Passport slide adjustment

[T_Clark]

Anyone know of any tutorials on adjustment of the chain/cables for the slide units on the Passports? I have a 2016 Passport 27 footer with a single slide (kitchen). Its pretty obvious the cables need adjusting, they REALLY sag, and the adjustment blocks on them hit as they pass each other, (every now and then, they catch and really pop which can cause some serious damage if im not watching it).

The dealer we bought it from is over 2 hours away and i REALLY dont want to hassle with taking it back there for warranty just for that if its something pretty simple. I'm a pretty mechanical guy (i can rebuild a motorcycle from the ground up in a couple of hours), have been in electrical construction for 34 years and quite sure i could do this, but would like to have some sort of instruction of exactly how tight these cables/chain should be and maybe some insight on stuff i might not see on the surface.

[ctbruce]

There is some good reading in this link. At least it is a start. If you go to advanced search and put in slide adjustment you'll get a lot of posts.

http://www.keystoneforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24676&highlight=slide+adjustment

[chuckster57]

There might be a sticker on the wall behind the slide that spells out cable adjustment procedure. I've seen it on some units, so I can't say it's there on yours. Retract the room part way and have a look. It will be near the top if it's there.

[sourdough]

Norco has all of their documents online for the AccuSlide. I pulled them all and printed them.

[slow]

The adjustment procedure is easy if you do not over think it as you will be tempted to do with the label info. The hard part is gaining access behind the trim to make the adjustments.

The objective of the adjustment is to obtain an equal amount of slack on the loose cables in the open and retracted position. That means that when the slide is open, you adjust the cables that are exposed to the outside of the TT. When the slide is closed, you adjust the cable tension for the cables inside the TT.

The amount of slack is approximately 1/2" of cable movement at its mid point of free length when applying about 3 to 5 pounds of force.

The adjustment procedure starts on page 6 of this manual:http://norcoind.com/bal/downloads/accuslide/accuslide_service-manual.pdf

[sourdough]

I didn't read through all of this but I think it's what you might want to read about your slides;

http://norcoind.com/bal/downloads/accuslide/accuslide_service-manual.pdf

[xrated]

Here's the thread that I started when I was having some issues with mine.

http://www.keystoneforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26924

[craign]

T Clark,

I had a similar issue with our Premier. If the adjustment blocks are striking each other, please take this as a serious sign that adjustment is needed. We encountered this for several operations of our camper's slide on a trip. The last funny noise occurred in Arkansas when we were heading home to Maryland and one of the cables parted. We were able to retract the slide, then left it alone for the remainder of the trip. Once home, it was time to buy a replacement cable kit and crimper to fix our problem.

The cables on our camper slide must have stretched due to normal usage. If you have an electrical & mechanical background, adjustment is no problem although having long arms is a plus. Watch the videos and go from there. Until (and for a short time after) you make adjustments, it is a good idea to observe the cables as you operate the slide (a 2-person operation, one to operate the slide and another standing on a stool to watch the cables).

Good luck with adjusting the cables. You will likely do well.

Regards,
Craig

[Drydays]

Anyone know of any tutorials on adjustment of the chain/cables for the slide units on the Passports? I have a 2016 Passport 27 footer with a single slide (kitchen). Its pretty obvious the cables need adjusting, they REALLY sag, and the adjustment blocks on them hit as they pass each other, (every now and then, they catch and really pop which can cause some serious damage if im not watching it).

The dealer we bought it from is over 2 hours away and i REALLY dont want to hassle with taking it back there for warranty just for that if its something pretty simple. I'm a pretty mechanical guy (i can rebuild a motorcycle from the ground up in a couple of hours), have been in electrical construction for 34 years and quite sure i could do this, but would like to have some sort of instruction of exactly how tight these cables/chain should be and maybe some insight on stuff i might not see on the surface.

Just this once, get your butt over to the dealer and have him do it right. and ask questions when you are there on HOW TO. 2 hours over a good lunch and information on your unit, then take off for a weekend to try it out.
ESP if it is on warranty.

Chuck
Been there.

[JRTJH]

Keep in mind that Keystone only warrants "slide adjustment" for the first 90 days of your 1 year warranty. After that 90 days, it's considered "routine maintenance" and is on the "owner's dime" rather than on Keystone's bill.

[T_Clark]

well i was able to adjust the cables in a matter of minutes. They actually had a HUGE amount of slack in them from the day we bought them, i noticed it the first time i ran the slide in/out because i stand there a foot from the slide as im operating the button. And when i say HUGE amount, im talking 3-4 inches of slack, so much that it looked like the chain was getting ready to jump off the sprocket.

