Slide Out Binds when opening or closing

Hello There,
Let me say that I am new to trailering and the Hi-Lo world. I recently purchased a 2007 Hi-Lo 2407T Towlite. We went on our first camping trip and everything was great. After the trip, I was cleaning up and when I went to put away the slide out, it snagged on the opening. I was able to coax it to a close, but it now binds on both opening and closing. I tried to tighten the square head screws holding the raising strap, but that did not appear to do anything.

Has anyone else had similar problems? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to resolve this problem?

Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions that you can provide. In my short ownership time, I have come to really enjoy this forum.

Frank

check top is all the way up

That should be totally free to move. Make sure the top is ALL the way up. If it is not, it will bind. Mine has about 1/2 inch clearance on the top of the tilt-out to the top. Just the rubber gasket touches the tilt-out.
G

Tipout problems

I don't have a tipout,hopefully some one that does will help you. Some of the HiLo forum members are traveling this weekend to the National Rallye in Tenn. Your reply could be skinny because of this.

HI Frank R
As ODM indicated your top may be creeping down when parked and resting on the tip out. Raise the top before trying to bring the tipout in and releasing the safety bar. If this does not work then the cables may have stretched and need to be adjusted (tightened). Do not make this adjustment until you have read up and understand it. You can overtighten them and do damage to the rails and the cables. We can help you with this if needed. Am going to the rally and will look at my tipout and see if I can see any other reason why it might bind when I get there.

Frank R,

We have a 2406 T which would be identical to yours and I have never experienced the problem you've described. Could you narrow down the point of the tilt out where the 'snagging" was taking place? There may be some tell-tale scrapings on the outer shell to help you identify. Was it on the top or one of the sides?

I have two thoughts about this. If it were on the side; I have never investigated the fulcrum upon which the tilt out rests but could it be possible that the fulcrum may have become loose? Maybe it is on a threaded bolt and the lock nut or pin has worked loose?

If it is on the top, I remember reading in a past post somewhere the discussion was that once the top is raised, some of us let the hydraulic pressure off while others do not. If the snagging was on the top, it might be wise to not relieve the pressure until after positioning the tilt out and before bringing it in, raise the top that extra 1/4" again before doing so. As Jim L said in his post, you may need to tighten the cables some. I had one cable that was not even finger tight when I re-tensioned them. The lock nut had come loose allowing the adjustment nut to back off which caused the slack in the cable. I think that would be the first item you should check.

I would encourage you to read one of my previous posts and check your roof. We just got our Hi Lo last July and discovered some really bad spots on the metal roof. You can see what we discovered and the action taken here: http://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f25/roof-repair-1685/

Welcome to the forum and good luck.

Jerry Curtis
2406T
2000 F250 7.3L 4x4 ext. cab

Update to slide out binding

Thank you to everyone for all of the advice. I found the problem. It appears that the hydraulic fluid was a little low. It would squeal at the end of raising the top and I thought that was all she would go. I added a little more hydraulic fluid and it pops right up without any binding problems.

I apologize for being such a novice. I am learning more and more every time out, especially with all of the help from this forum. Thank you so much for all of your advice.

Sincerely,
Frank R

Tipout binding.

Frank R. no need to apologize. Even us experienced owners learn new things,modifications on the forum. Glad you figured out the problem.

Frank R said:

Hello There,
Let me say that I am new to trailering and the Hi-Lo world. I recently purchased a 2007 Hi-Lo 2407T Towlite. We went on our first camping trip and everything was great. After the trip, I was cleaning up and when I went to put away the slide out, it snagged on the opening. I was able to coax it to a close, but it now binds on both opening and closing. I tried to tighten the square head screws holding the raising strap, but that did not appear to do anything.

Has anyone else had similar problems? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to resolve this problem?

Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions that you can provide. In my short ownership time, I have come to really enjoy this forum.

Frank

Click to expand...

I had a similar problem. I used the procedure below and it seems to have stopped it. I highly recommend doing this as part of your preventitive maintenance.

http://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f61/how-fix-top-half-creep-your-hilo-trailer-129/