Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment?? (Read 2347 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #20 –
Quote from: Roger & Susan in Home2 –
Actuator arms are in what looks like an arm rest box at the front and a similar box at the rear of the J couch in the back. The ram in the basement bay is for coordinating the two end A frame actuators.

The HWH compressor fills the slide air tank which supplies air to the bladder manifold(sj. The compressor also supplies air directly to the leveling manifolds which are used when manually or automatically leveling the coach.

The air line #57 has a check valve in line which isolates the compressor, the HWH tank, and the bladder manifold from any other air source. If this check valve is leaking or has failed then engine compressed air or air from an outside source could leak into this part of the air system.

It is possible your air system has been modified from it's original state. It is worth the time to understand how it is supposed to work and see if it has been changed.

Thanks Roger,
Thanks for the info on where the actuators are, I'll have to look it over to see how to gain access.

So what You're saying is, if there's a bad check valve on line 57 then air could bleed back into the bladder causing it to make contact with the slide while retracting or extending?

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #21 –
Quote from: dlkj07 –
Thanks Roger,
Thanks for the info on where the actuators are, I'll have to look it over to see how to gain access.

So what You're saying is, if there's a bad check valve on line 57 then air could bleed back into the bladder causing it to make contact with the slide while retracting or extending?
Photo in post 12 has lots of valuable information.
Actuators are accessed from inside but disconnected from outside , see post 12.
Line 57 check valve if failed may allow engine air to reach slide tank air normally pressurized with aux compressor.
Check your vacuum number.
If it's okay
Check your bladder pressure 11-14 good less is okay IMO but more is bad for bladder life.
Check your paint lines when closed, do they match up or is slide low? Check gaps all the way around including corners. Are they all similar? If all these are okay then proceed to next steps. Like climbing a ladder start at one end and progress. Jumping around will be difficult to make sense of any of the information you provide. With this information you can determine if slide is low or just the bladder vacuum is insignificant for proper operation.
Scott

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #22 –
Quote from: dlkj07 –
Thanks Roger,
Thanks for the info on where the actuators are, I'll have to look it over to see how to gain access.

So what You're saying is, if there's a bad check valve on line 57 then air could bleed back into the bladder causing it to make contact with the slide while retracting or extending?

If there was a failure of the check valve in line 57 then air from the service tanks and engine compressor could pass by the small compressor into the HWH tank and then to the bladder manifold.  The pressure regulator reduces pressure to less than 15 psi which inflates the bladder when the bladder manifold is not trying to deflate the bladder.  When the bladder manifold gets the signal to deflate the bladder (turn the key) the solenoids open the ports for the compressed air to pass over a venturi vent which creates a low pressure which sucks the air out of the bladder.  When you retract or extend the slide, I believe the valve to the bladder line closes and holds the vacuum in the bladder and the bladder retracted. Once the slide is in and the key is off the low pressure to the bladder is restored and the bladder inflates.

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #23 –
So with the slide control panel key off the vacuum solenoid and the three way solenoid are relaxed porting air threw the the pressure regulator to the slide 12psi.
When the key is turned on the light timer 41 seconds starts and the power to the vacuum solenoid and the three way solenoid are activated closing off regulated air and full pressure air is diverted threw the vacuum pump block on the side of the valve producing vacuum to the slide. If the air pressure drops the vacuum diminishes. No other valves installed. With the key turned off valves relax and reapplies regulated air regardless of slide position, in, out or in between.
Scott

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #24 –
Thanks Scott,

That's probably a good reason to add the gauge like you did for easy reference and trouble shooting.  👍

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #25 –
Quote from: dlkj07 –
Thanks Scott,

That's probably a good reason to add the gauge like you did for easy reference and trouble shooting.  👍
I actually want a gauge in view next to the control panel to indicate current state both for daily use and vacuum verification during slide movement. They make some 1/16 diameter line and this would reduce the volume, however from the front slide hose to the control panel is quite close. Panel mounted combination gauge, preferably small diameter.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sww-82340?seid=srese1&gclid=CjwKCAiAgvKQBhBbEiwAaPQw3AmQgiZ18LInXaqcd2nvRcwFimr19jf92GK0-jFrPeOtchmPms7AIBoCFLAQAvD_BwE


Bosch gauge comes with 1/8 tubing and backlight
Amazon.com: Actron SP0F000050 Bosch Style Line 2" Mechanical Vacuum/Boost...
As an Amazon Associate Foretravel Owners' Forum earns from qualifying purchases.

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #26 –
My dash volt meter quit working (great/blue box issue) so I replaced it with a pressure gauge connected to the HWH tank. Since the voltage and the transmission temperature are shown on VMSpc you could replace the temp gauge with a pressure/vacuum gage in it's place.  I already replaced the non-functioning front and rear service tank pressure gauges dit direct connection gauges. 

