm pretty sure I know the cause, but I don't know the solution. Steel on steel might help. Brad Kimball at Pine Plaza RV & Campers, Fergus Falls, Minnesota, the guy who repaired ours, refits slides with a threaded mechanism. Maybe a full wall is just too heavy and needs the hydraulic system.

Bob

[Trmisinco]

Originally Posted by TurnerFam

you should always call Thor's customer service directly, not the suppliers, as THOR is your warranty guarantee, and they know how they've 'built' their RV with these systems.

I will say that if you've had a gear 'skip', then like us, you'll probably need the slide's wall column replaced, which houses the motor, gear, thru rod,etc... as there is no way to 'sync' a slide that has skipped 'teeth'... the good news is that you can certainly continue using your slide, even if it doesn't close all the way, it shouldn't effect driving, either.

Make a schedule with Thor's service center to bring your coach in for repair - they will understand and will give you a future 'day' for service, and you can come in the day before and hookup, as they have full 50amp service, water, and a dump station on site, as well as a nice concrete service center setup. They'll come get your coach at 7am, and bring it back about 2 or 3pm, probably finished that day. You can wait in the nice waiting room, or drive into town(Wakarusa), or down the road to Nappannee, or up to Elkhart - take a ThorMotorCoach tour of them building your units, just across the street from the service center.

It's all good. They'll take care of you.

been there and done that! 3 times! Nice.

Thanks for the information, I have made an appointment with Thor service center, earliest I could get was in August, thanks again