Omni Step Stuck!

[peterjl]

Hi

Last week my Slide OUT Omni step stuck out, so i gave it a kick and then it worked fine.

 

Its now been home and not used for a week and is stuck in! When you operate the switch you can hear it try to slide out so i think the works have got seized up.

 

Has anybody taken one of these off and opened it up? If so do you have any hints or tips.

 

I assume i need to find the fuse and take it out! But then the fun begins!

 

This is based on a Ford Hobby new in May 2006.

 

All suggestions gratefully received.

 

Peter

[cask]

H Peter,

 

Try looking at the Omnistor web site

 

http://www.omnistor.com/gb/startgb.php

 

Here you can find the installation instructions and what to do if there is "an electrical failure". This allows you to disconnect the motor and should make freeing the parts easier.

 

Look on the service tab for spares.

This gives you a picture of the various spare parts and their positions.

 

hope this helps,

 

Cask

[Brian Kirby]

If you can actually reach the end of the step while operating the control, try gently pulling at it while activation the switch.  It should come forward, albeit a bit stiffly.

It is a nicely engineered little unit, let down by poor installation and bad sealing by Omni.  If you remove the plastic shrouds at each side of the step, you will find two screws each end behind these.  Remove these, and you can take off the front plate.  Watch your fingers around the aperture where the step emerges, the concealed edges are almost surgically sharp!  There is a neoprene blade below the step, which you have to fold up to pass it through the "letterbox" slot in the front plate.  Once the plate is off, coax the step forward and you will see two crosshead screws in the top of the step towards its rear, with nuts below.  At around this point, it would be a good idea to remove the fuse to prevent accidental actuation!  

Next, carefully release these nuts/screws and remove them, and the bushes through which they pass.  You can then ease the step right out, leaving the operating arms behind.  If you want to test that the motor is still OK - which I guess it will be unless your kick has done it a mischief - reinsert the fuse and give the control a gentle prod.  Keep your fingers well away from the operating arms if you value your fingers, the mechanism is powerful and moves quite fast so involuntary amputation is not impossible!

What I guess you'll find is that there is is a load of grit inside the box, and all over the step guides at the sides of the box, which has simply jammed the step.

If it is a real mess, it may be better to drop the whole unit from under the van, dismantle it some more, remove the electrical connections at the motor, and take it away to do a proper job.  You'll probably find that the top of the box is a steel plate carrying the motor abutting a sheet of rigid PVC, with tape (mostly!) over the joint, both of which slot into the aluminium extrusions that make up the sides of the box. The top to sides joints are not sealed.  The floor of the box is another sheet of PVC which also slots into the sides unsealed.  The cable enters through a top or rear casing slot, which on mine was less than sealed.  So, in the nice clinical environment under a motorhome, just in line with the front wheels, on a wet day it all stays nice and clean and dry - not! 

Having done all the above once and found the step sticking again, I got fed up with it and made up a kind of inverted protective tray that covers the top, sides and rear (relative to the step) of the Omni box, then used Duck tape over all the exposed joins in the top of the Omni box, lengthened the cable and re-routed its entry through the rear facing side of the tray, using shrink on sleeving between the new length of cable and the existing flexible conduit.  I'm hoping this will suffice to keep the grot out in future.  Who knows?  It lives in a very harsh environment.

[Derek Uzzell]

Peter:

 

See:

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=11897&posts=3

 

Unfortunately, Omnistor's trouble-shooting advice covers what to do if the step won't retract, but makes no mention of what to do if the beggar refuses to extend!

 

If you can get someone to press the operating-switch while you haul on the end of the step and/or while you are smacking it with something solid but not damaging (like a rubber-headed mallet), then you may be able to get it to extend. If you then clean everything you can see and spray lubricant into the 'cassette', you may be able to get the thing to agree to start working normally without having to pull it apart. Otherwise I think you'll have to remove the complete step-unit - which may or may not be straightforward depending on how bloody-minded Hobby have been when they installed it - and then disassemble the unit by undoing all the screws.

