AF996 Kitchen Slide wire - possible issue fixed
For those who have an Arctic Fox 996, I found a potential hair pulling issue with the kitchen slide and a wire bundle, but came up with a fix that I wanted to share. I'd noticed a 3 wire bundle (Gray, Black, Red) that fell out of the side of the kitchen slide just behind the kitchen sink.
Further investigation revealed that the wire bundle was made too long and the excess length allowed the wire bundle to fall out although it was through loop clamps that secured the wires to the wall. I also noticed that with some bad luck, the wires are long enough to get fouled in the kitchen slide drive teeth which would ruin one's day for sure.
After finding that access to the upper wall to add an additional loop clamp or two was not going to happen without removing the slide room, I came up with a way to secure the excess wire length. I found that by pulling the excess slack forward (toward the front of the camper) there is an existing wire bundle just aft of the fresh water fill pipe that makes for a good place to secure those three wires. I used a couple of nylon zip ties to secure the wires to that bundle which now keeps the wires well away from the drive teeth and also keeps them taut enough to prevent them from falling out from behind the trim. I've just sent this info off to Northwood for their feedback, but wanted to pass this along to any AF996 owners so they can see if their wiring may have the same possible issue. Ours is a Jan. 2013 build, so it's one of the earliest ones built and Northwood may have already corrected this. Hope so, but a quick check behind your slide will tell the story on your unit. Hopefully this info might save someone some grief.
This picture shows the drive teeth circled with the wire bundle to the right. (already secured)
This picture shows the 3 wire bundle now secured with zip ties circled to the existing larger wire bundle.
Further investigation revealed that the wire bundle was made too long and the excess length allowed the wire bundle to fall out although it was through loop clamps that secured the wires to the wall. I also noticed that with some bad luck, the wires are long enough to get fouled in the kitchen slide drive teeth which would ruin one's day for sure.
After finding that access to the upper wall to add an additional loop clamp or two was not going to happen without removing the slide room, I came up with a way to secure the excess wire length. I found that by pulling the excess slack forward (toward the front of the camper) there is an existing wire bundle just aft of the fresh water fill pipe that makes for a good place to secure those three wires. I used a couple of nylon zip ties to secure the wires to that bundle which now keeps the wires well away from the drive teeth and also keeps them taut enough to prevent them from falling out from behind the trim. I've just sent this info off to Northwood for their feedback, but wanted to pass this along to any AF996 owners so they can see if their wiring may have the same possible issue. Ours is a Jan. 2013 build, so it's one of the earliest ones built and Northwood may have already corrected this. Hope so, but a quick check behind your slide will tell the story on your unit. Hopefully this info might save someone some grief.
This picture shows the drive teeth circled with the wire bundle to the right. (already secured)
This picture shows the 3 wire bundle now secured with zip ties circled to the existing larger wire bundle.
