Full wall slide fail!! 2020 DS 4081

[Stuart W]

Unfortunately this hardly ever happened but in the later years it’s happening mine was a 23
One thing that came up from Newmar, you should never partially bring the room out and then bring it back in. They say that this creates undue pressure on the slide mechanisms.

 

[Stuart W]

In mine they sent the entire “arm” the part that bolts in at the top to the wall and the floor. Included cylinder, chains, rack etc. I think HWH has the ability to goodwill, maybe if you’re doing the labor that will sway them. Good luck. Ask for a new arm assembly

 

[Rustymayes]

Unfortunately this hardly ever happened but in the later years it’s happening mine was a 23
One thing that came up from Newmar, you should never partially bring the room out and then bring it back in. They say that this creates undue pressure on the slide mechanisms.

I do remember our dealer telling us that on the delivery as we ran thru the basic operation of the coach. Some times it is unavoidable. I would love to hear the practical engineering basis for the warning though. Just being told that its not good to do something is not good enough for me. If there is an actual and practical reason that the slide should not be stopped once it begins a cycle, someone should explain why.

 

[Rustymayes]

In mine the sent the entire “arm” the part that bolts in at the top to the wall and the floor. Included cylinder, chains, rack etc. I think HWH has the ability to goodwill, maybe if you’re doing the labor that will sway them. Good luck. Ask for a new arm assembly

I was wondering how the pinion gear would even be installed with the assembly in situ. It looks like it would have to be completely disassembled on a bench. It will be interesting to see what HWH will be willing to do for me on this for sure.

 

[Stuart W]

I do remember our dealer telling us that on the delivery as we ran thru the basic operation of the coach. Some times it is unavoidable. I would love to hear the practical engineering basis for the warning though. Just being told that its not good to do something is not good enough for me. If there is an actual and practical reason that the slide should not be stopped once it begins a cycle, someone should explain why.

The synchronizer cylinder that can’t always equalize the pressures created when the travel is reversed in mid travel. This was my understanding of what was said

 

[Rustycoach]

I’ll ask Frank about it in the morning and see what his understanding is of the practice.

 

[Stuart W]

I’ll ask Frank about it in the morning and see what his understanding is of the practice.

When I asked HWH they said they didn’t know why it failed, my tech at HWH thought that Newmar’s were upgraded with a metal sleeve around the revolver because of the weight of the slide room. This turned out to be incorrect
Maybe you will learn more, can’t weight to hear

 

[Stuart W]

BTW this was not something that I did on mine, maybe a few times in a pinch, however I believe the selling dealer may have done this
I know some people do this while traveling at truck stops for a break

 

[Rustymayes]

Update on the full wall slide actuator jamming situation:
The entire actuator assembly for the aft end of the slide will need to be replaced. HWH is providing the parts and return shipping for the broken actuator on a goodwill warranty at no charge. I could not be happier with the support and response from HWH. I really wish that I could say the same for Newmar's customer service. Mary flat out rejected my request to have the issue corrected by them because I am 6 months out of warranty. This is clearly a latent defect failure. I would expect Newmar to at least offer to investigate before outright rejecting the request. If HWH had not stepped up, I would pursue a remedy more aggressively thru Newmar. It will be a few weeks before I get a new assembly to install. The installation although not a small task is not too difficult, setting up the sync cylinder and bleeding the system for the wall to extend and retract evenly will be the most nerve racking part I am sure. This retraction system is very unique to be sure.
Rusty Mayes

 

[Stuart W]

Great news! I personally experienced Marry’s lack of customer service so no surprise there.

 

[gburgman]

I saw this post awhile ago, thou a Monaco the Pinion and chains are the same.

 

[Rustymayes]

Update. I took apart the forward actuator system to see if I have a similar issue as what happened to the aft unit. There is unusual wear on the Stainless Steel washer between the pinion and the cylinder which I am concerned with but after sharing photos of the wear with the tech at HWH and they do not share the same concern. They will keep the notes in my file should any future issues develop that might require action so they may do more good will warranty work. They are sending me a new washer to install. Hopefully the damage to it happened in the short period the aft unit was failing causing some binding which should be corrected once I repair and adjust the system. I did note and report to them that there is grease on the pinion and smeared on the rack. According to the tech, there should be no lube at all on the assembly, period. I think someone at Newmar noticed an issue during delivery or final inspection and attempted to correct it with grease. The forward trim parts have been previously removed and reinstalled which would support my notion. HWH has no documentation of any trouble with the assembly reported by Newmar so who knows who did what to it.
I did get word that my new actuator assembly shipped on Wednesday so I should see it here early in the week and get back in business.

