Jayco slide out re syncing

The Caravan Slide out

Our Jayco caravan comes with a bedroom slide out. This increases our internal space quite a lot by being able to extend the side of the caravan outwards when parked up. But what happens when it doesn’t want to play nicely and gets out of sync ? Luckily or unluckily, depending how you look at it, we have experienced this issue.

caravan cupboards makeover after before and after caravan RV makeover

Photo: Our Bed Slide Out While miles away from a Jayco dealer we ended up having to deal with it ourselves. Once I got my head around how the slide out operates and what components make up the slide out, It’s really not that scary and makes me less nervous now about operating it. So below is an outline of what I came across during our recent issue.

The Jayco slide out:

Photo: The Slide Out On Our jayco Starcraft Caravan

To save you a fair bit of googling. The mechanism used by Jayco and a lot of other RV dealers is a system called the “Schwintek in wall slide out”.

This system is created by Lippert Components in the USA. It comprises of surprisingly very little considering the work it does.

Two small motors,
2 x aluminium rails
a couple of gearboxes
and a synchronizing electronic controller.

Photo: Slide Out Rail

Important Operational Note:

It’s recommended from the manufacturer that :

You should continue to push the in or out button for 3 to 5 seconds after the motors have stopped making noise.

This recommendation is important to help reduce the chance of motors going out of sync in the first place. You can’t cause the slide out to end up on the ground if you hold your finger on the button for too long. The electronics will take care of shutting the system down once the slide out is in the desired position. The trick is, once you’ve started to operate the slide out DO NOT take you finger off the button unless the slide out is either fully extended and the motors have stopped by themselves or completely retracted.

If you happen to start moving the slide out then stop operating it mid operation this is how you will likely cause the motors to get “out of sync”.

If this happens, you will find the slideout doesn’t close up or extend evenly. This is what happened to us although in our case it wasn’t due to stopping in mid operation, it just happened for what ever reason.

How To Re Sync Your Slide Out

There is no adjustment of a cable to play with. You don’t have to remove the gears and put them a couple of notches further down the track. If you’re striking the same issue with syncing the motors here’s how to fix it.

Fully extend the slide-out. Once the slide out stops moving continue to hold your finger on the button for up to 5 seconds.
Retract slide-out roughly 1 inch. Take your finger off the button despite previously being told never to do that 🙂
Repeat steps 1 and step 2 at least 3 times

By completing these above three steps your slide out should re sync itself.

So now fully retract the slide out to test the operation and see if it’s come right. Remember to hold your finger on the button until after the motors have stopped!

Are you stuck in the outback and it just won’t do anything ?

Don’t panic, there’s a couple of things you can do to bring your slide out back in if it’s not budging at all.

Enable the manual over ride on the control unit. ( ours is under the bed) see this link on how to do it
Disconnect the motors which is easily done. See this video here
Trouble shooting guide LCI video
Download the slideout manual

Photo: Slide Our Motor

If all’s good , time to pour a drink and relax. If not you’re going to have to get in touch with a dealer and have them look into it.

Happy travels

Larry

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11 thoughts on “Jayco slide out re syncing”

Charmaine
February 2, 2018

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this information. It saved us from a lot of stress and we were back on the road in no time.
1. Sue
  February 3, 2018
  
  That’s so great to hear Charmaine!
  I’m glad it could be sorted out with the information Larry gave. It sure saves money and stress when your in a pickle.
  Thanks so much for letting us know that our info was helpful 😀
  Happy travels
rhonda
September 25, 2017

Thanks mate ours seemed to be twisted as I had a tissue box caught as I was closing one day. After doing this it doesnt twist any more. Good job :):)
1. Laz
  September 25, 2017
  
  Awesome, good to hear it helped. Happy travels
Laz
March 10, 2017

Opps sorry about the slow reply, just found your comments sitting in the “waiting to be approved” folder.

Glad you got your issue sorted as well, can be frustrating at first until you realise how simple it potentially is 🙂
1. Ian Bullen
  January 21, 2018
  
  Larry,
  just reading your post and wondering if you tried to remove the motor completely from its housing, I have a dead motor and none of the information on the internet show which side to get the motor out for Australian motorhomes. Can it be removed from the outside or once you remove the crew which is located on the outside at the top do you need to go into the motorhome to remove the motor.
  
  Cheers
  
  Ian
  1. Laz
    January 21, 2018
    
    Hi Ian, i haven’t had the pleasure of replacing a motor. But as per the video listed at the end of the post ( #2) it looks as though it can all be done from outside of the motorhome… check out the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DviEbWT3lUo
    
    Hope that helps and good luck
    larry
david
March 2, 2017

great info we have had these problems and fixed as instructions yes 5 secs is important to make sure they run parallel..but jayco never tell you any of this ?????
Herman
February 26, 2017

Very helpful. We’ve experienced a bit of trouble with ours. The worst was in Mildura when the electronics on one side died and yet the slideout was able to retract even though it was a bit wobbly. Had to get a new controller $400+… ouch. Had it inspected on return home and have since had extra rollers fitted under the slide to support the section. I was given similar instruction re either all in or all out.
H