SUMMARY
My Shoreline power cord reel broke and I replaced it.
BACKGROUND
I've had 8 Landmarks since 2005. The last 7 have had Shoreline power cord reel. Love it! However, the Shoreline reel used in my current coach is a bit different than the last 6.
ISSUE
My reel broke
I had it repaired and the repair didn't hold. I spoke to a technical customer service rep from Southwire, parent of TRC, parent of Shoreline. They told me that it's likely one or more of the 6 pins used to engage the reel hub are out of place. They suggested I attempt a repair, replace the pins and epoxy them in.
PLAN
I decided I'd rather replace the reel than repair it as it had been repaired by an independent RV service center once and didn't hold. I had Heartland send me one. Today, Kevin W and Don S helped me replace it.
The Heartland Service Center suggested that I remove the j-wrap in that area to expose the reel and replace it. Removing the j-wrap on a full-body painted coach will damage paint in a few areas and I didn't want to do that. My plan was to use sheet metal shears to cut the j-wrap out below the reel (the j-wrap in this area returns all the way to the frame). Then we'd drop the broken reel down and raise the new one in.
RESOLUTION
Instead of cutting the j-wrap bottom out, Kevin W and I loosened the j-wrap and bent it down and out of the way enough to get tools up in there to remove the 4 bolts holding the reel to the frame. Kevin and Don did the removing. It didn't look fun. I assisted by disconnecting the power from the end of the reel.
We slipped the new reel into place, I connected the power to the reel and we struggled to get tools in there to fasten the new reel onto the frame. But we got it done!
I rewired the reel motor power and switch, Kevin and I tested the new reel, then refastened the j-wrap. Done deal!
It took about 2.5 hours in total.
ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
Good question. I opened up the end of the cord reel to see if we could determine the failure. I found 2 things out of place.
1. The chain was off the large sprocket
2. Upon removing the cover holding the large sprocket in place, we found that 1 of the 6 engagement pins was missing (not to be found)
My sense is that this missing pin and others fell out and that's what was repaired by the independent service center. With the 6th pin missing, this may have been contributory to my most recent failure.
I was able to put the chain back on and run the motor but the chain would come back off. I could tell force was being applied to the large sprocket from improper alignment but could not tell what was out of alignment. Thus, the replacement was done.
After getting the broken reel out, another Heartlander, Frank B, looked at it and determined that the shaft for the larger sprocket was out further than the smaller motor sprocket - this the misalignment. He made an adjustment to it to get it back into alignment. Later, we applied DC power to it to test it and we were able to get it to roll up. So I guess the issue was sprocket alignment due to motor shaft movement. The guys felt that the snap ring on the motor shaft was mis-positioned (for causes unknown).
PICTURES
My bandwidth at this campground is minimal, so rather than adding pics now, I will add this link to my online image host where the pictures are stored.
My Shoreline power cord reel broke and I replaced it.
BACKGROUND
I've had 8 Landmarks since 2005. The last 7 have had Shoreline power cord reel. Love it! However, the Shoreline reel used in my current coach is a bit different than the last 6.
ISSUE
My reel broke
I had it repaired and the repair didn't hold. I spoke to a technical customer service rep from Southwire, parent of TRC, parent of Shoreline. They told me that it's likely one or more of the 6 pins used to engage the reel hub are out of place. They suggested I attempt a repair, replace the pins and epoxy them in.PLAN
I decided I'd rather replace the reel than repair it as it had been repaired by an independent RV service center once and didn't hold. I had Heartland send me one. Today, Kevin W and Don S helped me replace it.
The Heartland Service Center suggested that I remove the j-wrap in that area to expose the reel and replace it. Removing the j-wrap on a full-body painted coach will damage paint in a few areas and I didn't want to do that. My plan was to use sheet metal shears to cut the j-wrap out below the reel (the j-wrap in this area returns all the way to the frame). Then we'd drop the broken reel down and raise the new one in.
RESOLUTION
Instead of cutting the j-wrap bottom out, Kevin W and I loosened the j-wrap and bent it down and out of the way enough to get tools up in there to remove the 4 bolts holding the reel to the frame. Kevin and Don did the removing. It didn't look fun. I assisted by disconnecting the power from the end of the reel.
We slipped the new reel into place, I connected the power to the reel and we struggled to get tools in there to fasten the new reel onto the frame. But we got it done!
I rewired the reel motor power and switch, Kevin and I tested the new reel, then refastened the j-wrap. Done deal!
It took about 2.5 hours in total.
ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
Good question. I opened up the end of the cord reel to see if we could determine the failure. I found 2 things out of place.
1. The chain was off the large sprocket
2. Upon removing the cover holding the large sprocket in place, we found that 1 of the 6 engagement pins was missing (not to be found)
My sense is that this missing pin and others fell out and that's what was repaired by the independent service center. With the 6th pin missing, this may have been contributory to my most recent failure.
I was able to put the chain back on and run the motor but the chain would come back off. I could tell force was being applied to the large sprocket from improper alignment but could not tell what was out of alignment. Thus, the replacement was done.
After getting the broken reel out, another Heartlander, Frank B, looked at it and determined that the shaft for the larger sprocket was out further than the smaller motor sprocket - this the misalignment. He made an adjustment to it to get it back into alignment. Later, we applied DC power to it to test it and we were able to get it to roll up. So I guess the issue was sprocket alignment due to motor shaft movement. The guys felt that the snap ring on the motor shaft was mis-positioned (for causes unknown).
PICTURES
My bandwidth at this campground is minimal, so rather than adding pics now, I will add this link to my online image host where the pictures are stored.
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