Steps won't close urgent

[mygsds]

Brand new MH 2015 Bounder. Drove it over 1500 miles from Florida no problem. Then last night at campground steps won't close..motor makes loud grinding noise..at first they closed 2/3 now not moving at all. Planning on stopped at Camping World in an hour but need to drive now..any ideas?
Pat

[Tom_Barb]

ksg5000 wrote:

mygsds wrote:
Hubby got cotter pin out but can't get the pin to move so we can bungee them up.
Pat

If you use a screw driver and hammer you can punch the pin out - then the step will swing smoothly.

Sounds like the pin is under tension and your trying to trip the trap.

[ksg5000]

mygsds wrote:
Hubby got cotter pin out but can't get the pin to move so we can bungee them up.
Pat

If you use a screw driver and hammer you can punch the pin out - then the step will swing smoothly.

[Executive45]

Make sure the 12VDC power is REMOVED from the motor BEFORE trying to release the steps. If they ACTIVATE while your hand/fingers/arm is in there you might be making a trip to the emergency room instead of the border....be careful around parts that are supposed to move and are not.....Dennis

[dcbrewer]

One thing that can cause problems like that, always make sure the steps are all the way out and stopped before stepping on them. weight while moving puts a lot of pressure on motor and gears..

[mygsds]

Talked to service at CW and he told hubby how to work the pin loose. They are going to look at it when we can get there today....said it sounds like motor for sure which is what we figured...really sucks on brand new MH. Service guy John was very helpful so hope they can fix motor today for us.

[MrWizard]

Be sure to unplug the motor
Should be able to jiggle the steps and work the pin loose
Three or four bolts hold the whole motor and gear assembly together
Those can be removed if needed
I replaced both motor and gear box about a month ago

[mygsds]

Batteries are fine fully charged.we are plugged in for power also. Odd thing is at the same time this started last night my door stuck and I had to push hard to open it. Door is fine now but step is worse. Still waiting for good Sam service to call back, on phone with Camping World right now hoping they can help..hubby just can't get the pin to come out..got it moving very slightly but not much.

[RoyB]

I know nothing about the motorhome electrical system but everytime I hear about failures when using 12VDC would make me to insure the 12VDC feeding the motor was good.

Especially when you state it was working good for a coupe of weeks then slowly quit.

Perhaps the charging of the battery that provides power for the steps is not up to snuff... If the battery is down in charge you can always nose up a car battery to it and hookup some jumper cables...

Again I know nothing about the way motorhome's electrical systems are used - just a thought here...

Grinding of gears doesn't sound good however... Maybe low battery voltage caused that to happen when under load????

Roy Ken

[mygsds]

Thanks as soon as we can get to dealer we will. We are supposed to take it over the border to Canada today..paperwork is at customs so need to get there. Calling Good Sam Roadsie right now to see if they can help us get moving. So is this a Fleetwood issue?

[dahkota]

hanko wrote:
might think about going to the dealer under warranty.

This is funny. We are having the exact same problem - for two weeks now. But we are 3000 miles from our selling dealer and every dealer, even the ones to which Fleetwood referred us, refused to fix our steps. The soonest we can get our steps fixed under warranty? June 17, if we drive 430 miles away. We finally decided to do it ourselves and ordered the parts through Amazon.

If you can go to your selling dealer, do it! Don't let them jerk you around - it should take less than an hour to replace both the motor (which is what the grinding sound was) and the control board (which is why there is no sound or movement now).

[mygsds]

Hubby got cotter pin out but can't get the pin to move so we can bungee them up.
Pat

[rvten]

Vet Man wrote:
Look under the steps and unhook the linkage, easy to do. Then tie in with a bungie cord or rope.

X2
Had to do this once. Held step closed with a bungee cord after removing linkage.

[kdk]

By removing a few nuts and bolts the steps and the arms can be removed for travel;
kdk

[mygsds]

Thanks hubby underneath now working on that....hope CW service can look at it when we drive in..bought it there and not happy to have problem on first trip.

Pat

[Vet_Man]

Look under the steps and unhook the linkage, easy to do. Then tie in with a bungie cord or rope.