Working safely on slides and handing the coach back

A slide room is heavy, moves with real force, and can be moved by someone who doesn't know you're there. Kill its power, support it before you take anything apart, test it in and out after every repair, and send the customer off with the habits that prevent comebacks.

The short version

• Crush and pinch points: the gear racks, the tubes and rails, and the flange and fascia closing on the coach walls.
• Disconnect the battery before manual override or mechanism work, and support the room on a jack before removing anything that holds it.
• Transit bars and room locks go on for travel and storage. A room with its motors disengaged has nothing holding it in.
• After any repair: full out, full in, hold past the stop as the manual says, check both seals, water test a leak repair.
• Teach the customer: clear the room, check the room roof, run with power.

Crush points and who can move the room

Lippert's warnings are blunt: keep away from the slide rails and gear racks while the room moves, the gear assembly can pinch or catch loose clothing, and moving parts can pinch, crush or cut. The other crush point is the flange or fascia closing against the coach wall with a hand, a cord or a ladder in the way.

The room can also be moved by someone else pressing the switch. While you work on a room, take the switch away from everyone: disconnect the battery or pull the slide breaker, and tag it.

Careful: Never put any part of yourself under a room or in its path while it can move. Lippert says not to work on the slide-out system unless the battery is disconnected.

Supporting a room

Before you remove anything that carries or holds the room (a column, an actuator, a tube bracket, rollers), support it. Lippert's in-wall assembly removal has you run the room out until about 8 in is still inside, support it with a floor jack or other adequate support, and stand a 2x4 on edge on top of the room between the T-molding and the coach side.

Disconnect the battery before you crank a room by hand. Lippert says power can backfeed through the motor and damage the system, and its through-frame and Above Floor manuals warn that cranking past full travel strips the gears. Above Floor override takes two people: one holds the override switch, one turns the wrench.

Hydraulic rooms hold pressure and fluid. Lippert's cylinder check loosens the extend port hose only with the room fully retracted, and warns not to run the room out with that hose loose because of rapid fluid loss. Wear eye protection for hydraulic work and for any slide service, as Lippert's manuals require.

Travel locks and slide locks

Lippert's manuals call them transit bars: off before extending, back on after retracting, and on for storage and transport. Lippert's Electric Motor Slide-out manual says always use a room locking device during storage and transportation, and HWH says room locks should be locked while traveling and unlocked before extending.

After a manual retract on an in-wall room with the motors disengaged, nothing holds it in. Lippert says the room must be travel locked before road travel. Don't send a coach down the road with a room held in by friction.

Know how the room locks itself. In-wall and Lippert hydraulic rooms lock when the switch is released. A Lippert Electric Motor Slide-out (Power Gear) room only locks when the motor brake lever is back in the engaged position, so check it after any hand cranking.

Test in and out after any repair

A slide repair isn't done until the room has gone all the way out and all the way in under its own power, with the coach in the customer's normal setup.

1. Remove your supports, tools and anything you set on the room roof or floor.
2. Reconnect power and run the room fully out, holding past the stop as the manual says (in-wall: a few seconds until both motors shut off together; HWH: 3 to 4 s, never more than 10 s).
3. Check the out seal at the fascia.
4. Run it fully in, hold past the stop the same way, and check the in seal at the flange all the way around.
5. Recheck the system's measurements if you adjusted anything.
6. Water test a leak repair. Ember's sealing bulletin requires a rain bay or pressure test.
7. Reinstall transit bars or travel locks if equipped.

Customer education

Hand the coach back with a short walk-through on their own coach. These habits come straight from the manuals and prevent most repeat slide calls.

• Clear the room. Tiffin asks for a 5 ft envelope around the room clear of trees, posts, hookups and trash bins. Inside, move rugs and furniture, close cabinet doors, and move the front seats forward and lock them on coaches that need it.
• Check the room roof before bringing it in: sweep off leaves and needles, wipe off standing water, and never close a topper with debris, snow or ice on it.
• Run with power: batteries charged, shore power, or the engine or generator running as the coach requires. If the room slows down, stop and charge instead of holding the switch.
• Hold the switch only until the room stops, plus any hold time the manual gives, and release it if either side stops moving.
• In storage, run the rooms once or twice a month and keep them retracted, per Lippert.
• Fully retract every room before moving the coach, and set the transit bars or travel locks if equipped.

On the job

1. Before work, disconnect the battery or pull the slide breaker and tag the switch.
2. Support the room on a jack before removing any part that carries or holds it.
3. Wear eye protection, and on hydraulic rooms open lines only as the manual allows.
4. After the repair, remove supports, restore power, and run full out and full in, holding past the stop as specified.
5. Check both seals, recheck measurements, and water test leak repairs.
6. Reinstall transit bars or travel locks, and confirm a hand-cranked room is locked.
7. Walk the customer through clearing the room, checking the room roof and running with power.

Numbers

• Lippert in-wall column removal: Room out until about 8 in remains inside, then supported on a floor jack
• Forest River and LCI TSB 11-001-16A working position: Room extended about 18 to 24 in
• HWH switch hold: 3 to 4 s after full travel; never more than 10 s
• Tiffin clearance around the room: 5 ft envelope
• Lippert storage cycling (through-frame): Run the room once or twice a month; store retracted

Shop tip

Put the pulled breaker or the battery disconnect key in your pocket while you're working in a room. Nobody runs it while you're in the column if the power is with you.

Where this comes from

• Lippert, Electric Motor Slide-out Owner's Manual, CCD-0001615, rev 04.04.19, pp. 3 to 5
• Lippert, Electric Slideout System Motorhome Operation and Service Manual, revB, pp. 3, 5, 7
• Lippert, Electric Through Frame Slide-Out Owner's Manual, CCD-0001613, pp. 3 to 8
• Lippert, Above Floor Slide-Out Owner's Manual, CCD-0001598, pp. 3, 4, 7, 8
• Lippert, Hydraulic Slideout System Motorhome Operation and Service Manual, pp. 5, 11, 12; Hydraulic Through Frame Owner's Manual CCD-0001616, pp. 2 to 5
• Lippert, In-Wall Slide-out Service Manual, rev 06.14.2016, pp. 4, 18; In-Wall Troubleshooting Manual rev 01.30.2015, p. 6
• Lippert, SlimRack Slide-Out Owner's Manual, CCD-0001459, p. 6
• Forest River TSB 34-03142016-0148 with LCI TSB 11-001-16A; Ember TSB 23-01 (via NHTSA)
• HWH room extension operator's manual ML17127 (Tiffin owner hub)
• Tiffin 2018 Allegro Breeze owner's manual, section 10 slide-out features
• Keystone RV, RV slide-out care and maintenance tips; Dometic Slide Topper operation manual 3314719.000, p. 13