I just wondered if anybody has run across this and knows what is needed. My slide motor works fine and I can hear it running but the gear shaft that moves the slide isn't turning. I heard a snap when it got to the end of the travel and I suspect there is a gear broken or (I hope) just a shear pin broken. Does anybody have any experience with this and know what it might be? Or for that matter, does anybody know where to get parts for this unit? I bought it used from a non-Lexington dealer and the unit is in great shape so I have not run across any issues until now.
Here's more. I tried to manually crank the slide in but the nut that you crank it with goes through the gearbox attached to the slide motor and it doesn't move the slide when I crank it manually. So it looks like the problem is inside the gearbox.
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I don't know of any folding trailers that have a powered slide out. I'm pretty such you didn't mean to post here, you might want to move it to the class B forum
If it were mine I would try a piece of wood and a hammer slide the gear one way or the other this whay you can see where the shear pin is in shaft use punch drive it out mark on shaft to locate pin hold put gear over the hold and drive out the other broken parts to pin then reinstall it with new pin just make you close slide all the way before gear is pin together with shaft.
TrueLarry - what slide popped? The front one is a bear to get to the motor. It does sound like a sheer pin or gear broke. You can always call Forest River for assistance. Let me know if you need the number and I will look it up. I am not sure it is even in the manual...assuming you even got the useless one we got with our 255 ;-)
Aslag - The Lexington 255 is a 26ft Class-C motorhome on a Ford E450 cutaway chassis. It is _not_ a folding trailer. Although I have thought about pulling one behind my 255 for the inlaws ;-)
Randy & Diane WB5TEY '05 Lexington 255DS with '06 Chevy HHR following close behind
Thanks for the suggestions. For what it's worth, I was able to stand on my head and read the name of the manufacturer (Venture Mfg Company - www.venturemfgco.com)and spoke to a gentleman named Doug who knew right away what was wrong. The shear pin broke on the horizontal shaft (inside the gearbox). My sympathy to anyone who encounters this issue and it will probably happen to all of you sooner or later since it is a pretty weak link. The good news is that the shear pin can be purchased at tractor supply company for 49 cents. The bad news, it takes a hydraulic jack, a saber saw and about 8 hours of labor to repair it. The deck under my folding couch in the slideout now has an access panel so the next time this piece of******breaks, it will only take three hours instead of 8 to fix it. By the way, in addition to the 8 hours of actual work there was another four hours of trying to figure out what steps were necessary to actually get to the gearbox. I'm thinking about buying a spare one to have so I will be prepared when it breaks.
To save anybody who tries this a lot of work, start by removing the sofa and ripping up the carpet. Then get a sabre saw and cut through the top and bottom panel and the styrofoam in between. Remove the access panel you thus created(mine is about 9" by 12" and it is pretty adequate). Then unbolt the bottom casing that holds the motor and bottom gears to the gearbox using a box end wrench that you must move about 1/8 turn with each movement because there is no room to swing the wrench around and no room for a socket (no, not even a 1/4" drive). Then unbolt the shaft extension (both ends) that drives the right side cog and slide it all the way to the right (don't bother trying to remove it completely because it is a half inch too long to actually come out). Then unbolt the cover of the gearbox and remove it and the worm gear. Next take out the two outside top support guides for the left track (good luck with that since you can barely reach the nuts and you just have to fish the guides out with your fingertips in the blind). Next, jack up the slide on the outside as high as you can get it so it takes the pressure off the cog. Next, stand on your head and hit the left end of the shaft slightly with a 2# hammer and force it back about an inch so you can reach the hole in shich the broken shear pin must be replaced. When you pull the gear off the shaft and the old pin falls out, put in a new one (it is a 5/16" x 1-1/4" tension pin, by the way). Once you have the new gear pin installed, then reconnect the right side shaft to be sure you have everything lined up and then shove the gear back into the casing all the way and be sure the left side cog is lined up. Remove the right side shaft again and shove it to the right so you can reassemble the gear box. Lower the jack holding the slide. Using your fingertips, working in the blind, reinstall the top slide guide bolts. Disconnect the right side shaft again and shove it out of the way so you can resintall the worm gear and the gear cover. Reinstall the bottom drive and motor making sure the shaft pin lines up with the notch in the bottom of the vertical shaft. Finally reconnect the right side shaft and test the operation. If everything works, get some medium duty metal plates and make a set of brackets to hold the access panel you just created and reinstall the floor. Reinstall the carpet and reinstall the sofa. At that point, sit back, grab a beer and slowly cool off so you don't immediately writing a scathing letter to both Forest River and Venture Mfg for creating a concoction that breaks in a location that cannot be reached to repair it when it breaks! What a joke.
By the way if this shear pin breaks with the slide in, just kill yourself because there is no way you could ever get to it.
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