Slide-out motor problems

[Bob_Shaw]

I have a 2008 Pilgrim Open Road 5th wheel and my bedroom slide-out stopped working. I traced the electronics to the motor, and I had juice all the way to the motor. So, I ordered a new motor, which was quite an experience with an old orphan unit. Part numbers were superseded, and no one kept up with what number coincided with the old.

Since my new motor is now on the way, I decided to test something that had been bothering me...I never tested the motor itself. So, I tested it... and it works. I tested it on the bench and it worked in both directions, so I got my jumper cable and connected the motor, via the jumper cable to the trailer wiring, and yes, it worked. Yes I did try turning the manual slide gearing to make sure there was nothing binding or hung-up there.

Ok gurus, what's going on? Do I just have an old motor that won't work under load, or am I looking at some other issue? When installed, the motor wouldn't even click or make any sound that I could hear. I just don't know what I'm dealing with at this point. Any ideas? What other information could I give you to help diagnose the problem? I'd hate to put the new motor in and find-out it still doesn't work.

[Dr_Quick]

Electric motors will get what is called a dead spot in the armature. It is quite possible that once you took motor out, it got jarred and moved off dead spot. I have seen this happen with 12 volt motors in vehicles. Starters, fuel pumps, power window motors, Etc. It may work for a while, but it will eventually hit that dead spot again and fail.
I have used this trick to get a vehicle going again if the fuel pump is bad. Have some one keep hitting the bottom center of the gas tank with a mallet, as you try to start vehicle. Some times it will start and you can get it to where it needs to be fixed. Keep it running until it is where you want to park it.

[Big_Katuna]

Thanks for posting the final solution. I have had to replace two motors now. Power Gear. And the first would move the slide 4" or so, worked great on the bench. Probably burnt brushes. The second the gearcase cracked and the motor fell off.
Might go back to a 20' ultralight.

[Bob_Shaw]

PaulJ2 wrote:
I would suspect maybe a stop switch somewhere that stops the motor when the slide is all the way in or out. This is so you can't force it any farther after it stops going in or out. Switch maybe stuck or bad.

Paulj2, there's no stop switch, it's a two way/reversible motor and goes till the lights dim or the actuator goes click click click. I had already checked for power down to the motor, and apparently it was the motor itself, even though it bench tested ok with no load.

[Bob_Shaw]

Ok, it's fixed! The parts supplier sent me the original motor I had ordered and it was the right one, and it worked. As it turns out, neither the part numbers on the motor or the actuator (transmission) were the right ones. They were dealing with the part number of the assembly, which was nowhere on the unit, and they had no cross reference. And apparently Lippert and AP Products had no one who knew what to do. I'm assuming they were either promoted or down sized, and their help desk booklet did not include anything for an Open Road 5th Wheel. I found the part through research on the net, but, the parts supplier was told that was not the right one by Lippert. I have to say, it was a real PIA to get out and back in.

[PaulJ2]

I would suspect maybe a stop switch somewhere that stops the motor when the slide is all the way in or out. This is so you can't force it any farther after it stops going in or out. Switch maybe stuck or bad.

[Bob_Shaw]

Continuing saga. Hopefully, my new (correct) motor will be here Monday. I hope it is the right one because I'm running out of time. I have reservations for Labor Day.

[Bob_Shaw]

So, I made the 60 mile round trip to my dealer today, the one who sold me the trailer 8 years ago and who still services them. I enlisted the lady in the parts department, thinking they had to have had some experience with getting the slideout parts. She ran into the same issues Me and the Makarios rep had. The first Lippert tech rep hung up on her and the second was no help at all. When she called AP Products, they were sympathetic, but, even though the motor was theirs, there were no cross references to the old motor or to Lippert's part numbers. They told her the motor I originally asked for, and was told was wrong, should work. So, now I'm into this for over $500 and still have a broken slideout. Hopefully I'll get some refund when I ship the old motors back. I have to say, this is a lot harder than it should be. I guess, now we're ordering the part from Lippert directly, which will undoubtedly be the same part as the AP Products/Tuson people have on the web, for twice the price.

I guess I should retitle this thread "Why rv'ers look old and grey".

[Bob_Shaw]

Un believable, I got the new motor today, to replace the one that was wrong, and it too will not work, despite the vendor AP Products' assurances that it would. Apparently these motors have a couple of different gear boxes, and now I know the difference, the black ones, have a threaded bolt to hold the gearbox to the actuator, the silver ones have just a hole. On one web site it showed a Venture motor with a silver gearbox and the Tuson motor, like what I have with a black gearbox. Most of the pictures on-line showing my part number show a black gearbox, mine came with a silver one. It even had a loose bolt, the correct one, in the hole.

[Bob_Shaw]

It's not a Swintek, and yes I tested across the leads. Since it's a bi-directional motor, the positive and negative leads reverse via the bi-directional switch. Is it possible, which I believe it is, that the motor is bad and while it will run with no load, is not powerful enough to handle a load? But, in that case, wouldn't I have seen or heard something to indicate the motor was at least trying? And lastly, everything was tight and nothing seemed to be binding, at least when I tried to operated the slide manually. I did notice the last time or so that we operated the slide, that it did not seem to move as quickly as it had in the past. And my gearbox make a click click click sound when the slide is fully extended or retracted, and it stopped doing that. I think that supports the weak motor concept. Hopefully I'll find out in the next day or so when my new motor comes in. I'm also glad that working with Makarios RV that I was able to avoid paying well over $500 for the new parts from Lippert. While we struggled with bad info from Lippert, I guess since Pilgrim went out of business, internet searching finally led us in the right direction....I hope.

[Chris_Bryant]

When you tested for power at the motor, did you test across the motor leads, or did you just test for power using another ground?
If the latter, you have a bad ground somewhere in the system, or a bad relay.

[Houston_Remodel]

is the motor fully seated ?

[westend]

Is it possible that you sheared a pin/bolt on the drive axle?

[SARGUY]

Is there a relay,fuse or circuit breaker close to the motor? I had a similar problem with a Cardinal 5th wheel and it was a fuse near the motor.

[joebedford]

Do you mean a Lippert Schwintek or a Lippert something else?