The so called "access panel" is a joke. there is absolutely NO WAY you will make ANY adjustments from that little 14 inch wide by 8 inch high hole in the top center of the slide. I downloaded the accu-glide manual saw what needed to be done, and the manf. recommends making the adustments with the slide OUT. Well, no way in hell to do that, so with the slide all the way in, i was able to make the adjustments. One side did better than the other, but i was unable to get the "1/2" of slop in the cable/chain that is reccomended as i ran out of adjustment. These cables are either too long from the factory, or they were stretched prior to me purchasing. I can see that i'll probably be replacing them within the next couple of years. I got them close enough that the unit now comes in and out without the adjustment blocks hitting since they are now in the position they need to be in and not sagging crooked like they were due to the large amount of slack in the cable/chain.

The only way to be able to really get in there and do this properly is to completely remove the entire trim at the top of the slide on the inside of the unit. What a completely crappy design!!!!

and wth, only 90 day warranty on slide adjustment????????????? Is this the case with most any RV manf?? If this is something that is just a keystone thing, then i can tell you what i will NOT purchase again once i get rid of this one. Ive found too much poor design and build issues that for $30K for a brand new unit is unacceptable. I had a 2004 Jayco i bought brand new and had zero issues out of (until a tree fell on it and they had to replace the roof and other damages to the tune of $12K). Ive been dealing with RV's for almost 30 years and realize ALL units, no matter what you pay have build issues, but sheesh, you'd think if theyre only going to give us 90 days on slide adjustment issues, at LEAST build an RV with a way for the owner to be able to adjust the thing without having to rip half the inside apart just to turn a few nuts!!

Oh, and in the 1 year and one month we've owned this trailer, we've only been out in it 6 times. No way should these cables need adjusting with such little use in a 13 month period.

[xrated]

T_Clark.......congrats on getting it adjusted. I bought a brand new Impact 303 last fall and had to make adjustments on mine also, although not nearly as much as you did. One thing I noticed when I accessed mine is that the 1/4-20 adjuster bolt that are hooked onto the chain, do not have locking nuts on them and they rely on a small piece of foam cut into the shape of a square block....did you see them while you were up there? I took the time to go get 8 1/4-20 nuts and jam them down on the end of the adjusting nut so that it can't move unless they are loosened first......then threw away the foam pieces of junk. Seriously, a piece of foam for locking a nut in place????? You might want to do the same thing when you have time, as several of mine were loose, thus the adjustment when I got home from the dealership.

[sourdough]

well i was able to adjust the cables in a matter of minutes. They actually had a HUGE amount of slack in them from the day we bought them, i noticed it the first time i ran the slide in/out because i stand there a foot from the slide as im operating the button. And when i say HUGE amount, im talking 3-4 inches of slack, so much that it looked like the chain was getting ready to jump off the sprocket.

The so called "access panel" is a damn joke. there is absolutely NO WAY you will make ANY adjustments from that little 14 inch wide by 8 inch high hole in the top center of the slide. I downloaded the accu-glide manual saw what needed to be done, and the manf. recommends making the adustments with the slide OUT. Well, no way in hell to do that, so with the slide all the way in, i was able to make the adjustments. One side did better than the other, but i was unable to get the "1/2" of slop in the cable/chain that is reccomended as i ran out of adjustment. These cables are either too long from the factory, or they were stretched prior to me purchasing. I can see that i'll probably be replacing them within the next couple of years. I got them close enough that the unit now comes in and out without the adjustment blocks hitting since they are now in the position they need to be in and not sagging crooked like they were due to the large amount of slack in the cable/chain.

The only way to be able to really get in there and do this properly is to completely remove the entire trim at the top of the slide on the inside of the unit. What a completely crappy design!!!!

and wth, only 90 day warranty on slide adjustment????????????? Is this the case with most any RV manf?? If this is something that is just a keystone thing, then i can tell you what i will NOT purchase again once i get rid of this one. Ive found too much piss poor design and build issues that for $30K for a brand new unit is friggin unacceptable. I had a 2004 Jayco i bought brand new and had zero issues out of (until a tree fell on it and they had to replace the roof and other damages to the tune of $12K). Ive been dealing with RV's for almost 30 years and realize ALL units, no matter what you pay have build issues, but sheesh, you'd think if theyre only going to give us 90 days on slide adjustment issues, at LEAST build an RV with a way for the owner to be able to adjust the damn thing without having to rip half the inside apart just to turn a few nuts!!