 

[Stuart W]

Update. I took apart the forward actuator system to see if I have a similar issue as what happened to the aft unit. There is unusual wear on the Stainless Steel washer between the pinion and the cylinder which I am concerned with but after sharing photos of the wear with the tech at HWH and they do not share the same concern. They will keep the notes in my file should any future issues develop that might require action so they may do more good will warranty work. They are sending me a new washer to install. Hopefully the damage to it happened in the short period the aft unit was failing causing some binding which should be corrected once I repair and adjust the system. I did note and report to them that there is grease on the pinion and smeared on the rack. According to the tech, there should be no lube at all on the assembly, period. I think someone at Newmar noticed an issue during delivery or final inspection and attempted to correct it with grease. The forward trim parts have been previously removed and reinstalled which would support my notion. HWH has no documentation of any trouble with the assembly reported by Newmar so who knows who did what to it.
I did get word that my new actuator assembly shipped on Wednesday so I should see it here early in the week and get back in business.

Great up date

 

[Rich W.]

Update. I took apart the forward actuator system to see if I have a similar issue as what happened to the aft unit. There is unusual wear on the Stainless Steel washer between the pinion and the cylinder which I am concerned with but after sharing photos of the wear with the tech at HWH and they do not share the same concern. They will keep the notes in my file should any future issues develop that might require action so they may do more good will warranty work. They are sending me a new washer to install. Hopefully the damage to it happened in the short period the aft unit was failing causing some binding which should be corrected once I repair and adjust the system. I did note and report to them that there is grease on the pinion and smeared on the rack. According to the tech, there should be no lube at all on the assembly, period. I think someone at Newmar noticed an issue during delivery or final inspection and attempted to correct it with grease. The forward trim parts have been previously removed and reinstalled which would support my notion. HWH has no documentation of any trouble with the assembly reported by Newmar so who knows who did what to it.
I did get word that my new actuator assembly shipped on Wednesday so I should see it here early in the week and get back in business.

I know you would rather not have had the pleasure, but you have certainly gone above and beyond taking charge of this problem and I’m sure the results will far surpass that which could be gained by taking it to some local RV shop.

 

[Rustycoach]

I know you would rather not have had the pleasure, but you have certainly gone above and beyond taking charge of this problem and I’m sure the results will far surpass that which could be gained by taking it to some local RV shop.

Well, the silver lining to the story I guess is now I will have a thorough understanding of the hydraulic system and know what to inspect for in the future. Part of the experience of owning boats and RVs and aircraft over the years has been working on them myself. If I did not enjoy that aspect of ownership, I would never have owned these things. I am happy that HWH is stepping up with the goodwill in providing the parts.

 

[Rustymayes]

My new slide actuator assembly showed up via UPS yesterday. Today I was able to get it mostly installed. Tomorrow I will finish it and a buddy is coming by to give a hand with syncing up the system. It takes two or three hands to do it safely and not damage things. The cylinders need to be extended and retracted several cycles detached from the chain rails to equalize and synchronize so the room extends and retracts evenly. This needs to be done with the elevator cylinders disabled so the room does not drop and break the tiles. This will be interesting. The coach has been down for five weeks now. crossing fingers that all will go well.

 

[Rich W.]

My new slide actuator assembly showed up via UPS yesterday. Today I was able to get it mostly installed. Tomorrow I will finish it and a buddy is coming by to give a hand with syncing up the system. It takes two or three hands to do it safely and not damage things. The cylinders need to be extended and retracted several cycles detached from the chain rails to equalize and synchronize so the room extends and retracts evenly. This needs to be done with the elevator cylinders disabled so the room does not drop and break the tiles. This will be interesting. The coach has been down for five weeks now. crossing fingers that all will go well.

Good luck with all that. Definitely beyond what I would tackle - I’m impressed. Are you out of warranty or did you just give up on the “experts”? Take some pics…

 

[Rustymayes]

I have heard such horror stories about the service guys at Demartini so I was not about to take it there. The slide mechanism was so jammed that I could not get the room retracted anyway to take it anywhere. I have been keeping machinery of all kinds operational my whole life so this is just a different machine to work on. I find that if you take your time and ask the right questions most things can be done with out calling a guy. Ill post some pics.

 

[J&JD]

I have heard such horror stories about the service guys at Demartini

Interesting. I have not been there but have heard only good things about them. I guess it’s all in who you talk to and believe.

 

[Rustycoach]

To be fair, I don’t have personal experience either and they are 100 miles away so I wouldn’t use them for just that reason alone. There is nothing special about Newmar that requires expert knowledge as the coaches are all assembled using off the shelf components. HWH has been great to work with in support of this issue. If there was a mobile HWH service guy, I would have farmed it out but HWH offered no such referral.