Need help with a broken slide-out.

[supersparky]

Lucky me! I have just tried to slide out the bed in our 2006 Winnebago Alpine and it fails to proceed. I can hear the motor running, both in the in and out direction. I am fairly sure that the shear pin on the slide is now broken. Has any of our members ever had to repair this problem. It seems obvious that the broken part is under the bed, but how can I gain access to it with the bed slid all the way in?

[Keith Morris]

"tanks" here---
phone (02) 4735 8116, for the maker (Avida) or go to www.avidarv.com.au on the web.
The phone may be the best to get through to the service/repair section.
Keith.

[Busman]

Ours have a hole for a crank handle for this sort of occasion, not winnie though. Nothing like that to be seen ?

[jon_d]

Just wondering if the release catch might be hidden behind the awning

If you open the awning, can you see it???

[supersparky]

So far, no good. The main slide has a crank hole but not the bed slide. There is no catch that I can find, it is all enclosed by the slide.
The local dealer can fix it for me, but aren't to forthcoming with info on 'how to'.
I was hoping that one of our members that have one, might have done this repair before. Apparently it is a common failure. First time for us though. None of the Alpine owners that I have spoken to about this previously have ever told me the secret to accessing the broken bits. They have just said it isn't much fun.

[supersparky]

We have managed to wrangler the slats off the bed, and get the plywood covers off the sub-floor. Have found the offending broken shear bolt and will go and get some more now. Even found another broken one that must have been there for a while now, going by the lint and fluff that was on it. I will put up some pics later, just in case some other poor bugger needs to know how to do it.
It doesn't work like I thought it did. Seems to be some chain or rack system. More later.

[BruceS]

Sounds like a torture chamber to me!!
Rack & chain? Any whips or black high heels around too?
High tensile shear bolt or not?
On hay balers it was a common mistake to use ordinary soft bolts & bugger up the 'cutting' edges of the shearing action.

[supersparky]

No whips and chains Bruce, but I did hear from Dot and George today. They had a similar issue on the Winny years ago and Dot thought that George might be able to help. And he did.
This is getting bigger than Ben Hur. It looks like it is a dual rack system and a common drive through a duplex gearbox.
The old broken bolt that I thought I had found is actually from another broken bit. So far, I have found that there are two drive tubes from the gearbox, these connect to a smaller tube which in turn is connected to the rack drive shafts. At least I think it is a rack. I found a Youtube clip that shows how the rack works. I removed an unbroken bolt this arvo and went to the bolt place and got some more. They are 1/4" UNC grade 8 bolts. I even got some spares. When I returned home I realised that I had taken the longest of the three different length bolts as my sample. So, guess where I am off to first thing tomorrow morning?
I think that the designers of this system were at least a little bit clever as they have made it all adjustable. It is just bl**dy annoying that it is a major demolition job to get to the broken bits. Oh, and I think that if it breaks while it is out/extended you can't fix it until it is back in. It is a bit of a Catch 22.
Tomorrow I will post some pics of how it all comes together.

[supersparky]

Well, I am happy to report that all is now well in our little part of slide-out world.
It turns out that it is a dual rack and pinion drive, and one side has probably been broken for a while.
If you happen to own a Winnebago Alpine or an early Longreach and the bed slide becomes faulty then it is actually quite simple to fix, once you access the gearbox and driveshafts. That is the hard bit. If the slide is in then you will have to take all the slats off the bed then remove the larger of the two internal bed floors.
If it is out, then today is your lucky day. Lift up the bed and take the foot panel off the end of the bed.
If you can get down to floor level you will see that there are 3 different length 1/4"UNC bolts holding the square tube driveshafts to the gearbox and also to the pinion gears. The outside ones are 1+1/2 " long. The others are 2" and 2+1/4" long. They are all grade 8 high tensile.
You will probably have to re-time the drive. I did ours in the fully closed position. Crank it in, then go outside and make sure that both sides are equal/level.
The whole thing just rolls out over the two rollers. Apart from the ease of breaking bolts there isn't much to go wrong.

As you will see from the pics there isn't much room to do anything, and if you have a crook back then take it nice and slow. You need to be a contorntionist to get to some of the bits. While you are down there it is a good time to vacuum out all the accumulated crap that has collected. It is also a good time to get some silicon spray and lubricate the rack and pinion drive as you can put many on the fact that it would never have been lubricated before.
I can't believe how quiet the whole thing is now. I will do the main slideout when my back gets better.

top.jpg

side.jpg

outer end.jpg

[Peter and Sandra]

David you can also lubricate those rollers by squirting white grease in the ends where the bearings are, they are pretty tough but a bit of lube won't hurt .
If the shearing bolts continue to be a problem it might be worth talking to someone who is experienced in bolts etc as sometimes soft bolts might be better as they will bend rather than snapping. Or you could get special pins made that will take the strain better without bending or snapping.
Looking at the shafts there doesn't seem to be enough room to increase the bolt size either, going up a size to 5/16 or 3/8 wouldn't leave much of the shaft.