I have a probably 30 year old 32 ft Dutchmen. The previous…

Good afternoon! Thank you for bringing your question to us here at Just Answer. I have an RV repair facility and work on these for a living and I fully understand the frustration you can have when things aren't working the way they should.

I am sorry to hear that you are having problems with your slide out. And I apologize for the delay in someone getting to your question! Thank you for your patience. Sometimes we get overwhelmed with questions and some of our techs may be on vacation. I just got back from one myself.

This may or may not be easy to move manually as it depends on the maker of the slide out hardware. Many of those older units were Power Gear and those have a manual brake located on the end of the motor that you have to release first. It is much easier to do this under power, even if you have to hook up a battery directly to the motor. It would be helpful here to know if this is an all electric or a hydraulic powered slide out room.

I am adding some helpful information that applies to most all 12 VDC issues.

There should be two is installed for best results for any power equipment. Get your meter and check it to be sure that the charging device is putting out the 13.7 to 14.2 VDC that these put out when working properly. That would be to the fuse block and the batteries.

If the fuses are good and you have to power into the load center then in most cases that this is going to be a tripped shortstop breaker up by the batteries or perhaps a DC breaker by the main load center. That is the most common reason for losing power. Check that first and get back to me. Short stop breakers have to be within 18" of the batteries by code and have a red cover over them. Silver post and copper post and a small black button on the copper post end. Auto reset versions have no button. Both versions can be tested with a meter.

Then check the DC voltage out of the load center and see what that is. In the shop the first thing we always do is to load test the batteries to be sure they are viable. Surface voltage really doesn't mean much if they are beginning to fail. Most places that sell batteries can do this for you. Just be sure that you mark the cables first and take a photo so you are sure to get them hooked back up again correctly. Easy to get this wrong if you don't. About 80% of all the electrical questions we see here are a result of batteries and cables needing attention.

I hope this points you in the right direction here. Please get back to me again later if you need additional assistance with this as all follow ups are included in our one time fee. No time limit. Thanks! Randall in RV

This may or may not have a fitting that allows the use of a socket and ratchet. Some do and some don't. The room has a ramp affair under the leading edge that pushes the room up first before it comes in. Most shops carry these special cranks.

You are most welcome!