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

[robertbenita]

Sure is nice to see how so many help out with someone in need!

[tropical36]

VinCee wrote:
Were the steps made by Lippert, or label on the front of them "Coach Steps"? If so they are pretty well known to have a lot of failure issues especially with the main gear bolt and the double joint bolt supporting all of the weight on the steps when deployed. NHTSA has an investigation on going on them with many RV owners that have them on their rigs looking forward to a potential recall. Some manufacturers have been swapping them out for the much, much better Kwikee Steps for free or at whole sale pricing.

Yep and as far as I know, our K's are original and 17 years old now.

[mygsds]

Update on steps. Motor was shot and Camping World Hamburg NY got the new motor, installed and adjusted awning while it was in..all under warranty. So far happy with service just not with steps breaking on a new RV.

[mygsds]

On our way home, steps rigged..motor shot and new one on order. All covered by warranty. Hopefully new motor will last longer than 3 months, 2 of which it was in storage in Florida.

[Pass42]

two other common issues with steps:
1) Linkages need to be lubricated regularly with a good penetrating grease spray
2) Good, clean ground connections.. on my steps there are 2 grounds... and they are out under the bus, exposed to every bit of road spray to corrode.......

[mygsds]

One thing that never has happened is stepping on them too soon..can guarantee that.bat our age we have to wait and be careful :))

Pat

[msmith1199]

dcbrewer wrote:
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..

You beat me to it.

[msmith1199]

mygsds wrote:
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

Lots of moving parts in a motorhome and stuff like this happens. The steps are actually one of the more rugged parts on the motorhome, but they do break.

One thing you have to be really careful about is not to step on them when they are going in or out (usually out). People tend to open the door and then jump up on the step before it is fully out. If you do that all of your weight is going straight to the gears versus onto the stops that the stairs rest on when fully out. Kids are really bad for this and they seem to love to stomp down on the stairs too. You can strip the gears doing this which sounds like what has happened with yours. Not saying it happened this way, but based on what you describe sounds like one of the gears may have lost some teeth.

[et2]

Been having a issue with ours during the winter. I charge the batteries every two weeks via the generator. When the batteries are even slightly low they would do exactly as you mentioned. They need full voltage going to them. Once the batteries received a charge the steps would operate.

Had it checked last week. Nothing else is wrong with them.

[cjcrawford]

Never never never step on the stairs until they are fully extended. You will ruin your step motor in a heartbeat ( don't ask me how I know).

Also be prepared to get grief on a warranty claim for this issue.

[traveylin]

In 4 year my steps have gone out 3 times. The last time was at the beginning of a 4 month trip to Alaska. Each time qualified techs did the fix. My fix currently is to strap it in the up position and use a wooden set of steps till I figure out what to do. A kitchen step ladder is used for gas station stops. I woul love to see a good solution that folks were proud of.

pops

[mygsds]

Update. We are at dealer CW in Buffalo and they will install new motor in the morning..motor clearly shot...and clearly was defective to start with. We are camping in it overnight and hopefully can be on our way home tomorrow. Our solution was to tie a rope to the steps through the screen door and close door pulling the steps in..tied it to the inside big handle. Had looped my leather dog leash to the big door handle and pulled it shut. So could drive with step tied up...it opens fine when we are stopped so we can get in and out. Service people here have been really nice and helpful so hoping the fix will go smoothly. Thanks for all the advice..it's been a stressful first trip in it.

[jorbill2or]

X2 just drive with it out to a service place just be aware it's out don't get too close to something ... You'd prob take out the mirrors too got that close

[tropical36]

mygsds wrote:
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

If all else fails, would it really be that much of a problem to just drive it with the step out. I mean be careful of where you go, but it's not like it's never been done before and for a long ways down the road for some of the unknowingly.
We had ours going in and out for quite some distance on CA Rt 1 with no ill effects and until we were able to work on it.