 

I replaced my Hobby's original manual Omnistor slide-out step with an electric equivalent and, hence, had to do my own wiring/fusing. However, it's likely that the fuse for your step will be a 25A fuse in fuse-way 8 of the 'Distribution Box' beneath your Hobby's passenger seat.

[peterjl]

Thank you everybody - thats just the info i need.

 

If its dry this weekend I'll give it a go and let you know how I got on!

 

Peter

[peterjl]

Hi

 

Update on how its gone - mixed results thus far!

 

First many thanks to Derek for location of fuse - right first time.

 

I them followed Brians instructions up to trying to take out the bushings - these are well and truly stuck. The plan provided by Cask shows they should come up and out but no way!

 

I have dowsed in WD40 and tried to grift them out with a hammer and small screwdriver - moved one about 1/8th inch and thats it.

 

I have now dropped off the whole step and am periodically spraying WD40 on the bushes and keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Any ideas on how to remove these bushes??

 

As a point of interest the inside of the rest of step is pretty clean - surprisingly so given 20,000 miles including Morroccan sand! Also the wire in the back was well sealed in!

 

Ideas to get bushes out and free the step anyone?

 

Peter

[Guest Tracker]

A bit of heat on seized bushes often helps but common sense applies here so do not use a blowlamp close to nylon, anything meltable or near electrics.

 

A hairdryer might help or maybe a paint stripping heat gun but not too close.

 

Diesel fuel can be a better penetrating fluid than WD40 as it seems to be more 'searching' for tiny gaps to get itself into.

 

Both will ignite if you get 'em too warm!

 

Other than that just keep working it until it comes free.

 

That's just my feeling from years of wrestling with obstinate old bangers - and cars as well.

[Rayjsj]

I have just read of somone else who had the same problem as you, it was a letter to MMM in 2007, the guy stripped the step by drilling out the cassette pop rivets, he freed the seized bushed by drilling a hole through the bush to the shaft, then squirted wd40 into the hole,slowly the bushes were freed up. Sorry i can't remember which issue it was. :D :D

[Derek Uzzell]

Peter:

 

I assume the bushes are seized in the step's operating arms.

 

I note that you've now removed the step from the motorhome, but I can't recall how accessible the ends of the operating arms are (and I'm not going to experiment with my own step!) As the bushes are intended to come out easily, if you can reach them sufficiently, it should be possible to press them out using the time-honoured nut-and-bolt technique.

 

This would involve a threaded bolt of a diameter similar to that of the hole in the bush, a nut to fit the bolt, plus a couple of steel washers and 'spacers'.

 

The bolt would have a washer beneath its head, followed by a steel tubular spacer (Spacer One). Spacer One's EXTERNAL diameter must be slightly less than the EXTERNAL diameter of the bush and its length slightly longer than that of the bush. Insert bolt +washer+spacer through bush. Now slide 2nd steel tubular spacer (Spacer Two) on to bolt. Spacer Two's INTERNAL diameter must be greater than the EXTERNAL diameter of the bush and its length should exceed the bush's length. Place a washer on to the bolt beneath Spacer Two, add the nut, hold head of bolt firm with spanner and tighten up nut progressively. With any luck Spacer One will gradually force the bush into the inside of Spacer Two.

[peterjl]

Thank you Ravisi and Derek.

 

The problem is that the bush goes down through the top if the step - through the arm - but stops before it gets though to borrom of step ie its flush with top of step but does not penetrate through step sooooo i can't get the arm out until i get the bush out - and i can't get at the bottom of the bush to force or tap it out.

 

Frustrating!.

 

I may have to see if i can get replacements and drill or cut out old bushes!

 

Peter

[StuartD]

Hi Peter I know this was posted very long ago, but I see you are still using the forum. I have the same problem with this step just now -ie I cant get the bushes out. I’m considering unbolting the actual foot plates and seeing if I can take them off in order to deconstruct the step While still leaving the arms attached, but before I do this I was wondering what you did in the end. Can you remember?

