Darco starting to wear on the bottom of the slide

[Folkie]

When checking the camper over in preparation for our trip on Thursday I noticed some Darco wear on the rear edge of our dinette slide. This is our first camper with a slide so I don't have any experience with them. I always clean the floor and vacuum under the slide carpet before retracting it. The slide doesn't appear to be hanging up on anything and is not making any unusual noises. The slide is the rack and pinion type, but I can't tell how the slide is supported when the slide is retracted. Is it on rollers or just a wear bar?

I took some measurements between the rack rail and the bottom of the slide on both sides and the rear side that is wearing is only about 0.1" less than the front. Is this enough to cause the wear?

I assume that not addressing this issue will only cause more problems down the road such as binding of the slide and water wicking into the wood floor of the side. I'm hoping the experts here can provide some advice and hopefully some simple DYI repairs. I don't have a level or covered area that I can work on the camper and the local CW unfortunately doesn't have any competent techs that I would trust (I have had to redo almost everything they worked on) so I am limited as to what I can do.

[chuckster57]

The slide may need adjusting, but it takes a somewhat competent person to do it correctly. I would get a roll of scrim tape, trim off the loose stuff and run a piece over the affected area.

[Folkie]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

The slide may need adjusting, but it takes a somewhat competent person to do it correctly. I would get a roll of scrim tape, trim off the loose stuff and run a piece over the affected area.

I looked at the slide height adjustment and it seemed straight forward, but didn't know how difficult it would be to adjust the jack bolt against the weight of the slide.

I had reservations about adding scrim tape. Thought if it started to peel it would jam up under the slide. Given your recommendation I guess it must stick better than I thought.

[chuckster57]

It does stick REAL GOOD!! Make sure it’s exactly where you want it ‘cause it ain’t gonna peel off and let you try again LOL.

The bolt will raise/lower the room as long as the two plate bolts are loose. Make sure the jack bolt is snug up to the tube before loosening any plate bolts. Adjustments are easiest to make with the slide open a little more than 1/2 way.

[Folkie]

So a little more poking around the slide today in the 92F heat. I was able to lay on the floor and get a view under the carpet on the inside of the slide and it looks to be free-floating when retracted so it is just balanced on the bar it slides over at the camper wall. Don't know who thought Darco was the best choice for this application but it must be easy to install at construction or the cheapest option. I'm a bit surprised it lasted this long now that I know that it drags across the bar each time the slide is deployed.

Back to the outside: Closer inspection of the forward edge of the slide revealed some wear there as well. Couldn't see it, but could feel it with my fingers. Wear on both sides seems to be limited to a couple of inches from the edge in on both sides. I assume there must be internal framing located there that is carrying the weight of the slide. I'm now thinking that attempting to adjust the slide height on the back side would not be productive.

Also noticed that most of the area under the rear trim piece (transition from outer sidewall to the Darco) never got caulked from the factory. Appears to be clear silicone. Something else to add to the list.

[Folkie]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

It does stick REAL GOOD!! Make sure it’s exactly where you want it ‘cause it ain’t gonna peel off and let you try again LOL.

The bolt will raise/lower the room as long as the two plate bolts are loose. Make sure the jack bolt is snug up to the tube before loosening any plate bolts. Adjustments are easiest to make with the slide open a little more than 1/2 way.

Chuckster, Thanks for the info!

I don't have a great history getting tape lined up. Looks good when I start out, but then it seems to have a mind of its own tracking left or right and then getting ripples in it. This should be fun laying on my back, slide barely in reach and on a sloping driveway.

Phil

Good tip on the slide position for adjusting. Wouldn't have thought of that. As much as I am tempted, I think I'll take a wait and see approach since there is only 0.1 inch difference and I now found wear on the other side too.

[sourdough]

Is that pic looking at the end of the slide and the darco wrapped around the bottom of the slide with the transition strip on the end of the slide right above that? And the darco is fraying on both ends of the slide as it runs across the wear bar??

[Folkie]

Originally Posted by sourdough

Is that pic looking at the end of the slide and the darco wrapped around the bottom of the slide with the transition strip on the end of the slide right above that? And the darco is fraying on both ends of the slide as it runs across the wear bar??