Oh, and in the 1 year and one month we've owned this trailer, we've only been out in it 6 times. No way should these cables need adjusting with such little use in a 13 month period.

Now, now. You've been dealing with RVs for 30 years. You HAVE to know the only reason we buy them are to hone our repair/analysis skills and to improve our patience and understanding.....:angel:

[T_Clark]

Just this once, get your butt over to the dealer and have him do it right. and ask questions when you are there on HOW TO. 2 hours over a good lunch and information on your unit, then take off for a weekend to try it out.
ESP if it is on warranty.

Chuck
Been there.

haha! nope, this was a piece of cake. Ive got way to good of a mechanical background to have wasted my time for something that "should" have been this easy to fix. As i stated in my previous post, this would have been WAY too easy a thing to do had they just made a way when they engineered and designed this thing to actually get to the adjustment cables. I like to consider myself the type of person, there is not much i CANT do, but i am also smart enough to know, if its something thats over my head and i'm not 95% confident that i can do it without breaking something, i will take it to someone that DOES know how to do it.

Hell, i knew squat about outboard boat motors when i bought my bass boat last year. Took it to the marine shop and paid them to look over the motor to make sure there were no problems with it the day i bought it. The mechanic said the water pump needed to be replaced so i paid him to do it and asked if he minded that i watch how he did it and have him explain to me why he was doing what he did. After that day, i can now completely remove the lower unit from the motor and replace every part in it. But as i said, it was something completely foreign to me, so i had someone else do it, the FIRST time. :cool:

[T_Clark]

T_Clark.......congrats on getting it adjusted. I bought a brand new Impact 303 last fall and had to make adjustments on mine also, although not nearly as much as you did. One thing I noticed when I accessed mine is that the 1/4-20 adjuster bolt that are hooked onto the chain, do not have locking nuts on them and they rely on a small piece of foam cut into the shape of a square block....did you see them while you were up there? I took the time to go get 8 1/4-20 nuts and jam them down on the end of the adjusting nut so that it can't move unless they are loosened first......then threw away the foam pieces of junk. Seriously, a piece of foam for locking a nut in place????? You might want to do the same thing when you have time, as several of mine were loose, thus the adjustment when I got home from the dealership.

HA! yea, i saw that cheesy crap!!!!!!!!! I was reading the adjustment procedure in the manual and it said to loosen the locking nuts, and im like WHAT LOCKING NUTS??? Those cheesy pieces of styrofoam? PUH-LEASE!! LoL

[T_Clark]

Now, now. You've been dealing with RVs for 30 years. You HAVE to know the only reason we buy them are to hone our repair/analysis skills and to improve our patience and understanding.....:angel:

:lol: no, i dont need anymore honing of my repair skills! Patience and understanding? These thing just makes those WORSE!

[Tbos]

I have a large slide on mine and my arms are no where long enough unless I make all the adjustments with the slide out and facia off. I agree I can't fathom why they didn't design that facia to be easily removed and replaced. When we upgrade I'm hoping to get a 5er without cable slides. Although other types have their issues too. There is a Big expensive Cardinal 2 rigs down from me in the storage lot that has every slide sitting out about 2 inches. None of those are cable slides.


2016 Passport GT 2810BHS, 2016 F350 CC DRW

[T_Clark]

Hey Xrated, you race with WERA??""

[xrated]

Hey Xrated, you race with WERA??""

Nah, I'm too damn old! I'm an Instructor with STT though. It seems like you and I met at Tally a few years back....are you an Electrician?

[T_Clark]

Nah, I'm too damn old! I'm an Instructor with STT though. It seems like you and I met at Tally a few years back....are you an Electrician?

too old?? hell, i didnt even START racing till i was 40!! Just retired 3 years ago ONLY because i wasnt having $1500/weekend worth of fun anymore, and i am now 56.

Yea, i thought i had met you at the track before, and yep, i is an electriciaman. :D

[xrated]

too old?? hell, i didnt even START racing till i was 40!! Just retired 3 years ago ONLY because i wasnt having $1500/weekend worth of fun anymore, and i am now 56.

Yea, i thought i had met you at the track before, and yep, i is an electriciaman. :D
It's a small world sometimes eh. I turned 62 last year, so I'm just going to stick with track days, and take that one year at a time.

Glad to hear you got the slide/cable thing squared away. We are headed to Barber on Sat. And Tally for Sun.. Suppose to be a beautiful weekend. Take care.