Door slide won't retract

PJS010LGC

Member
Bob and Patty,

The battery was fully charged when re-installed but I haven't checked it since.

I have to try a bunch of things as suggested here but they are mostly electrical in nature and I keep wondering if there is a mechanical issue that is making it tough to retract the door slide.

Regards, John
 

PJS010LGC

Member
Yesterday, I was cleaning out the front compartment and actually got inside the compartment. While there I noticed that the large wires to the relay adjacent to the motor, were loose, especially the center feed wire. I tightened the fasteners and, thinking I had fixed my slide problem, went inside to try to retract the door slide. No go. But I heard the motor run continuously while I held the switch down, so I'm pretty sure the circuit breakers aren't tripping. I then lubed the rack and pinions and guide tubes and while under there, I noticed that the vertical height adjuster bolts were not touching the brackets and also noticed that there was a corroded area above the bracket which appeared to indicate that the adjustment had moved from its original painted location. So I adjusted each bracket up about 1/8". I then tried to retract the slide and it came in but very hurky-jerky. So I went back out and adjusted one bracket back towards its original position. When I tried the slide again, it was a hit and miss operation and seemed most successful when I first attempted to extend and then retract.

So I know how to make the vertical adjustment to the slide but I don't know what defines a need for this adjustment, and which way I need to adjust to get the desired result because I'm not even sure of the desired result.

This slide is the typical rack and pinion and rail system, and does drop into place when fully extended. There is a ramp the full length of the slide and I thought about lubing that as well but I was afraid that would get lube all over the carpet as the slide came in.

Regards, John
 

pjaylor

Member
Dan, my husband found the fuse and is considering replacing the 50amp with 80. He was worried that the wiring wouldn't support it. There is currently 6 Guage wiring. Any thoughts?
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Dan, my husband found the fuse and is considering replacing the 50amp with 80. He was worried that the wiring wouldn't support it. There is currently 6 Guage wiring. Any thoughts?

My view is that 50 amps should be sufficient unless there's a problem causing more amps to be drawn. And if there's a problem, like weak battery, loose wires, dirty connections, corroded battery terminals, poor grounding, or mechanical binds, those problems should be fixed to get the amperage draw back to normal.

Most people who have problems with the 50 amp breaker tripping/resetting/tripping/resetting fix the problem with a new 50 amp breaker. That argues that in most cases, it's just a weak breaker.

If a new 50 amp breaker doesn't fix the problem, I would investigate for other causes before putting a larger breaker in.
 

PJS010LGC

Member
I finally found the issue with my door side slide not easily retracting. Since we have gotten the unit a couple of years ago, this slide has required the herky jerk (rapid in and out movement of the switch until the slide finally started moving inward). I managed to get it retracted eventually every time, but it was a concern each time. I adjusted the angle of the slide several times, I massaged the plastic guides on the inside edge and greased them, I found an issue with some loose terminals on the pump but none of these solved the issue.

I recently discovered an issue with no 12v when shore power is disconnected. This has not been an issue in the past since all of our trips have been very short with no need for power during the trip. Looking at some threads on this site, I found several threads that discussed no 12v without shore power and, indeed the responsible breaker had tripped and had been tripped for who knows how long. I didn't check the battery but highly likely it was dead. Therefore the pump was running off the converter with no battery to draw from. I reset the breaker and the unit sat for a few days while we prepared for the next trip, plugged into shore power. When we prepared to leave, the slide came right in with no herky-jerk.

Thank you for all of the assistance but this one turned out to be a really simple fix.

Regards, John
 
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