Quote:
Originally Posted by firestation12
I had the same wear pattern a you did….well not quite as bad, but I did the following: first I wanted to stabilize the Darco material. This was done by applying a 2 part epoxy with a putty knife to the frayed area then using a jack to apply pressure to a plywood strip covered with Sara wrap. After curing overnight, the plywood cover with Saran Wrap easily released from the epoxy leaving a smooth surface to apply the UHMW. I chose a 3/16” thick piece of UHMW for the repair. This was obtained from eBay. Looking at the underside of the slide, I noticed that only the outer 6” of the slide’s edge came into contact with the wear bar. There is no point to covering the entire underside of the slide, when only a portion is needed. As described in the previously posted video, the UHMW was installed. As I recall, the length/width was around 33” X 6”. The UHMW doesn’t need to extend to the outer edge of the slide out. Using a floor jack to lift the slide out a 1/4” will allow the UHMW’s tapered edge to be installed snug to the wear bar. The 3/16” thickness did not cause interference with the slideout’s roof during the retraction. If you are handy, I’d trust yourself to do the repair, someone else may not take the time or make the effort to do it right.
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One needs to carefully inspect the bottom of the slide to make sure only the ends are indeed affected. My previous trailer had the ends and a strip down the middle so had them install 3 strips on the slides. This one had the ends starting to fray on both big slides but I could see the where the fabric of the darco was being stressed in other places hence the request for a full covering of uhmw. On the darco you can sometimes see scuffing (not fraying) where it comes across the wear bar, sometimes you can see the fabric of the darco sort of stretching or distending. I used high intensity led lamps under the slide to inspect it. The wear, especially in the middle of the slide, is affected by what's in the slide. My slide with the fridge/stove/pantry etc. is always worse than the one with a dinette and theater seating.