Slide wiggles out at bottom while traveling

The slide on my 2004 29BHBP fifth wheel has started inching out while traveling. When we leave a location, the slide is nice and tight to the trailer but after an hour or so of driving, I notice in my mirror that the slide has worked its way out at the bottom by about 1-1.5 inches. If I push the slide in button, it sucks back up flush to the trailer again. Is there a way to adjust this or is it best left to the dealer to fix?

Mike

mwater31,
to the forum.

I hope someone here can help you. We had a problem with our slide once, but not the same. We fixed ours by looking up a Lippert Slide manual.

Possibly the first place to look for a solution would be in one of the Lippert manuals. You can find a list of Lippert manuals, and download as many as you wish. They are in pdf form. Here is the line to Lippert's site: http://www.lci1.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=66

I believe I read once a long while back that someone had this same problem. This might have been on one of the other trailer forums that I look at occasionally. On the chance that it was here, you might find something by doing a search of the forum....

Tater

to the Forum.

Look for hydraulic fluid leaking somewhere. Or it could be a check valve gone bad. I would say the odds are in favor of a leak.

BobnPi wrote: to the Forum.

Look for hydraulic fluid leaking somewhere. Or it could be a check valve gone bad. I would say the odds are in favor of a leak.

I second this, and am confident this is your problem. There was another thread awhile back on something very similar, and I believe they found a hole or a crack in the line.

TC

mwaters31,
If you find a way to fix the slide, please share it here.

I did a search and found a reference to a slide going out while the trailer was in motion. It was dated Feb 2010, and had a few suggestions, but the writer never came back to say if he found the problem or fixed it.

Our search engine isn't the greatest, though, so there might be a solution in here somewhere.

Tater

to the form.

Welcome to the forum. I'd first check for leaks as well and hopefully it's not a bad solenoid.

to the forum from the U.K.
I also hope that you find the cause of your problem and it has a quick fix.
Sean

Update 3/6/12: I just had my slide pump replaced after the dealer diagnosed that it was the problem due to an internal check valve leaking by. Only by replacing the pump could it be fixed. There have been no signs of any leakage previously or now.

Well, after driving it home (about 7 miles) i found that the da*n side has wiggled out yet again! I don't believe I should have to wedge a 2x4 between the slide and wall just to keep the slide from moving. This is very frustrating. -mike

It could be and Internal leak on the cylinder piston which would let the fluid by. They should put a gauge on the retract side of the cylinder and pull the slide in tight and see if the pressure is maintained if not that is where I would suspect the leak AKA bypassing is happening they would need to Rebuild or Replace the cylinder if you have two slides could be in the other cylinder since they usually are plummed together.

I agree with you. If a check valve is leaking replacing the pump woln't fix the problem. I would suspect a valve leak. If the problem showed up after some work was done on the hydraulic system it might have air in the lines. I would lean more to a leaky valve from what you have said. Good luck!

I was just wondering if his set up is like mine which has no valves the only other place on mine would be the cylinders.

I wouldn't know. I have only seen mine.. Does your hydraulics only work the one slide? Mine works each slide, bedroom and the main slide plus the landing gear..

The way mine work is different because the Jacks are electric and I only have two slides the pump runs in one direction to extend the slides and in the other to retract them thus they have no valves. To retract or Extend them manually you just put a cordless drill into the back of the motor with a 1/4 hex bit and run it forward or backwards to work them.

I to believe it may be a cylinder bypassing. There is a test procedure to see if the cylinder is bypassing. The pressure may be releasing as soon as you release the slide switch, but it is taking a little jarring to make the slide move out.

This link will take you to Lippert repair parts http://www.lippertrepairparts.com go to the right side of the page there is a Hydraulic Cylinder Test pdf.

Hopes this helps and please keep us posted.

Well, we replaced the cylinder on Friday and the slide did not come out on the way home. Hopefully this is the answer. There's nothing else to replace. They had performed the cylinder leak procedure already but it did not indicate a problem(only had a few drops, as indicated in the procedure). Being that the cylinder was the only thing left to fix, we elected to go ahead and replace it. So far, so good.

mwaters31 wrote:Well, we replaced the cylinder on Friday and the slide did not come out on the way home. Hopefully this is the answer. There's nothing else to replace. They had performed the cylinder leak procedure already but it did not indicate a problem(only had a few drops, as indicated in the procedure). Being that the cylinder was the only thing left to fix, we elected to go ahead and replace it. So far, so good.

Well lets hope that you have it fixed once and for all, and you won't have any more problems with it.

Glad you finally got to the bottom of it.

TC

Well, I have had it out a couple times up and down the freeway and so far, the slide is staying put. I guess it was the ram underneath the whole time. Too bad I had to replace the pump first to find out. Now to figure out how to replace the rotted wood in the back garage area from the horribly designed rear door latch.

I replaced ours with a treated 2x4. I still have to cover up the insulation. You need to caulk the corners left and right in the back.
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2313957760056654887FqVDxH
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2997472140056654887bzdIis
I am overdue to take photos of the repair as well......perhaps this weekend....

How do you get the old wood out without damaging the fiberglass skin? I am considering drilling a long hole down from that latch area to the bottom of the trailer and inserting a drain tube that I will seal in place to give the water somewhere to go. What did you use to seal things up? Dicor?

I borrowed one of those oscillating (Fein Multimaster) to cut some staples aroud the door and some wood. I also used a box cutter to cut the luan on the inside to remove it. You are not cutting right against the fiberglass. I didn't remove the door, just removed the latch and made room for one of those platic inserts from a dad bolt that goes into the door jamb. I did install a drain tube, but didn't have to since I sealed around the plastic insert and the latch. I put some treated 2x4 supports from the bottom of the garage to the newly installed horizontal 2x4 (3 total). You can see them if you look close at the photos when looking at the floor and the new 2x4. I still have to re-install the insulation and coper everything up.
I took some photos:
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2173434110056654887RaTTVx
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2029680220056654887YktAWd
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2541018330056654887GhYErN
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2932492680056654887whgWEg
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2908335110056654887NkccSL
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2935827990056654887hDAVYH

I also sealed up the outside corners, if you look up, you can see the exposed wood which acts like a sponge when the water runs down the aluminum skirt:
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2103795260056654887jSIKoy
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2711015110056654887RMxGSP