Slideout Issue

[davidbrady]

Hi Chuck,

You can unbolt the awning arms from the slideout body and swing them up. I did this when I installed my slide seal. Only the leading arm is spring loaded and it's only a mild tension. When you unbolt this arm it'll want to naturally swing up to make contact with the goat rails. (keep your dental work out of the way)! Let it gently snug up against the rails. The trailing arm has no spring so you'll have to tie that one off against the goat rail.

I'm with you. I've never heard of or seen this problem before, other than Al's recent mention. I still can't see how the fabric tension of a fully extended awning can pull the aluminum trim away. But, I can see how the awning's aluminum casing slats can do it, and that can occur on either slide extension or retraction if the awning is first manually lowered to window shade position. In this case the awning casing slats will slope downward and as the slide body is articulated the slats may grind up against the slide body trim.

I think the trim is in four sections and it should be available from HWH. It can then be pre-painted and installed with screws and adhesive.

Sorry you're bumping into this Chuck. Where are you now? Any other issues cropping up? Do you still have that massive sway bar? What are your axle weights and tire pressures?

[al perna]

David . I could also use a new trim piece , but how is HWH tied to the slide ? did they provide the entire slide ?
I cant say for sure that the Fabric was the cause , but I did have the awning extended . I agree after making my emergency repair yesterday that the force needed to damage the trim could not have been fabric related .

chuck I did remove the lower arm to access the trim piece , it is under load and once removed it will want to spring up . I suggest having a assistant during the repair .

aL

[davidbrady]

Hi Al,

Yup, it's all HWH: the slideout body, corner trim, rams, hydraulics, air seal and track, manifold with vacuum pump, electronics and controls - the whole shooting match! Blue Bird provided the hole in the side of the bus!

[cmillsap]

(05-11-2013 10:11)davidmbrady Wrote:  Hi Chuck,

You can unbolt the awning arms from the slideout body and swing them up. I did this when I installed my slide seal. Only the leading arm is spring loaded and it's only a mild tension. When you unbolt this arm it'll want to naturally swing up to make contact with the goat rails. (keep your dental work out of the way)! Let it gently snug up against the rails. The trailing arm has no spring so you'll have to tie that one off against the goat rail.

I'm with you. I've never heard of or seen this problem before, other than Al's recent mention. I still can't see how the fabric tension of a fully extended awning can pull the aluminum trim away. But, I can see how the awning's aluminum casing slats can do it, and that can occur on either slide extension or retraction if the awning is first manually lowered to window shade position. In this case the awning casing slats will slope downward and as the slide body is articulated the slats may grind up against the slide body trim.

I think the trim is in four sections and it should be available from HWH. It can then be pre-painted and installed with screws and adhesive.

Sorry you're bumping into this Chuck. Where are you now? Any other issues cropping up? Do you still have that massive sway bar? What are your axle weights and tire pressures?

Morning David, We are home in AZ.

I've not been able to figure out how this can happen. The leading edge of the c-channel makes the most sense to me. I'm going to try to straighten the trim piece first and re use. If that looks bad, I will get a new piece from HWH and have it painted to match. It is located in a very inconspicuous place.

Oh Hell, David, we bounced all the way across the country. It about wore us both out. I believe the big anti-sway bar is still on the coach. See the pic below and tell me that is the rascal. The coach probably needs new shocks too.

David, no matter how well you inspect a coach before you buy it, you are gonna miss a bunch of things that needs "Fixin". It was raining "Cats & Dogs" the whole week I was in Florida to buy the coach which impaired the inspection process a lot.

Other problems include the door air lock solenoid malfunction and locking us both in the coach. I had to remove the over door gage plate and unplug the air line from the solenoid so we could get the door open!

Some air leaks. Had to unplug 12V compressor due to an air leak on the air valve shown in the pic below. I'm not sure what this air manifold is for yet as the air lines in that bay are a bit of a jumbled mess. Main compressor (as measured by watching the air gage) had to replendish the system air about every 15 minutes as the pressure would slowly drop to 90#s where the compressor would kick on.

We have made a list of about 30 maintenance & repair items that I will need to do before the coach is in the proper condition.

[davidbrady]

Yup, that's the one Chuck. It's gotta go. After it's gone the handling is a slightly looser though no different from any other Wanderlodge Wide Body, but the ride improvement is dramatic.

Right off the bat I can see that your shock bushings are sacked.

We're going to have to dial it in for you Chuck. The shock adjustment and bushings, tire pressure settings, the ride height needs to be tweaked, and the tag axle air pressure needs just the right touch for the icing on the cake. Been there done that! Finally, when I free up some time a set-up of auxiliary air tank reservoirs for the steer axle air springs is in the works, prevost and newell style.

I always felt that BB included the right pieces but didn't spend enough time tuning. We can make it better, stronger, faster... the six-million dollar man, er-uh I mean coach!

Is the rapid air loss that you're mentioning loss in the accessory system, suspension system, or brake system? You know the drill, brakes are the most important - build pressure, shutoff the engine, release the parking brake, then depress the service brakes to see if leak down is normal, no more than 4 psi drop after one minute. Right after depressing the brakes you should see about a 12 psi drop, any more means the slack adjusters are out of adjustment.

I'm not sure about the pressure regulator that you attached. The electrical solenoid control leads me to believe that it's for the HWH slide air seal system. I've seen the system used by HWH in the 2000 LXi, mine is different.

The goods are there Chuck, don't fret, we'll sort it out!

[cmillsap]

Thanks, David,

I'm pretty sure the slack adjusters need adjustment and the brake linings need to be checked for wear. Also, the air chambers.
There is another seperate manifold for the slide air seal although this leaking manifold is close by. In the photo, it is the upper solenoid valve on the supply side of the manifold that is leaking. I'm going to take it apart first and clean it. I suspect the air system valving is a little sticky. I'm going to get some air system lubricant and add to the system. I don't want to get locked in the coach again. I will also need to isolate the water system from the air purge as you know; the check valve goes bad and tends to leak water into the air system.

David, I'm going to have the brakes serviced, while in there, I will have them remove the sway bar and replace the shocks. Is there a better shock that you would recommend to replace the originals? I will also weigh the coach there and adjust the tire pressures and tag axle pressure for proper weight distrubtion if need be. I did have to adjust the tag axle pressure on my previous LXi as the weight was too much on the drives. You have to be careful tho, as adjusting the tag pressure effects the steer axle.

[davidbrady]

Chuck,

I'm running Koni Shocks:

Steer (adjustable) 90-2497SP1, adjust one turn from full soft,
Drive (FSD, non-adjustable) 9005-1025
Tag (FSD, non-adjustable) 8805-1010.

[al perna]

Chuck . Happy you made it home safe . I will also be purchasing a new piece of trim for the slide . I also found a few of the holes elongated , so a larger screw or a new hole was needed needed .

David . That's good to know the slide trim is available . I do find that after the repair the slight ripple is not visible with the slide retracted nor with the awning extended .

[davidbrady]

(05-11-2013 16:52)al perna Wrote:  Chuck . Happy you made it home safe . I will also be purchasing a new piece of trim for the slide . I also found a few of the holes elongated , so a larger screw or a new hole was needed needed .

Al,

The hole elongation is why I'd opt for a new piece of trim. What I'd try to do is splice in a new section (possibly creating two seams) such that the holes can be shifted an inch or so. This way new holes can be drilled into the slide body and the elongated holes will be filled with Sikaflex 221. Just a thought.

[al perna]

David . I like that idea , why replace the side piece that has no damage ?

We only need a new top piece ! you are the man .