Slide out moves slow

[Acey Deucy]

What causes the slide out to move slowly! Had not extended it in about 3 months and today it extended extremely slow. it was plugged into power. Does the slide out work only on battery power or shore power.

 

[stang37]

The slide motors are 12 VDC. You should have your batteries fully charged or plugged into shore power or the generator running. You need to have the inverter on. The inverter charges the batteries and supplies power. I'm not sure if the inverter also work as a rectifier to covert AC to DC.

 

[Acey Deucy]

I am beginning to think that I need new batteries.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

What causes the slide out to move slowly! Had not extended it in about 3 months and today it extended extremely slow. it was plugged into power. Does the slide out work only on battery power or shore power.

The short answer is they are 12v so work on battery power. However when shore power is hooked up it is charging the batteries and supplying power to run the house through the converter. If you have not had the house plugged into the grid, devices in the coach will drain the batteries over extended periods of time. That is why most coaches have a switch to kill the power for storage. Many RV owners that store there RVs in commercial storage lots will add at least 100w of solar to keep the batteries in good condition while being stored. To make sure you don't have slide problems hook up to the grid and see if that speeds things up. If not, then you may live in a dust bowl like I do, and you may need to clean things up a little.

 

[Acey Deucy]

The short answer is they are 12v so work on battery power. However when shore power is hooked up it is charging the batteries and supplying power to run the house through the converter. If you have not had the house plugged into the grid, devices in the coach will drain the batteries over extended periods of time. That is why most coaches have a switch to kill the power for storage. Many RV owners that store there RVs in commercial storage lots will add at least 100w of solar to keep the batteries in good condition while being stored. To make sure you don't have slide problems hook up to the grid and see if that speeds things up. If not, then you may live in a dust bowl like I do, and you may need to clean things up a little.

Thank you for the info. We are going to replace the batteries and check the hydraulic level.

 

[Acey Deucy]

Ok, it’s a hydraulic leak at the point where the silver inner bar pushes out from the cylinder. Thats my uninformed diagnosis as I known nothing about hydraulics

 

[NWIP]

How much is it leaking? I ask because the seal could be a little dry if slide has not been used for awhile. Leak may subside some with use. I would try slide on shore power and see if things speed up.

 

[Acey Deucy]

How much is it leaking? I ask because the seal could be a little dry if slide has not been used for awhile. Leak may subside some with use. I would try slide on shore power and see if things speed up.

It was parked in grass for 3 months. You can see where it leaked in grass and we moved it under cover and plugged it in. The slides went out very slowly. When we tried to retract them, nothing. So we replaced batteries and as trying to retract I saw fluid squirting out at hydraulic where the silver bar goes in. I think the silver bar is the ram?..
still would not come in so we added hydraulic fluid and slides retracted.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Hydraulics, ugh! With a hydraulic leak comes many problems.
1. air in the lines.
2. oil collecting dust.
3. Uneven movement between cylinders, causing binding, depending on the controls used.
4. the more oil and dust the less effective the wiper seal becomes increasing wear and shortening the life of the cylinder.

Does the slide bounce some when moving in or out? The cause alignment. This can also slow the slide.
Some hydraulic slides don't have a way to manually bring the slide in.
Low hydraulic oil levels caused by the leak can let air be pumped into the system, hard on the pump, and can cause alignment issues.

The short term fix is using a stop leak like what you would use in your power steering system. I say short term because the seal will continue to swell and degrade. My guess is the cylinder is not rebuild-able and should be replaced as it is the only real long term solution. The stop leak solution is short term and could degrade the whole system. If you pull the cylinder yourself it will be done slide out so now is the time to think about what you are going to do.

 

[Acey Deucy]

Hydraulics, ugh! With a hydraulic leak comes many problems.
1. air in the lines.
2. oil collecting dust.
3. Uneven movement between cylinders, causing binding, depending on the controls used.
4. the more oil and dust the less effective the wiper seal becomes increasing wear and shortening the life of the cylinder.

Does the slide bounce some when moving in or out? The cause alignment. This can also slow the slide.
Some hydraulic slides don't have a way to manually bring the slide in.
Low hydraulic oil levels caused by the leak can let air be pumped into the system, hard on the pump, and can cause alignment issues.

The short term fix is using a stop leak like what you would use in your power steering system. I say short term because the seal will continue to swell and degrade. My guess is the cylinder is not rebuild-able and should be replaced as it is the only real long term solution. The stop leak solution is short term and could degrade the whole system. If you pull the cylinder yourself it will be done slide out so now is the time to think about what you are going to do.

Thank you so much for all these points. We are not mechanical so it will go to the shop. It is a 2006 Forest River 5th wheel. I appreciate your explanation regarding the short term fix of adding ps leak stop fluid. That is what we were going to do, but now we won’t.