Dave W
03-09-2016, 10:48 AM
Since spring in The Great Northeast has peeked through the clouds for a day, I decided it was time to do a bit of repressed maintenance on our 5er.
The long living room slide has creaked and squealed and made other strange noises so it became a priority before a fairly long upcoming trip. Since Keystone doesn't supply a BAL manual with their paperwork package, I pulled a copy from the internet as well as watched the BAL cable replacement You Tube video. This video includes cable adjustments and is really a pretty good resource.
You do need a few common hand tools, i.e. a 3/8 and two 7/16 combo wrenches (Gear Wrenches IMO work best) along with a pair of Vise Grips or water pump pliers. In my case, one of the cable balance bars was cocked at about a 30* angle, so the first order was to make sure that all of the brackets were still screwed to the walls correctly and, luckily, they were. You run the slide out and then check the OUT cable for deflection which should be 1/2 inch each way for a total of 1". Run the slide in and do the same test on the IN cables. This, to me is a very iffy test as I may be stronger or weaker then the demo guy on the video or even what they present in the manual.
The video does not tell you that you can adjust the link between the chain yoke and the cable balance bar. You may have to adjust that if you run out of threads on the cable adjuster (two 7/16 wrenches will be needed).
When you think you are done, run the slide in and out. The cables should not dangle freely though one set or the other may be quite loose and will be the one opposite the direction you are moving the slide. They also should not be fiddle string tight either. It doesn't take many turns of the adjusting nuts to make a difference. Get the silicone or dry lube out and spray some on the pulleys and chain and you are done - though don't splatter it on the rubber roof either.
Time frame - figure an hour as you will need to use a ladder, gather the tools and possibly make some final adjustments. The next one wont take quite as long. This is a lot easier project then I had imagined.
The long living room slide has creaked and squealed and made other strange noises so it became a priority before a fairly long upcoming trip. Since Keystone doesn't supply a BAL manual with their paperwork package, I pulled a copy from the internet as well as watched the BAL cable replacement You Tube video. This video includes cable adjustments and is really a pretty good resource.
You do need a few common hand tools, i.e. a 3/8 and two 7/16 combo wrenches (Gear Wrenches IMO work best) along with a pair of Vise Grips or water pump pliers. In my case, one of the cable balance bars was cocked at about a 30* angle, so the first order was to make sure that all of the brackets were still screwed to the walls correctly and, luckily, they were. You run the slide out and then check the OUT cable for deflection which should be 1/2 inch each way for a total of 1". Run the slide in and do the same test on the IN cables. This, to me is a very iffy test as I may be stronger or weaker then the demo guy on the video or even what they present in the manual.
The video does not tell you that you can adjust the link between the chain yoke and the cable balance bar. You may have to adjust that if you run out of threads on the cable adjuster (two 7/16 wrenches will be needed).
When you think you are done, run the slide in and out. The cables should not dangle freely though one set or the other may be quite loose and will be the one opposite the direction you are moving the slide. They also should not be fiddle string tight either. It doesn't take many turns of the adjusting nuts to make a difference. Get the silicone or dry lube out and spray some on the pulleys and chain and you are done - though don't splatter it on the rubber roof either.
Time frame - figure an hour as you will need to use a ladder, gather the tools and possibly make some final adjustments. The next one wont take quite as long. This is a lot easier project then I had imagined.