Help needed with bedroom slide

[rcl285]

The bedroom slide on my 04 HR Imperial only comes out about 6 inches before stopping.  At that point, the drive motor is stopped by the controller.  I repaired it about 10 years ago when the gear on the Power Gear mechanism lost 4 teeth.  I believe that the gear has broken again.  It is a rack and pinion which is centered under the slide.  The drive mechanism is exposed then the slide is out, but at arms length at present.  I have decoupled the drive motor from the pinion, but the pinion can’t be rotated manually in the extend direction because it seems to be stopped by an obstruction.  It looks like i have to remove the pinion to be able to push the slide out to get a close look at the drive mechanism. The access is difficult, especially when I have to do it by feel.

anybody done this before?  
 

Dick Lucas

[Doug and Nicki]

Yes. I removed the bed platform and the plywood cover below the headboard to get access to the entire mechanism. I have replaced two gears in my bed slide mechanism. I am not sure if your 2004 is similar to my 2008 Dynasty, but assume it must be. I was able to find both gears on Amazon.

[Gary M]

We recently replaced ours as it did the same thing. Unfortunately what died was the 90 degree gearbox that drives the rack and pinion. We ended up replacing whole unit at a cost of $750. Did the work myself. PM me if you want the good and the bad if this is also your problem. My motor and gearbox combo were fine. Just the 90 degree worm gearbox was the problem.

Edited October 19, 2023 by Gary M
RV Upgrades has OEM old style.

[rcl285]

Thanks for. the replies.  I finally got access to the gear drive.  I had to remove a divider in the bed box. As I mentioned, I have a single gear rack which is in the center of the bed box.  The gear motor is mounted to the coach floor and the pinion drives the gear rack which iis mounted to the slide.  The slide has rollers under the bed bottom to support the movement of the slide .  When the slide is in, the gear motor is barely reachable.  By removing a divider, I was able to loosen the pinion gear from the rack.  With a scissor jack I was able to fully extend the bed slide.  The pinion gear has 3 missing teeth.  Two of them were inside on the floor.  I examined the rack when the slide is at full extension and found  dark area where the pinion contacts the rack when the slide is all the way in.  The third tooth of the pinion was wedged into the rack about one revolution of the pinion from the “in” dark area of thr rack.  I have included photos of the rack on the underside of the slide and of the pinion.

Since this also happened about ten years ago, I am suspicious of an adjustment problem between the pinion and the rack.  Our use of the motorhome may be atypical, as we actually spent only about 15 nights a year sleeping in it.  We used it to travel to Connecticut every year  from California.  That amounts to 6500 miles each year of interstate with the slide in.  My theory is that the pinion is spaced too far from the rack, and the road vibrations to fatigue the pinion teeth and crack them off.   I’ll have to do more investigation.

Dick Lucas

[96 EVO]

Ever find wood chips on the bedroom carpet when you extend that slide?

[rcl285]

18 minutes ago, 96 EVO said:

Ever find wood chips on the bedroom carpet when you extend that slide?

No.

Dick L

[rcl285]

Thanks for the replies.  I finally got access to the gear drive.  I had to remove a divider in the bed box. As I mentioned, I have a single gear rack which is in the center of the bed box.  The gear motor is mounted to the coach floor and the pinion drives the gear rack which iis mounted to the slide.  The slide has rollers under the bed bottom to support the movement of the slide .  When the slide is in, the gear motor is barely reachable.  By removing a divider, I was able to loosen the pinion gear from the rack.  With a scissor jack I was able to fully extend the bed slide.  The pinion gear has 3 missing teeth.  Two of them were inside on the floor.  I examined the rack when the slide is at full extension and found  dark area where the pinion contacts the rack when the slide is all the way in.  The third tooth of the pinion was wedged into the rack about one revolution of the pinion from the “in” dark area of thr rack.  I have included photos of the rack on the underside of the slide and of the pinion.

Since this also happened about ten years ago, I am suspicious of an adjustment problem between the pinion and the rack.  Our use of the motorhome may be atypical, as we actually spent only about 15 nights a year sleeping in it.  We used it to travel to Connecticut every year  from California.  That amounts to 6500 miles each year of interstate with the slide in.  My theory is that the pinion is spaced too far from the rack, and the road vibrations to fatigue the pinion teeth and crack them off.   I’ll have to do more investigation.

Dick Lucas

 

 

Update on my slide.  Contacted Lippert and got the bad news that the spur gear is obsolete, and no longer available.  I seem to recall that I had heard that before.  I also recall that one person had one made at a machine shop, but don’t remember any details.  The lippert tech person said that alignment is the most likely cause of the tooth fracture.  
 

Dick Lucas

 

 

 

[rcl285]

I found a thread on IRV2.com where the problem of this gear from a slide was discussed.  Here were two approaches discussed.  First was an available gear listed ND21B made by Boston gear which had the required 21 teeth but needed machining to add the key way, reduce the tooth width and reduce the width of the hub. A machine shop might be difficult to find with that capability.  The second is a custom made gear from Adobe (575-885-8322) and  I ended ordering the custom gear for a cost of about  $280 and delivery time of 4 weeks.  They have the specs on file and I am the seventh or eights to order from them. An other difference was that the Boston gear one was mild steel, while the Adobe one is hardened. 
 

Dick Lucas  ‘04 HR Imperial