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #27 –
For those of you that have been following along and helping out on my slide situation, here's a video that I hope helps show my situation and a possible solution from all you fine folks.

Slide Video

I'm hoping this is just an adjustment issue and I can adjust the front of the slide to retract evenly with the rear and solve the problem.

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #28 –
Quote from: dsd –
With the side opened you can look underneath at the front and the back and see a opening. Your rams are inside. I would reccomend learning the system in the HWH manuals. Very similar to the 600 but actually a 680. Picture shows actuator with vertical adjustment shims and centering guide blocks. Guide roller in the rear.
Scott,
So now that I have this open and I can see where the vertical adjustment is, if I want to raise the slide up slightly so it doesn't drag on the bottom would I add a shim here?

It almost looks like you can just turn the bolt and adjust or am I wrong and you have to add or subtract shims to make adjustment here?

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #29 –
That is NOT normal.  The front ram should be bolted to the coach floor and should definitely not move like in the video!!!  You probably have had a water leak into the floor area under the front actuator (happens if the older slide bladder deflates allowing water in enter), mine has wood rot but steel looks sound.  The plywood floor makes up a structural component of these early slide mechanisms.  Remove the pullout cabinet between the slide box and driver seat and pull up the carpet underneath...tell us what you find.

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #30 –
So I couldn't open video. But the actuator should not be free from floor. The forward one is accessible by pulling counter top up, Velcro downed. Square head screws removed and you should be able to remove the top. Once the top is off there is more square head screws that hold surrounding panel. Once those remove you can side off the end. At that point the end cap can be removed to access floor mount bolts. It does take a bit to sort out. Do not operate till actuator is secured. Damage will result.
So the vertical adjustment is critical to the entire assembly being mounted firm to the floor. The big nut on the rod end is not the vertical adjustment. It's done with the two 1/4-20 bolts and shims from out side bottom. Slide must be open to change.

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #31 –
Bracket in circle mounted to floor. Arrow points to pivot point and scissors out from there without effecting vertical height

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #32 –
Scott,

Your picture is hard to figure out because your slide is removed. Is this the same with my slide extended. This is from outside under the slide.

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #33 –
The two bolt heads you can see sticking down in your pictures are the same two bolts in Scotts picture...his view is just from the other side since his slide was removed at the time.  You can see two of your shims below the silver piece in your pictures.

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #34 –
And the assembly is scissored out. Yes the same. Mine was fully retracted and lock pins also retracted so as to get more room to work on bladder seal. During movement those two bolts and shims maintain the height of the slide in conjunction with those roller shown in one of the photos prior on the side of the actuator assembly . This keeps vertical position in balance with the slide, with glide block on the carpet. So found a picture with extended with Fourdayoff Jim

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #35 –
Here's another video, looks like I found why the arm mount is moving in my earlier video...not looking good for me.

Microsoft services

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #36 –
dlkj, looks like you found your issue. Very unfortunate. I hope the P.O. can sleep well at night. Please keep us updated on your progress. Good luck.

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #37 –
Well that doesn't look good.  Sorry to see these issues.  I'd suggest that the damage to the inner fender is not the tire hitting it now, but rather the PO had a blowout at some point which then throws the tread all around and will beat all that stuff up pretty bad.  Mine has some marks from my blowout, but my inner fender didn't break.  Looks like yours is broken, then driving in water, the tire is throwing water into that area which eventually rots it away.

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #38 –
Quote from: dlkj07 –
Here's another video, looks like I found why the arm mount is moving in my earlier video...not looking good for me.

Microsoft services
Remember that the human brain has a natural tendency to assume the worst case scenario, so hang in there and see this through. Everyone always says "the nice thing about FTs is that you can repair everything". I think you're about to prove that true or false.

Regarding the airbag: most of us have marks above our tires like that, where it rests on the tire. The hole is not normal but the marks/indentation are. There isn't an "air bag adjustment" for when the coach is at rest but there is for when it's in travel mode. You should have roughly 8.5" from top plate to bottom plate when in travel mode - if not, you need to adjust your ride height control valves. You have bigger fish to fry right now though. Good luck!

Re: 2001 U320 Slide Adjustment??

Reply #39 –
In light of my recent discovery of the rusted out frame above the driver's side wheel, does anyone have any recommendations for who I could take this to out here on the west coast. I'd love to drive it to the mother ship but that's just too far. Unfortunately we still work and can't get that much time off, so hopefully there's someone closer that would have the experience to do something like this. I don't have the dough right now anyway so this will be awhile out before I can get to it.
Might just fill the voids with expandable foam for now to keep any more water from entering. Obviously I can't fix the slide issue until I get in there and see the extent of the damage.