My coach is stored in my heated garage and I tinker with it from time to time. No shortage of repairs needed and things to be looked into. I extended the bedroom slide about two weeks ago so I could get around the bed more easily. That bladder has a slow leak and only stays inflated for a few days so it's been uninflated for a while (not a big deal in the garage). Yesterday I noticed that the slide room is cockeyed in the opening and the rear side had tried to close itself (a hydraulic leak bypassing?) so it's sort of wedged into the opening. My question is; when I turn the slide room on, should I first try to extend it again or should I try to retract it? Which direction is less likely to cause further damage? Of course I will air the coach up first so the slide seal can pull a vacuum but even retracted it may be in contact with the slide room walls because of the angle it's at. Thanks in advance for sage advice. Figured I would try here before getting in line at HWH.
George, on my 02 the rear slide seems to be sensitive to fluid level in the reservoir. A few ounces low and it will act up. I can't recall if the slide needs to be in or out to check the level, that would depend on knowing if the rams are extended or retracted. Maybe someone on here can advise. I would add 4-6 ounces and see what happens. You state that the slide was open when this happened so I would extend back to open instead of trying to retract, this may cause damage. I understand there is a check valve on or near the pump I'm not sure but I would like to replace mine as mine has a creep out sometimes. As far as I know there is no synchronizing valve for the 2 rear rams so it could be a little low on fluid. Jim.
It is year-dependent. In the wiki:
Slide Rooms (https://wiki.foreforums.com/doku.php?id=technical:hwh:slide_out)
Room Positioning for Checking Oil Level in the HWH Slide Hydraulic Reservoir (https://wiki.foreforums.com/doku.php?id=technical:slide_out:checking_oil_level)
From the second article, it appears one needs to have all slides in their "level checking" position to check the fluid level, not just the slide having issues.
Closing out this thread, I did extend the slide first and then retracted it. No problems at all. Now I don't leave the slide extended while in storage.