 

Stuart

 

 

 

[Derek Uzzell]

Welcome to the Out&AnoutLive forums, Stuart.

 

Hopefully Peter will be able to advise, but I notice that there is a 2013 ‘repair’ discussion on the MHFacts forum that might help with step disassembly.

 

https://forums.motorhomefacts.com/49-tech-mech-chat/112904-omnistor-step-repair.html

 

You haven’t said how old your step is, but if the bushes are seized I’m guessing it has some age. Not long ago I needed to dismantle the slide-out Thule Omnistep fitted to my Rapido and this process differed in some respects to on-line descriptions - so 'step-age’ might matter.

 

I managed to repair my step after removing the foot-plates, front plate and the underside cover, but still leaving the step ‘cassette’ in situ. For more major surgical intervention it would have been necessary to take the step off the motorhome.

[Alanb]

A few years ago, after a series of false alarms from the "step out" LED, I discovered a step operating arm that was loose at the motor end. The problem was getting access to the loose fixing bolt between the motor and its mounting plate. I had previously tried to follow Brian's excellent post above, but without sucess in removing the bushes which were quite free to rotate. It was the same on this occasion. There is no means of getting hold of the bushes. I tried various dodges such as ramming a small piece of wood into the bushes, all to no avail. On this occasion I ended up removing the motor/gearbox from the mounting plate, but beware the gears can drop out.

 

My advice would be to bite the bullet, and dismount the step.

 

Thanks for the link Derek, I will have to follow it and see if I can discover where I was going wrong.

 

Alan

[StuartD]

Thanks for the link and the advice Derek. The step is 10 years old now. I can follow the directions that have been offered by various people On the forum but get stuck with the bushes, as other seem to have done as well.

 

It’s quite an odd fault I am having with the step. Initially it won’t go in or out by itself, and you have to pull and push it. It quickly frees up and works fine by itself for a while. But if you leave it for a few hours it seizes up again.

 

 

I will give dismantling the step a go as you describe before taking the whole unit off.

 

Stuart

[Derek Uzzell]

Practical Motorhome produced a 2017 article (16 photos) on overhauling a slide-out Thule Omnistep

 

https://www.practicalmotorhome.com/advice/48758-how-to-overhaul-a-horizontal-thule-omnistep

 

This 2018 forum thread seems to describe a problem similar to yours

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Motorhomes/Motorhome-Matters/Autocruise-slide-out-electrhic-step/50409/

 

(We shall probably never know whether the fault was successfully addressed.)

 

 

 

[StuartD]

Thanks Alan. I will have another go this afternoon !

[StuartD]

Thanks for the links and and advice. I’ll try changing the fuse, mainly because it’s easy not because I have any great hope in it being the source of the problem.

 

I’ don’t think it’s the slide our sides gripping the step as I have sprayed loads of silicon lubricant in the gap and it wiggles by hand quite freely, it just doesn’t want to extend or retract initially unless I give it a big push

 

I‘love also try spraying WD40 around the electrical connections and the gears at the motor end.

 

I have an irrational fear of dismounting the whole step box - probably because when I’ve done stuff like that in the past it’s taken me weeks to re-fit it and there are often parts left over. May be driven to confront this though.

 

Stuart

[StuartD]

I was out yesterday afternoon fiddling with the step and contemplating my next move. I did the usual tug to get it going and it slowly started to move, then it jerked and sprang into life sliding vigorously out and then back in repeatedly. I left it overnight and it’s still working perfectly.

 

It’s been faulty since the autumn so I’m both delighted and slightly despairing. Delighted it seems fixed, despairing that I have no idea what’s going on. Grit in the runners, corrosion in the drive mechanism, obscure electrical problem ......

 

Thanks for all the help

 

Let’s hope it stays fixed.

 

Stuart