Sorry, it's a little confusing. It's a view from the rear of the driver side slide. The white below is a piece of corplast that I held below the slide for contrast. The wear is on both sides of the slide out and runs the depth of the slide. The dark piece with the screw is the trim piece that transitions between the side material and the Darco where the caulk is missing.

[sourdough]

Look into slide skis. I have put uhmw strips and total coverings on the bottom of my darco but that looks like those skis would take care of your problem. Here's a link to one product but there are multiple ways to skin that cat;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUcYTZY2c10

[Folkie]

Originally Posted by sourdough

Look into slide skis. I have put uhmw strips and total coverings on the bottom of my darco but that looks like those skis would take care of your problem. Here's a link to one product but there are multiple ways to skin that cat;

I saw someone else on the forum installed the UHMW strips. I didn't know how well they would work with my slide design where they have to ride over the wear bar.

The link for ski company in the video is bad. Wonder if they are still in business?

[sourdough]

A different link;

https://www.amazon.com/Duo-Form-Slid...a-904121608305

Many ways to cover/protect that darco. Search on the forum.

[ChuckS]

My repair using UHMW strips works like a champ on my slide outs that ride up and onto wear bars underneath. Repair I made was done a year ago and the repair is as good now as it was then

Video I made of the repair..

https://youtu.be/EtgzzhXodlk

[hookd]

Keystone recognizes it as a problem and will fix it with hmwpe strips if your under warranty. I'm waiting on the dealer to get mine in.

[Qwerty]

Both repair & video are 'the dog's bollocks'. Well done!

[Folkie]

Thanks all for the helpful info!

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by hookd

Keystone recognizes it as a problem and will fix it with hmwpe strips if your under warranty. I'm waiting on the dealer to get mine in.

I would encourage anyone letting a dealer fix the darco problem under warranty to make sure how they are going to do it. I had to pay to have uhmw strips installed on my last trailer about 7 years ago. Worked like a charm and I spoke with the product line managers about the darco problem and the solution I came to. Fast forward to this trailer and I had the same issue. Took it in to have repaired under warranty and their solution? Put aluminum strips in instead of uhmw with umpteen gillion holes drilled into it. Keystone would have never told me but I had told the entire team at the dealership that any solution would be approved by me. I went ballistic.

After talking to Keystone upper management, at great lengths, including the folks over warranty repairs, they agreed to completely cover the bottoms of my slides with uhmw and it has been stellar.

Sounds as if, hopefully, they have listened and will do the right thing by owners vs aluminum strips or additional strips of "mending tape" that only gets you past the 1 year warranty - if it doesn't peel off and stick under the slide and wear bar. btdt

[Rwake901]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

My repair using UHMW strips works like a champ on my slide outs that ride up and onto wear bars underneath. Repair I made was done a year ago and the repair is as good now as it was then

Video I made of the repair..

https://youtu.be/EtgzzhXodlk

What a great idea this is. Mine isn’t worn like this yet but this looks like a great easy fix. Thanks for sharing this idea. 👍

[Folkie]

I thought I should provide an update to this thread. I opted to go for the RV Slide Out Ski product thinking it might be easier for me to install than UHMW and hopefully a more long term solution than applying scrim tape.

Working on my camper can be a little challenging in my sloped driveway, but this install went fairly well. What I learned is not only is each slide unique, but each side of the slide can present unique issues. The skis have to be customized to suit the installation and mine required a little more than I anticipated. Tin snips worked better for me than a box cutter for cutting the plastic. Because of slide design, I could not feed the skis from inside the camper which made the measuring the length more difficult. That said, the most time consuming aspect of the project was cleaning the old caulk off the slide side and bottom trim strip.

Everything is now installed and caulked. Slide runs in and out without issue so hopefully the problem of darco wear is solved.

Project was also weight neutral thanks to the fact that I was able to remove a baseball size glob of caulk where the wiring penetrated the slide bottom.

[sourdough]

Thanks for the followup and I'm glad it fixed your problem. Keep an eye on that darco though over time. Yours wore on the ends as did my last trailer but I've seen them (slides/wear bars) wear the darco in the center as well. If it starts you want to catch it before it just pulls everything off.

[Mic]

nice clean install with teh skies.

I was think tape but may change my direction.