2011 North Trail Slide out issue

[Sledhead59]

Our 2011 Northtrail recently started experiencing an issue with the large slide out. The slide will extend about 1/3 of the way and then stalls. If you wait about 20 seconds ii will again go another 1/3. We experience the same thing when retracting the slide. All on the mechanical portions the slide mechanism are well lubricated and the slide does not seem to bind in any way. Any ideas?

 

[jimtoo]

Hi Sledhead59,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

Sounds like you have an auto reset breaker kicking out and resetting automatically. Look for a row of small breakers and find the one that powers the slides and replace it.

Be sure and check out our Heartland Owners Club. Join us at a rally when you can and meet lots of the great folks here and make friends for a lifetime.

Enjoy the forum.

Jim M

 

[Domi]

Hey,

We had a similar issue on our NT. With the slide closed, on the inside of the trialer go to an end where you see the slide components. Ours is a motor with 4 cables used to make the slide go in and out. The cables had become very loose over time and that was our problem. The cables should not be sagging at all, there should be some play but no sagging.

I had to take the faceia down to get access to the components but it was pretty easy to re-tighten everything once I got access. I did add locking washers to the nuts since it seemed to keep looseing up and I would recommend that for anyone that has this issue. Do it once since it is a pain to get access to.

There are some decent youtube videos of how to adjust a 4 cable slide and you can go to the slide manufacturer and get the manual. It helps a bit on the final adjustments.

I think I put a post on here about the fix. You could try a search and seee what comes up.

If you can post a picture of the slide mechanisum that also might heelp with the diagnosis.

Good Luck.

John

 

[Silverado23]

Hey,

We had a similar issue on our NT. With the slide closed, on the inside of the trialer go to an end where you see the slide components. Ours is a motor with 4 cables used to make the slide go in and out. The cables had become very loose over time and that was our problem. The cables should not be sagging at all, there should be some play but no sagging.

I had to take the faceia down to get access to the components but it was pretty easy to re-tighten everything once I got access. I did add locking washers to the nuts since it seemed to keep looseing up and I would recommend that for anyone that has this issue. Do it once since it is a pain to get access to.

There are some decent youtube videos of how to adjust a 4 cable slide and you can go to the slide manufacturer and get the manual. It helps a bit on the final adjustments.

I think I put a post on here about the fix. You could try a search and seee what comes up.

If you can post a picture of the slide mechanisum that also might heelp with the diagnosis.

Good Luck.

John

How difficult do you think this adjustment task is?
How long did it take you to do the job?

Any other changes that you made when you had things apart?

 

[Domi]

How difficult do you think this adjustment task is?
How long did it take you to do the job?

Any other changes that you made when you had things apart?

We downloaded a copy of the slide out manual from the manufacturer and followed the directions. They were pretty good and with me and the wife both looking at them we figured them out. Getting to the motor and the cables was a pain. I was unhappy I had to do it at least twice. There was a sticker next to the motor that describes what to do, but I think the manual helped more.

I had to do it three time I think so I got pretty good by the end. I would say plan for a day or so. I had to go get hardware to get locking hardware once I had it apart so I could get the correct sizes and that slowed me down also. As above it takes more time to get access than to do the job for the most part.

I replaced all the hardware with either lock washers or jam nuts or a combination of the two. I would have used nylocks but they would have been a royal pain to adjust later so I went with the lock washers and jam nuts. I made sure that it could not vibrate apart. If you only want to do it once keep that in mind. If the parts are not locked together mechanically they will come apart as you drive.

Mine is a 2011 NT with a slide out that is operated by a motor moving 4 cables, one attached to each corner of the slideout. If your newer NT has a different slide mechanism none of this would apply.

It turns out I did not do a post about he repair that I can find. I can send pictures of what good cables look like if that will help.

Good luck,

John