I just discovered that my salon slide front locking pin mount is bent out at the bottom. Where the mounting plate is welded to the box tubing it has cracked at the bottom and the box tube is distorted. The lock unit is so bent that when extended the little stop plate that the valance mounts to just slides under it, then when the pin extends it misses the receiver hole. When retracted the pin goes into the hole on top of the slide but since it’s angled inwards it pushes the slide in about a half inch at the top
I have read on here that some people have capped the houses and just removed the pin.
My question is what wiring jumper are needed to keep everything happy.
Bruce is the front or rear slide? A big thick piece of metal welded to a thin wall tubing throw in hydraulics and that pin can do some damage. Is your switch on the floor out of adjustment or perhaps in the center of the slide on the top there is a piece of metal that is to guide the slide into the proper position not going into the slot? In our coach the rear slide pins do nothing and this was done before my ownership but can say the prior owner caused a great deal of damage with not sequencing the pins correctly. If your hydraulics are good with no leaks I don't think it would move very easily so I'm for getting rid of them let's hear from someone that has more than I can offer.
I’ll add what I know… the system works with verification signals returning to the controller. In other words, when you tell the pin to go to the locked position, you are going to activate a switch that reports back to the controller that the pin did actually extend. Some worked with magnetic switches, where a magnet was mounted to the roof, and others used reed switches embedded in the locking ram body. It is my opinion that the best plan would be to remove the locking cylinder from its bent mount so that it is not touching the slide at all extended or retracted. That would let the pin go ahead and move and report back to the controller that it has moved. You wouldn’t have locking on that end of the slide. If you wanted it to lock, you’re going to have to re-weld that threaded mounting surface plate back into the correct position. I know welding inside the coach sounds like a dangerous unwanted activity, but I think you could cover everything up enough to keep the interior from the getting damaged.
When you think about the operational scheme, you will find that there are limit switches reporting back to the comptroller to verify a complete operation. For example, when you initiate an extend function the first thing that happens is the pins retract and a switch closes causing the next step, which is extend rams, and when they are fully extended, a limit closes indicating full extension, then the locking pins extend and a limit closes indicating locking which….and so on. I don’t mean to be overly redundant here, however, these systems can surely confuse a person.
The bottom line here is, you need that limit switch closure to initiate the next steps. If you eliminate that ram you’re still gonna have to have a switch to tell the system to go on and work. Now, it may be that the switches are in series since there are two rams. If that were the case, and I am not sure about that, it would be easy to eliminate that ram and switch wiring.
I hope this answers your questions….
Gordon Jones
1989-42~no slide-#188
2000-45'-2slide-#567
1999-45’-no slide Prevost XLV Marathon
A bit more info on my issue.
It is the front slide, and I have the lock units that have the reed switch.
That said I’m not sure how the reed switch works. There is no continuity between any pins on the lock unit, but the slide won’t work with any one of the plugs undone. Mark at Newell told me they pull the pins, reinstall the unit, cap the hoses, and that I would have to jump between the pins on the control side plugs to trick the system into thinking that the lock pins are in their happy place, but he couldn’t remember which wires to jumper though. I was hoping someone on here might have done this and could pass that info on before I start jumping pins together and upset the late 90s HWH brain.
As far as what caused this mess, I have my theory…. If you look closely at the attached photo of the slide lock on the back end of my front slide you will see that the bracket that is welded to the actual slide frame not only has the receiver hole for the lock pin, but it also acts as a stop for the top of the slide room. Also, if you look closely, you can see that the bracket is bent down some and there is very little overlap between the clip and the lock housing. Mark told me they reinstalled the lock housing because it acts as a stop but until I did some test, I wasn’t sure what he meant. Also, when the pin extends it pushes the top of my slide inward creating a slight gap between the lock housing and the stop clip.
My theory is that the forward stop clip final bent down enough that it slid under the lock housing and when the lock pin extended it bent the lower clip down even more. This in turn forced the bottom of the lock unit out due to the angle the pin was in. This binding overtime bent the lock unit mounting plate to the point it is now. The way I noticed is when the slide was in the retracted position the outside top corner of the slide was not even with the side skin of the coach. Even though the lock pin goes into the receiver hole in the top of the slide since it extends at such an angle it pushes the top of the slide inward when it extends.
One, for some unknown reason, over time the top of the HWH slides tend to tilt inward at the top. Inward so far that that lip of the slide out would interfere with the bladder seal. I am not accusing anyone of anything, but sometimes some people who should have known better, simply BENT the pin mounting mechanism to get the pins to go back in the hole without ventilating the slide roof. When I look at your picture in the first post, one could guess the pin mount was bent and rewelded. There is definitely signs of a reweld on that mount.
I have studied the HWH mounting/ slide mechanism for HOURS and never figured out why so many of the slides tilted in at the top.
The solution is to mount an aluminum plate to the exterior of the slide to stop the top of the slide flush with the coach skin. If you don’t have a slide topper, it can be mounted in the corner. Jack’s coach has such a device, perhaps he will be kind enough to post. If you have slide toppers like I did, mounting a plate in the upper corner will cut the awning. So I mounted the plate low enough to clear the awning. I used rivnuts set into the interior bracing of the slide structure. Before you guffaw at this solution, it works like a dream.
Once you get the top of the slide aligned, cut out that mess of a mount for the slide pin lock, and weld it back in place in the proper position.
Not intending to be critical, just understanding of different perspectives. Sometimes a shop’s perspective can be to get you back on the road as quickly as possible. That may not be the long term fix that a caring owner would prefer.
Richard I had already seen the post you attached and was planning on fabricating some external slide stops. As my slide topper extends past the edge of the slide I’m going to fabricate the stops to be hidden behind its valances.
As far as the mess that used to be slide lock mount yes cutting it off and reattaching is my plan. Once I get that mounting plate removed I’ll be able to assess how bad the square tubing is damaged. Currently I can tell it is bowed out on the middle and there is a smallish rip at the bottom were the weld held but the square tubing didn’t.
Newells design for the extend works fine right up until it bent enough to get under the lock pin unit, then the carnage began.
i have driven many thousands of miles with no slide pins down. my rear and my front. mine use magnets to trigger the pins. the front ones get out of alignment.
the biggest thing i think the pins do is align the slide when it is in at the top. mine pulls in a little farther when the pins are not down.
newell says they are not necessary as the hydraulics hold them in.
my rear slide pins i deactivated at the pump and capped off the line
tom
2002 45'8" Newell Coach 608 Series 60 DDEC4/Allison World 6 Speed HD4000MH
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