Slide out speed ??

[bschiano]

I have a 2004 Sunvoyager class A 37' with two slides. When I pirchased it new the slide out extended very fast. Now there working much slower. My fluid is fine. Are there any adjustments at the slide out motor?

[David Bott]

I am guessing you mean your main living room slide. Two things come to mind...

1) Be sure you are extending and retracting with either being plugged into shore power, the gen running, or the engine running. This is to be sure you have full power for the 12v system. If not, the draw may now be too great for the batteries.

2) Have you used the dry lube spray on the rails to help it move easier?

No real adjustments for motor speed.

[Arthur Hayes]

The one thing that will slow my slide and jacks for that matter is the temperature. When it is between zero and 20 degrees they operate very slow. Luck for me I have not had to deploy the slide below zero yet. I always have the generator or the main engine running when moving the slides or jacks.

[RayChez1]

Mine slide the same way they did seven years ago. Mine are hydraulic and about the only thing I do is use a dry graphite on the rails every once in a while. I never start the genset or engine to extend the slides. It has four big six volt batteries that have enough power to slide them out without starting the generator. But in your case I believe you have two twelve volt batteries it would not hurt to start the generator.

[RJ82much]

My livingroom slide is very slow also. I've had the factory look at it. I believe they replaced some blocks with rollers. It didn't take long to slow down again.

The factory tech showed me a trick that I now always use. Go outside and lift & push the slide while someone else operates the switch. It will be just enough to get the slide moving. Once the floor "raises" from its flush position, it will move in very nicely. It will speed up if you continue to push. Kind of defeats the "auto" feature, but it works.

Another thing to do if you don't have another set of helping hands is to operate the switch till you see a slight motion (raising the floor from flush). Stop & reverse the switch with just a little "bump". Then bring it in again watching for a little motion. Stop & "bump" it out again though not all the way. Once you get the floor raised, reach over and (carefully) pull on the top molding while operating the switch. You will find that this should help. I'm thinking that at the intitial turn on, the hydraulic pressure may spike for a moment.

[mfa]

Another thing that can help on slide speed -- open a door or window while the slide is moving in order to relieve the pressure change. You would think that it wouldn't matter, but even a very tiny pressure buildup over that large an area can be a few hundred extra pounds that the drive has to work against.

[RJ82much]

Another thing that can help on slide speed -- open a door or window while the slide is moving in order to relieve the pressure change. You would think that it wouldn't matter, but even a very tiny pressure buildup over that large an area can be a few hundred extra pounds that the drive has to work against.

WOW, I never thought of that one, but it makes a lot of sense. Can't wait to try it.

[RJ82much]

I learned a little more about the large slide during my recent visit to Nappanee. The factory was unable to spare a man or the time to take a look at my slow-to-close slide, but they did send me over to Dave at RV One.

Dave is very knowledgeable, but quoted over $500 to adjust the slide. Gulf Stream of course balked at any assistance, so I had to pass on the adjustment.

What I did learn however, is that the slideout should be adjusted to "droop" a little in the extended position. That is apparently accomplished by supporting the slide to the ground & loosening, then adjusting the 2 supports & the hydraulic rod. The supposed reason for this is to give a better attack angle of the slide floor against the high density nylon to raise the slide for insertion into the room. Do I believe it? I don't know & don't intend to tackle this myself. Dave said there was sufficient room for the seals to still work properly. I really don't want water problems.

The discussion however got me to thinking & making a more careful inspection of just how the slide works. I can see where a significant amount of force must be applied to cause the angled leading edge of the particle board slide floor to ride up and over the angled nylon bar &/or the painted steel bar under it attached to the main coach floor. I have no idea if I did a good thing or bad, but I had a bottle of liquid ski wax lying around. With the side in & lifting the rug, I was able to slop up the leading particle board floor edge with wax the full length all the way back to the actual bottom of the slide floor. This is the surface that rides against the nylon when the action just begins. Next, with the slide extended just over a foot, I was able to stuff a wax-saturated, cloth covered wooden paint stirrer in far enough from the outside to really cover the full length of the nylon bar.

Did it make a difference? For now, slightly. Once over the hump, the room always moves quickly. When closing up, the trick of "bumping" the switch to "out" then back to "in" continues to be the reliable solution, even with the wax. I no longer go outside and push the room as I can coax it with the switch.

I also asked Dave about pressure adjustments on the pump. He didn't want anything to do with that as a solution.

I'm sure that lubricating the rails is important, but if the problem is only for the 1st couple inches during closing, you may want to look into making the "raise-up" interface a little slipperier.