Seismic 4113 slideout won't retract

[Jethro]

After jacking up my slide out about 3/4" I used a modified tool to remove the robertson screws. I took a short bit from one of my many screw driver sets and shortened it as much as possible by grinding down both ends to the point where I figured it would still function. I knew I had to break it loose first without stripping the head, thats important. I used a 1/4" ratchet and 1/4" socket on the bit and placed it into the roller screw. Its a tight fit in there but you can do it. I then needed to apply pressure so I inserted a pry or pinch bar above the ratchet to apply needed pressure. Once I started to turn the screw I had to remove the ratchet or you won't get it out of there. To complete the removal I switched over to using a gear wrench on the shortened robertson bit while still maintaining some pressure with the inserted pry bar. Its a bit difficult at first but as soon as you get onto it the other screws will come out much faster and easier. Now once you remove the robertson screws I did not re-install them when moving my rollers. I used 1" lag screws with the hex head. For re-install of the rollers I used a 90 degree poker to make a starter hole for my 1 inch lag screw once I had my roller in place. With the gear wrench on the lag screw I again inserted my pry bar to apply the needed pressure to top of the lag screw as I turned it in. Once you get a few turns on the lag screw you can remove the pry bar and its all gear wrench work from there. Again its tricky and a bit frustrating until you get onto it. Once you install the first couple of screws you will be fine. Also I did need to remove the roller and bolt/axle from the roller assembly at times to gain good access. I'm a retired engineering tech and accustomed to work thru engineering issues. I'm sure there are many guys on these forums that also have technical backgrounds and good ideas for repairs. We are all just trying to get by here. Good luck!

[Jethro]

Thats nice work theracqueteer. A very good modification and example for sure!

[theracqueteer]

Originally Posted by Jethro

Thats nice work theracqueteer. A very good modification and example for sure!

Jethro, just to give credit where credit is due, that is 2naEagle's work not mine. I haven't gotten that far yet. Thanks for the detail as to how you moved and replaced the rollers. Not sure I will have the patience to do that. Seems like every time I get into a project something goes haywire just too add extra frustration. It would be my luck to have a screw head break off.
I do appreciate you and everyone else taking the time on these forums for the pictures and detail on their mods and repairs. I have learned a lot.

[GoTigers]

My husband is an instrumentation and electronics specialist and would not let this thing sit untouched for two months while awaiting the service appointment. What he found was Jayco factory left a lot of slack in the wiring harness on the refrigerator side slide motor. The wiring harness got caught up in the roller which smashed the wires and caused them to short together. He freed up the wire and separated the conductors to remove the short which then allowed power to get to the motor and the slide to be closed. The short damaged the electronic controller, so we purchased a reconditioned one to be used temporarily then placed on the "in case of future failure" shelf. He also found that the wiring harness going to the garage side of the slide was wedged between two pieces of metal and it skinned the wire, leaving the wire exposed and susceptible to short to ground.
We are keeping the service appointment hoping that his troubleshooting and pinpointing the problem will lessen the amount of time it has to be in the shop. We have only gotten to camp three times in it before this problem occurred.

[Jethro]

Thats good information GoTigers. Thanks for that post. I will be checking over my wiring harnesses as well. We have had our Seismic 4113 for nine months now and there have been many problems to repair.

[Jethro]

Yesterday I stopped at the dealership where we bought our 2017 Seismic 4113 and looked at a new on the lot 2018 Seismic 4113. It appears that the large slide out has exactly the same problem as mine with the floor sagging from too much weight on the rear roller of the couch section of the slide out. You can see on the photo I took that the right side of the roller guard is almost touching the floor board which will soon begin to gouge it out. If you look carefully at the photo you can see the right side or edge of the floor bending down over the roller. This is why I modified my roller positions. I will post some photos in the next couple of days of my modifications. I now assume that other 4113 owners will have the same slide out issues on their units. The front end of the slide or fridge end will also suffer from the same problem where the roller guard begins to gouge out the floor. This has to be an engineering oversight by Jayco. When I looked at some of the other models of Seismic I didn't see this problem, only on 4113's.

[Jethro]

To add to my last thread I noticed that the rubber seal covering rollers at the rear of the slide was also damaged like my 4113 due to the sagging slide out floor. There is just too much weight on that one roller at the factory set position. The 4113 has a very large slide out.

[Loboclone]

2015 Sesimic 4212 here, we had the slide actually fail and fall out in the dealer shop. I am appalled that Jayco hasn’t fixed this issue 3.5years later.
They changed my motors from 300:1 to 500:1 high torque motors, doubled the outriggers and added 3 more rollers (now 6). All under warranty.

[Overogal]

I feel for you! Call Lippert if it's a Schwintek slide. Lippert bought Schwintek and the have mobile repair trucks that can come to you!
Our slideout (the big, heavy Schwintek slide with kitchen in it) stuck in the all the way out position and wouldn't come in at all. We were in Michigan's Upper Penninsula and home is central Texas! There was a little RV shop about 1/2 mile down the road. They were not familiar with the slideout and it took them 3 days to get it in, had to remove entire slide mechanism (No easy job) and push it in by hand, axnd brace it with 2x4's. We drove it downstate to large Jayco dealer in Mount Pleasant, MI and after they looked at it, said no way could they fix it, they didn't have the facilities to do it. We called Jayco who said they couldn't look at it even til February! Finally my husband called Lippert in Goshen, Indiana, and they said if we could get it there they could fix it in 2 days! So, took it there. Lippert found that Jayco put too much into the slideout, it was too heavy and these slides were not designed to carry that kind of weight. Also said that Jayco had cut the opening for the slide too large!! Lippert had to shim the walls out and apply lots of extra bracing, both inside and out, in the side of the frame. It is fixed now but only guaranteed for one year. Altogether, we have over $5000 in two separate repairs on this same slide. Our RV in only 3 years old. I don't think we'll keep it another year and certainly won't buy another one with a large Schwintek slide, now that we know the mechanism isn't made to support it. Not very happy with Jayco, that's for sure!