Main slide motor labors

[GMH]

The motor for the main slide on my 2010 Cougar 26sab always seems to really struggle to open and close even when connected to shore power for a week. While camping last week I was walking past someone putting their large slide in and noticed it was smooth and quiet. Mine is slow, inconsistent and noisy. I lubed the slides last year for the first time and it made little difference. How do yours operate?
Thanks, Greg.

[Northofu1]

They don't run off shore power, they run on battery. Batteries could be weak, or there is some resistence on slide. Maybe the wiper seals need clean and lubed?
Or both reasons are causing it. Start there and get back to us. Good luck. :)

[GMH]

Yes, I know it works on 12volts. Battery power shouldn’t be a factor though if it is charged and the charger is plugged into power, correct? i will try cleaning the seals but I can’t see them causing that much drag. Does your slide operate smooth and quiet?

[LewisB]

It is quite possible the 12 volts you are reading on your battery is just a surface charge. If your battery is old, worn out, or has one failing cell, it will read 12v but will not produce the high current necessary to run the slide motor, even when plugged in to shore power.

I would start by load testing your battery, then clean all the battery terminals.

[flybouy]

Yes, I know it works on 12volts. Battery power shouldn’t be a factor though if it is charged and the charger is plugged into power, correct? i will try cleaning the seals but I can’t see them causing that much drag. Does your slide operate smooth and quiet?

Battery condition/capacity is absolutely a factor. If the battery is only taking a "top charge" it can be completely depleted as soon as you hit the switch. A 10 yr old camper? When was the last time the battery was replaced? Ever check the water level ?

[GMH]

When was the last time the battery was replaced? Ever check the water level ?
The battery is a deep cycle and only on it’s second summer. I remove it for the winter. It has gotten quite discharged such that it would not even budge the slide due to the fact that I forgot to throw the disconnect switch when storing it. I added maybe an ounce or so of distilled water to one cell Prior to charging it at that time earlier this summer. I will take it in to the battery vendor where I purchased it tomorrow and get them to load test it. I will also check all the connections and grounds for contact.
That said, this is my second or third battery in 10 years, and my slide motor has always been noisy and seeming barely up to the task. Is this typical of Keystone/Lippert slides?

[flybouy]

The battery is a deep cycle and only on it’s second summer. I remove it for the winter. It has gotten quite discharged such that it would not even budge the slide due to the fact that I forgot to throw the disconnect switch when storin
g it. I added maybe an ounce or so of distilled water to one cell Prior to charging it at that time earlier this summer. I will take it in to the battery vendor where I purchased it tomorrow and get them to load test it. I will also check all the connections and grounds for contact.
That said, this is my second or third battery in 10 years, and my slide motor has always been noisy and seeming barely up to the task. Is this typical of Keystone/Lippert slides?

If the battery went "dead" than it's been damaged. A brand new batter discharged below 50% will shorten it's life. As far as "noisy" that's subjective. Both of my slides make (rack & pinion) make "noise" in both directions but there are no issues with speed or smoothness. At PDI it concerned me until I tried the slides in a few other units on the lot and they were all about the same. Find out what a good load test revels. Don't let your battery supplier thro a charger innit and tell you it's fine when it finishes charging. You need a real load test applied.

[JRTJH]

In addition to the battery condition, you might want to crawl under your slide and inspect the 'roller gear/wheels" that support each of the rams that extend the slide. They are located on the frame rail, held in place by two 3/8" bolts and support the entire weight of the slide as it moves in and out. I just replaced mine and found that two of the 4 roller wheels were cracked and not supporting the slide. That caused the gear assemblies to carry all the weight and caused the slide to "stall, creak along and barely move in and out"...

Here's what they look like, located under the trailer, just where the two rams go into the frame rail cutout...

There are two different sizes (2x2 and 2.5x2.5) and two gear sizes (15 teeth and 18 teeth) so don't just guess these will fit your trailer, but here's the link to the ones I just replaced on my slide. It now works "smooth as silk"....

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HESOUC0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[GMH]

Thanks John. I will check those rollers as well.

