Okanagan 117 DBL

I have a okanagan 117 dbl on a 2007 Chevy 3500 usually. The road side slide gear housing broke and I need to replace it. Do you know if the long drive shaft slides right after you pull the bolt out of the collar? The slide still comes in with my pulling assistance. He is correct, they want a lot of money for the part. We love the rig and expect to use it for years to come. thanks for your help.

Thanks for the response, I've been having quite a discussion with my son about the load and unload and with no experience for either of us it seemed like a rather scary ordeal to unload with the slide out. Using the jacks afterward makes perfect logic. Thanks again for the clarification.

It is not difficult to unload or load with the slide already out. Extend the side slide, not necessary with the rear slide, jack up the T/C an inch or so, drive the truck out a fot or so, unhook the electric cord. Pull all the way out. Lower the T/C and add 3 jacks underneath to each side, especially the side slide "side" as my experience says the internal construction is weak, or not as strong as it should be. But since following the above procedure I have had no problems. Knock on Wood.

Thanks for all the good info, I'll put it to use this weekend. Since I've not heard further from RockyRoadCamper, I'm wondering if you might have any insight about loading and unloading with the slides in or out ?

You can see the dinette slide motor by laying on the floor with the rear slide out and look under the dinette. I am not sure if you could see the motor good enough to see any cracks. It is a Power Gear motor. The part number is visible in the third picture I posted. I got lucky and found a replacement on Craig's list. PPL in Houston can order replacements but it could take up to six weeks to get one if they do not have one in stock.

Thanks for the access info, we plan on taking a look at the total rig this Sat. I'll be making a point of looking at both motors to make sure no cracking is evident. If all looks ok and if the total package turns out to be what we're looking and end up buying it, I'll be sure and devise some sort of brace to try and keep what happened to you from happening to us. You said the replacements weren't an easy find, do you recall the make of the slide and where I might find the parts if I were to need them ? Thanks again.

The slide motor for the rear slide can be accessed through the rear basement storage door. It is above and to the curb side. The Main Slide has an access cover under the street side wing that must be removed to access the motor. To me it looked like the weight of the electric motor levered out of the gear box broke the housing due to the sharp impact from traveling on less than smooth roads. To prevent this in the future, I installed a brace to support the weight of the electric motor. I did not take any pictures of the support though. I was in a hurry to get it repaired and get back out camping.

Good Morning, my thanks to the three of you that have responded to request for help and insights.
Bill your suggestion about bringing along a tech could be very worthwhile and interestingly enough my wife Roby is the Controller for one of if not the largest RV dealers in the western U.S (DeMartini RV) located in Grass Valley, CA. I'll ask and see who might be best to bring.

Specularius thanks for the photos of the slide motor, that's certainly not something I would have expected. Never having any rig with a slide, are the motors on the OK located in such a fashion that they can be seen with the slide out ? Or are they more back inside the camper structure, and all you see when looking under the slide out is the runner but not the motor. If that's the case then how do you get to them for a visual ?

RockyRoadCamper, my thanks for the slide lesson, but again since I've never had a slide camper, how difficult is it to load and unload with the slides out ? It would seem like the camper would way off balance especially to the slide side. My wife is a worrywart the way it is with loading and unloading our old 1987 hard side Lance (we don't have electric jacks). For me it's a piece of cake by myself, but I almost need her to take walk. I've been around campers since I was a little kid when my dad bought a new 62 3/4 Chevy and an 8 ft. Turnpike cabover. That was the hardest to load and unload. It had portable tripods with cranks, one on each side and it sort of tipped this way and that.

Thanks to all for your help.
Dave.

We have a Okan 117 DBL. Purchased new in '08. Put it on a F450.

One lesson we have learned is never take the slides, esp. the side slide, in or out unless sitting in the truck. The internal bracing-support is weak, and that can droop and the slide can hang up when running the slide in supported on the legs only. When that happened I had to put an extra jack under the slide to bring that side back up level, and that did the trick.

No problem with this the past two years.