Manual Retract of a Slide-Out

[WKC]

Trying to learn how this thing works. No problem yet thankfully. I see not getting a slide-out to retract can be a show stopper on a trip. The manual says that I can unplug both motors from the Lippert Slide Controller, then the Slide-out can be pushed in, although it states we may need 2 or 3 people to help as there will be some resistance.

A RV maintenance tech tells we that if there is no power (unplugged)on the dual motors, the internal brake will be locked and I won't be able to push it in. This is not something that I want to experiment with to prove the true answer, so I'm reaching out here to see if any of you have encountered needing to manually retract a slide-out with a similar system. I have a 2013 Thor Windsport 34e.

Thank You for sharing your experience with me!

 

[ghnl]

In my experience (one time the front slide decided to not retract*) three reasonably fit grown men could not get the slide to budge "manually". I think the motors would need to be disconnected from the vertical rod to manually move the slide. Simply disconnecting the electrical connections were not enough to overcome the 300:1 or 500:1 gearing of the motors.

*We got lucky - a small step stool had inadvertently been left in the way of the slide and it when it got jammed a circuit breaker was tripped. After figuring out the issue and resetting the circuit breaker I was able to retract the slide.

 

[16ACE27]

A RV maintenance tech tells we that if there is no power (unplugged)on the dual motors, the internal brake will be locked

The motors use dynamic braking which require no power but does require field windings to be shorted which is done in the controller. When unplugged from the controller the shorting is removed so no braking exists.
BUT:

You are still pushing against the gearing of a 300:1 or 500:1 gearset which is almost impossible to do, especially if the slide rollers are messed up. Count on popping the motors out of their spots to disengage them completely to be able to push a slide in.

 

[rudyhehn]

Unfortunately we had to deal with this 5 years ago on our 2015 Palazzo. This is a known quality issue with Lippert. The Schwintek slide mechanism on the large left-hand slide broke while we were at a COE park in Arkansas. We could not retract the slide. Several husky campers tried to help us. The front side of the slide, which was the one that had stripped out, would go in but the rear would not. I got a ladder and disconnected the motors from the geared rod that operates the mechanism. Then we were able to push in the room. I cut firewood logs to length and wedged them in place in the RV to keep the slide from swinging out while driving. We were able to get to a shop for repairs. The repair held for 2 years but broke once again. This time we had it repaired at the Thor Service Center in Elkhart. They re-squared the unit and put in a whole new mechanism. Knock on wood its working so far.

 

[BuzzDoc]

No way can a few guys move a full wall slide out. Try this. Disconnect and remove the motors from both front and rear drives. Then find a hex socket that will slide onto spindle. Using a socket wrench on both ends simultaneously turn the spindles and retract the slide. Requires two people.

You can then reinstall the motors and they will keep why slide in.

 

[rudyhehn]

No way can a few guys move a full wall slide out. Try this. Disconnect and remove the motors from both front and rear drives. Then find a hex socket that will slide onto spindle. Using a socket wrench on both ends simultaneously turn the spindles and retract the slide. Requires two people.

I disagree. Once I disconnected the motors, three of us were able to slide the room back in. This is not hypothetical - we did it and we were not body builder types. We obviously did not try to slide the room back in. I was worried that the gears were stripped and that reinstalling the motors would not hold it in place, so I propped it closed with blocking.