On our 2007 Nimbus we had a problem where the rear bedroom slide out not coming back in when we wanted to travel. The yellow light come on as usual but we could not get the slide out to retract.
A phone call to James at Foretravel helped us begin to sort out this issue. The first action was to replace the solenoid on the hydraulic pump for the retraction of the slide out. Mike from parts helped us sort out what part was need and we ordered two solenoids, one for retract and one for extend. Again with the help of James, he found us a technician who worked for Foretravel now living in Florida to do the repairs.
After installing the two solenoids, we still could not get the room slide out to retract. Once again, along with the tech, spoke to James and together we suspected the hydraulic cylinder to be at fault. James said he only in his time seen one of these ever to ever fail, but it looked like we might be the second case. With the help of Mike in parts, we sorted out what cylinder to order from HWH. This cylinder is housed within the frame under the bed and without disassembling the unit first, you cannot see the cylinder. Yet, with Mike's expertise, he was able to find out what cylinder to order without taking apart the system and followed up with HWH for a speedy order.
The cylinder arrived and the technician installed it within a few hours. The hydraulic system needed to be bled of air and once that was done, the magic happen - the slide out came back in like new! Yes, the cylinder was at fault. What exactly went wrong with the cylinder is a mystery with us but now we have the second case of a cylinder going bad documented.
With the wonderful help of both James and Mike at Foretravel, we are now repaired and back on the road. A big debt of appreciation is out from us to these two fine men of Foretravel. We all in this forum are so lucky to have people like this to count on with their years of experience.
Edited the title to make it searchable.
If you kept the cylinder, a competent hydraulics shop can inspect and if the usual culprits (seals) can be repaired for $150 or less.
I needed two for my 2000 a few years back. We're two week lead time from HWH. Shop down street from MOT rebuilt both same day for $250 as I recall.
Happy Dance, because I didn't want to wait for HWH, and new ones were $450 each. Mike Rodgers. Comes through again.
Since this was my first experience with a hydraulic failure, I did not know until your post these cylinders could be repaired. This is great information and will now know what my options are if I encounter another cylinder malfunction. I was fortunate through the help of Mike in parts to have a two day turn around time from HWH on the part. Hopefully, this malfunction will be a rare occurrence.
If it wasn't leaking fluid no the ground, then an internal seal must have given up or something mechanical inside actually broke.
Absolutely correct. There was no oil leak but you could tell there was an internal struggle between fluid going into the cylinder and the fluid going out of the fluid. It was a real perplexing problem and one I had never seen before.
Hmm, it may have broken the bolt that holds the "plunger" to the rod. Now the plunger slides all the way to the bottom and stops, but the rod is left extended.
Who knows....but this means you must disassemble it to see what was broken!