[GMH]

The rollers look ok, but dirty! I will clean them up and lube them. I took the battery in to where I bought it and they said it was not damaged, just a little weak since it is 3 years old. They didn’t charge it before testing, but it should have been close to full. I got 12.57 volts when I got home and put it on my smart charger which said it was low. I am only planning one more outing this year, so I think I will wait until spring to replace it with a couple of new ones maybe.

[GMH]

I cleaned up the rollers slightly, there was only a light coat of mud/dust on them. The black stuff is a dry graphite lube I sprayed on last year. I noticed after running the slide out only about 8” that the rollers at the front would spin freely, as in they had no weight on them. Also one of the rear rollers would spin, the other would not. So I’m guessing the weight is mostly on the gears. These gears do not drive the slide in an out though, correct? They only transfer the movement from one end of the slide to the other!

[JRTJH]

That is correct. The motor drives the slide in/out through the rod with the brass bell on it. As the slide moves in/out, the gears/rollers you see move in unison (tied together with that 1" square tube that links the two gear axle shafts together.

If the wheels are not supporting the weight of the rams, they are either worn or broken at the shaft. The wheels are supposed to support the rams and the gears just push/pull the rams as they move. There should not be any more than "minimum weight" on the gearset. I think the reason your slide is moving slowly and "sounds labored" is because there is too much friction between the ram and its encasement and rather than being "lifted by the wheels, the bottom of the ram is "binding/sliding" along the entire length of the encasement tube that it rides in as it moves.

I'd suspect that if you replace the two roller/gear assemblies, you'll find the slide moves more freely.

[GMH]

So I bought a brand new deep cycle battery last fall. I just took it back and got it load tested where I bought it and they said it was fine. Earlier this summer, the slide would barely make it all the way out. Most of the research I’ve done shows replacing the entire motor and actuator as a unit. From pictures I’ve seen, it looks like it would be a much simpler and cheaper job to replace just the motor or the motor and gearbox. Has anyone done this?

Edit: It is at a local dealer now and they said the motor is weak but it was up to me to decide whether to replace it or not. They said nothing about the rollers, but I assume they would have checked them?

[wiredgeorge]

So I bought a brand new deep cycle battery last fall. I just took it back and got it load tested where I bought it and they said it was fine. Earlier this summer, the slide would barely make it all the way out. Most of the research I’ve done shows replacing the entire motor and actuator as a unit. From pictures I’ve seen, it looks like it would be a much simpler and cheaper job to replace just the motor or the motor and gearbox. Has anyone done this?

Edit: It is at a local dealer now and they said the motor is weak but it was up to me to decide whether to replace it or not. They said nothing about the rollers, but I assume they would have checked them?

I replaced the motor not so long ago. The motor is branded Lippert but I replaced with a much less expensive generic motor that fit exactly the same and would guess it was made by the same factory as the original 2002 Lippert motor. I can't recall whether I purchased from Amazon or eBay. If I had to do this job again, would take about 1/2 hour for the motor replacement and about the same for clean/lube of the other mechanisms.

https://www.keystoneforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51506

https://www.keystoneforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51545

https://www.keystoneforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51546

[GMH]

Thanks for the links George. I see the one you bought is the 5800rpm standard motor. Mine is the 9500rpm hi-speed one. I wonder if the standard motor is more powerful? I would gladly trade speed for power and reliability.

[wiredgeorge]

The gear ratio of 18:1 controls the speed but if the motor turns faster (9500 rpm) I guess the slide would go in/out faster? I see no reason not to use the 5800 rpm motor, just might not zip your slide in/out as quick. When when you are looking at motors, you don't need the long tube. The motor/gear box slips into the tube and a bolt goes through a hole in the outer tube through the part from the motor/gearbox. On mine, the part you turn to manually turn the mechanism (towards the outside of the assembly) has a hitch pin through it and once pulled, you can just pull that part out of the way to install the new motor.

Perhaps someone smarter than me can jump in here and explain why someone would want to pay the extra money for a 9500 rpm motor that is geared the same and runs on the same voltage.

BTW: Last step putting the motor to use is connecting the wires. There colors on my old motor were different than the new. Hooked them up and when I pressed out, the slide wanted to go in so just reversed them. Good luck.