I had a call from a friend yesterday to help him with his Cougar 5th wheel. They bought it last fall from CW and have had it in storage this past winter.Moved it to their house to pack and get ready for the season and low and behold, one of the slides wouldn't extend and he was at a loss.Turns out it was just jammed in and the LCI slide mechanism would only ratchet. I though, easy fix, just turn it out a little using manual operation. WRONG! No wrench nor opening for the wrench. Turns out, to probably save $5, Cougar did not supply anything to operate it manually. CW told him to cut an "access" hole in the under skin to find the motor and use a ratchet wrench to extend the slide. WTH?We ended up putting a wrench on the square drive shaft between the rack gears, applying a little torque while he hit the button. It came free and works normally now.I find it flabbergasting that they did not supply any manual operation provisions.End of rant.

Well, you don't get a manual starter crank on your car anymore. Or a pair of jumper cables even. Or sometimes not even a spare tire. Builders save bucks where they can.

My Outback was the same way. I needed to cut the coraplast to get to it

fj12ryder wrote:Well, you don't get a manual starter crank on your car anymore. snipThe compression ratios of modern engines would make it impossible to turn a car over by hand.

The slideout mfg DID provide a means of manually cranking slide.....hex on end of motorRV MFG enclosed it because 'enclosed/heated underbellies are the 'thang'

Iraqvet05 wrote:The compression ratios of modern engines would make it impossible to turn a car over by hand.Actually, compression ratios haven't changed much at all in decades for gas engines.Something like 8-1 is typical. High performance will get up around 9-1.They can't go too much higher or they will start to knock and compression ignite (diesel operation), so you can hand crank a modern 4 cylinder roughly as easily as an old model T (of course assuming they provided a crank and a place to fit it)

Camper Design, What Were They Thinking? | Good Sam Community

Veebyes
Explorer II
Apr 26, 2019
Been there. Jiggled that. Had it happen with our first 5er on the 2nd day out taking it from TX to MD. Slide would not return. Some shaking, lots of cursing & a couple turns on the shaft did the trick. We were complete greenhorns at this RV thing at the time but had many years of dealing with whatever a boat could throw at us so the 'can do, we got this' attitude was there.
CaLBaR
Explorer
Apr 25, 2019
Old-Biscuit wrote:
The slideout mfg DID provide a means of manually cranking slide.....hex on end of motor

RV MFG enclosed it because 'enclosed/heated underbellies are the 'thang'

Just dumb on the RV manufacturer. My Grand Design Reflection has enclosed and heated underbelly and I still have a manual crank and hole to access it without cutting the coroplast.
glkids2
Explorer
Apr 25, 2019
That's what happens when "OLD" memories are stirred up!!
fj12ryder
Explorer III
Apr 25, 2019
B.O. Plenty wrote:
What does cranking an engine have to do with this post? If you can't get your slide to go in or out you could be stranded. If your truck won't start there's a lot of ways to get it running. These posts really go off the track at times.
B.O.
And isn't it great. :)
B_O__Plenty
Explorer II
Apr 25, 2019
What does cranking an engine have to do with this post? If you can't get your slide to go in or out you could be stranded. If your truck won't start there's a lot of ways to get it running. These posts really go off the track at times.
B.O.
laknox
Nomad
Apr 25, 2019
fj12ryder wrote:
And broken arms from the crank kicking back were not unheard of either.

And broken/dislocated thumbs, too! My dad taught me before I was a teen that the proper way to grab a starter crank handle was with my thumb tucked right up next to my index finger and NOT wrapped around the handle. Even then, you can still get bit, as I can attest. Starting my dad's 1.5 hp John Deere hit 'n miss and it fired hard and, even with the folding handle, it hit the end of my thumb right at the hinge and jammed it. That was over 10 years ago and it =still= hurts!

Lyle
laknox
Nomad
Apr 25, 2019
bucky wrote:
Even the diesels with their higher compression ratios are easily turned by hand. A ton of repair protocols require the rotating mass to be rotated for adjustments etc. My 2005's ratio is 17.something to one.

Sure, it's easy to do...as long as the fenders have been removed and you've got a 6' cheater on the crank. :B

Lyle
fj12ryder
Explorer III
Apr 25, 2019
And broken arms from the crank kicking back were not unheard of either.
Iraqvet05
Explorer
Apr 25, 2019
valhalla360 wrote:
Iraqvet05 wrote:

The compression ratios of modern engines would make it impossible to turn a car over by hand.

Actually, compression ratios haven't changed much at all in decades for gas engines.

Something like 8-1 is typical. High performance will get up around 9-1.

They can't go too much higher or they will start to knock and compression ignite (diesel operation), so you can hand crank a modern 4 cylinder roughly as easily as an old model T (of course assuming they provided a crank and a place to fit it)

8:1-9:1 is common for a modern engine but the Model A and T (when hand cranks were common) had a compression ration of 4.5:1.

I got to drive a 1930's Allis Chalmers WC tractor in a parade once (wife's grandfathers) and it about killed me trying to get it started by crank. Those guys had to be tough to own a car or tractor back then.
bucky
Explorer II
Apr 25, 2019
Even the diesels with their higher compression ratios are easily turned by hand. A ton of repair protocols require the rotating mass to be rotated for adjustments etc. My 2005's ratio is 17.something to one.