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The RVer's Open Forum / TECHNICAL RV HELP / Kwikee step won't retract

Mike D User ID: 1028194	Jul 28th 6:47 PM Good day eh. I have a sigle step Kwikee electric step series 28 and my problem is that it will not go back into place. I had it parked in the yard with the step out and than I took it for a drive and my wife said the step is not in. I checked the power to it with my volt meter and there is power going to the control box. Has anybody ever had to replace the control box on one of these and is it likely that the control box would break down. Help. Thanks Mike D.
cad_man User ID: 1028194	Jul 28th 6:49 PM The Kwikee website contains both maintenance and testing/troubleshooting information that should help you. http://www.kwikee.com/Adocuments.html cad_man
kj User ID: 1125704	Jul 28th 7:27 PM i had to tap on the solenoid for my step to retract until i could get the parts replaced
Acker1 User ID: 1884774	Jul 28th 11:27 PM Check your door switch. That was my step problem and another guy I helped had the same thing. DICK
LHyzer User ID: 8743893	Jul 30th 7:46 PM It just may need lubrication. If you haven't lubed the pivot points lube then and if everything else is ok it will probably work ok.
Alan User ID: 0192094	Aug 20th 12:50 AM Periodically I have to remove the motor and tear in to it, seems to bind up inside, especially when it first turns cold or hot outside. About an hour job.
J Walker User ID: 0339064	Aug 20th 9:49 PM Make sure that the voltage in is high enough. Plugging in shore power is uaually enough to be sure you have the voltage.
BOB User ID: 7113353	Aug 22nd 6:50 AM After leaving my step out a month it didn't want to go in. A little lube on the pivots and a little help pushing in and pulling out while opening and closing the door loosened it up. BOB
John User ID: 8005213	Aug 28th 6:36 PM I tried all sorts of lubricants without any real sucess untill I used some motorcycle cain lube (Castrol) that I had laying around. Now the step goes in and out without any slowing down. It also dosn't collect dirt.
NUJAC435 User ID: 9969773	Aug 30th 10:16 PM you need to also check to see if you have voltage coming out of your control box . you can unplug motor and put meter on leads coming from control box. activate steps and see if you are getting 12 volts. i had so much trouble with mine off and on i put a 2 way momentery switch up and down works like a charm and every time. got rid of all that automatic stuff.
David User ID: 9732463	Oct 29th 5:24 PM NUJAC435 Could you provide more details of how you installed momentery switch,ie, how you bypassed auto stuff and wired manual switch. My steps, like yours, seem to have a mind of thier own. They always hang in the up position and then eventually open. I've got power to and from the motor so I think it may have to do with the automatic operation. I like your idea.
nujac 435 User ID: 9969773	Oct 29th 9:24 PM i took switch out of panel by door and put a 3 position switch. spring loaded switch always comes back to center position, and up is step up and down is step down. three wires going down that will clip right on to new switch. cut wires coming off motor connect up switch wire to up on motor and down switch wire to down wire on motor and 30 amp fused wire from battery to middle wire on switch. if you hook it up wrong just reverse your wires on switch. BIG RICH.
Chris Bryant User ID: 0756324	Oct 30th 8:58 AM Just a note- there are two styles of Kwikee step motor. The old style has two hot wires with the motor case being ground- apply power to one wire and the motor extends, the other wire retracts. The new style has two wires, but it takes a reversing switch which reverses the polarity- i.e. one wire is hot the other ground to extend, and vice versa to retract. I hope this makes sense. --Chris P.S.- Kwikee actually makes manual steps, which use a simple switch to operate instead of the electronic box.
dmartin User ID: 8583623	Oct 30th 10:14 AM My kwikee electric steps computer/control module overheated & burned itself up! Fire, smoke, sparks, etc. Fortunately someone noticed & we managed to extinguish the fire before the RV was destroyed. I replaced that expensive fuse with a switch like the second one Chris B described. It was easy to do & works well. I occasionally forget which position the steps are in; so far I've smashed them into something twice. I really need to add a position detector and alarm to go off when the ignition is on & the steps are not up. Such gadgets are easy to make but I'm pretty lazy & somehow don't get around to it.
jd User ID: 0234554	Oct 30th 6:02 PM For what it's worth, most automotive power window motors are like the second type Chris describes. Motor case is above ground and the up/down depends on the polarity applied to the two wires: reverse to go the other way. Folk have replaced motors because they didn't operate with case grounded and a hot lead applied to one or the other of the wires. These are permanent magnet motors. Testing with ground to the case and hot lead to one wire for up and the other for down IS correct for Chris's first type. God Bless, jd
David User ID: 9732463	Nov 1st 7:47 PM Thank you NUJAC435, When I finally decided to fix the steps and crawled under the motorhome I bumped the ground wire and they worked perfectly. I replace the lug with new and tightened, cleaned and lubed everything that moved, so now I will continue with the "if it aint broke dont't fix it" philosophy.
Jon User ID: 0826264	Nov 27th 3:17 PM Very interesting thread . . . I read all of it and, lo and behold, when I went to get our motorhome out of storage last week, the steps were stuck in the retracted position and even though I tried all the things I'd learned in this thread -- including downloading the Kwickee Owner's Manual -- I could not get them to work. So, into the dealer that sold me the motorhome and they fixed it by not only installing a new controller but also a new motor and drive unit. I asked if it was really necessary to replace everything if the only part that was bad was the controller? The answer I got was that Kwikee had so many problems with the old motors and controllers that they redesigned the controller and are now using a different motor. So, now, if a controller goes bad, they recommend installing the new motor that goes with it. My repair cost (which thank goodness was covered by the extended warrenty) was almost as expensive as it would have been to buy new stairs from Camping World. My dealer did say, however, that with the new motor and controller I should never have a problem with the steps again. I sure hope they're right.
Mike D. User ID: 8924643	Dec 12th 3:28 PM Hi there RVERS, Thanks for the help on this and I did get it fixed. It was jamed and I finally took the bottom of the motor gear plate off and unjamed it. Reset the step and it is working fine sofar. So with all this info that was given to me I should not have to come back here if it breaks again. Thanks again Mike D
rick vernum User ID: 1181464	Apr 24th 8:54 AM i have been to a few semanars on kwikee steps and about 90% of the time that the steps will not work is do to non lube. kwikee makes a lube that works very well. you can buy it at camping world. hope this helps. rick vernum