2002 Cougar 5th Wheel Slide Out Repair

[wiredgeorge]

First, I have what is probably a Lippert slide out assembly. It consists of two rails with teeth on each end of my approximately 12' slide out. The front set of teeth are the ones that are gear driven and the front rail connects to the rear by a square tube. The square tube connects to the rear slide to drive it. There is a grade 3 bolt/nut that is intended to fail (sort of like a fuse) in the event that the two rails get out of whack rather than things twisting.

The slide motor has a couple of plastic gears inside that mesh and turn the driven rail via a long tube type affair within another tube. The end of this tube type thing has a slot going across that meshes with a T shaped protuberance on the end of the slide motor and turns the tube which in turn actuates the gears/teeth and move the slide in or out.

In any case, I first lubed the teeth with silicon spray. Not sure how effective this is but the teeth were dry. Next, I went to the motor and removed the inspection plate and found out the plastic teeth were chewed up and instead of replacing the teeth (about $80), I decided to purchase a new assembly. The old one said 18:1 drive ration and when looking at replacements, they all had the same dimensions.

It took me a couple hours and I had to jack up the slide slightly to get it moving. I used a transmission jack and some cribbing. Once it is moving, it is just a matter of turning and turning. Got the slide in.

First remove the hitch pin from the rod with the nut that allows you to manually retract/open the slide. With the hitch pin removed, pull the rod off the end of the motor shaft. The hitch pin goes through a hole in the rod and motor shaft and the only purpose is to turn the mechanism manually.

Once the rod is removed (I media blasted and repainted), there is a 1/2" bolt atop the motor and a half in bolt below opposite. The two electrical wires coming off my camper that power the motor are white and black. The wires on the motor are black and red. Undo the wires by removing the wire nuts. I had to use a 1/2" wrench to remove the top bolt retaining the motor to the rod shaft and I used a 1/2" ratchet/socket for the bottom. There was not enough room to use the ratchet/socket on top.

Once the bolts are removed, the motor assembly comes right off. To put the new one on, use a LARGE flat blade screwdriver to orient the notch in the drive rod the same at the T fitting on the motor. Slide the motor into place and re-install the two 1/2" bolts that retain the motor to the driven rod/shaft. Connect the electrical wires. On mine it was black to black and white to red but that is opposite the original motor. If you get them mixed up, when you push your slide button IN, it will go out and when you push OUT, it will go in. You have to swap the connections if you got them backwards initially.

That's all folks.

[sourdough]

Thanks for the detailed write up and description George. I have no doubt that the information will be invaluable to someone down the road.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by sourdough

Thanks for the detailed write up and description George. I have no doubt that the information will be invaluable to someone down the road.

Probably me since I bought the cheapest motor assembly out there sold by Gagsu... Gagsu is probably a California company by the sound of it. I almost bought a Recpro but they were about $60 more and looked identical. Being cheap is a disease!

[chuckster57]

Good write up, very good description of the process. Wanna job?

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

Good write up, very good description of the process. Wanna job?

I could see myself being an RV tech; a mobile tech preferable to a shop tech. In a shop, you are pushed and at a dealership the warranty work is not profitable as the company doesn't give enough time to do things right. Works the same way in the motorcycle mechanic world. I have never had the desire to work for someone else and fortunately, my shops are air conditioned and fairly comfortable. If a mobile RV tech set up shop in this area where there is a HEAVY concentration of RVs and RV parks, they could do quite well if they stocked basic stuff on a truck and had problem solving skills.