I tried using set_expanded property to expand a row on client side and it is working as expected. Below given is the code I tried, check for any differences with your code:
js:
var grid=$find("<%=RadGrid1.ClientID %>");
var table=grid.get_masterTableView();
var row=table.get_dataItems()[0];
if(row.get_expanded() == false)
{
row.set_expanded(true);
}
else
{
row.set_expanded(false);
}
If this does'nt help, it would be better if you could paste your code here, for better understanding.
-Princy.