291UBH Saturday Slide Out Repair (unexpected!)

SoonerLT · 03-05-2022, 08:15 PM

I read the forums often, rarely post. But today brought a surprise I thought others might find useful down the road. I ran a quick search on the forum, but couldn't find anything specific to my problem. I believe my slide uses the BAL Accu-Slide Slide out system.

Symptoms
Went to get the trailer from the storage lot this morning to get her ready for the first trip of the year. Hooked up the battery (I keep it on a Noco at home during the winter). Proceeded to run the slide out so I could secure the refrigerator doors. Slide motor engaged and started to extend, but immediately stopped and I could hear the stress on the motor. Retracted and tried again - same result. Thought it might be the battery, so decided to wait until I got home so I wouldn't get stuck at the lot with an extended slide.

Once home, tried it again and it appeared the top right side (from the inside) of the slide was stuck. Checked all around the slide inside and out (sides, top, under floor) to make sure nothing was jamming the slide - not obstructions. Checked the forums and then watched a few YouTube videos.....finally decided to take the fascia down and go all in....

Problem
After a lot of disassembling, pondering, diagnosing, and testing (with and without the DW), I discovered the problem. The Top Out cable was pulling out of the pulley and binding across the Top In cable (they share the same dual pulley assembly). See figure A in the picture.

Diagnosis
I'll spare you all the details so I can get to the solution. However, it was a long day and I'm not a contortionist, so my back and shoulders are now killing me. However, we are going camping this week, so I'll take it.

I first tried to manually force the cable back on to the pulley, giving it a bit of a push while the DW ran the slide out (remember the bike chain tick?). This worked and I thought I was home free. Ran the slide all the way in with no problems. Ran it out again and it began binding, except this time the cable slipped in between the pulleys (this is where I thought I was headed to the dealer). Ended up removing the bracket holding the pulleys to free the cable and discovered one of the screws was loose (fig C in the picture). Put the pulley and cables back together (had to disconnect the Top Out cable from the shuttle) and replaced the bracket to discover the screw was loose because it was stripped out. When I reassembled the pulleys, i also noticed a gap between the two sets of pulleys (Fig B in the picture). The loose screw was allowing the pulleys to tilt away from the wall and the gap allowed the cable to skip tracks.

Solution
The fix was simply to reassemble the pulleys with the cables in the right tracks, and then just put a new screw in to tighten it down properly. Simple right? Absolutely until you choose a screw slightly too large for the hole and break the head off torquing it down (this was the second time I thought for sure I was headed to the dealer). Decided that wasn't happening because we are going camping this week! Decided to drill two new holes above and below the old screw location, and used self tapping metal screws to tighten everything up. I didn't get a picture of the finished repair because I just wanted to get it back together and clean up before it got too late. But I'm back in business with several rounds of extending and retracting the slide.

Hope I can save someone else down the road a bit of time (and perhaps some trouble). Didn't plan to spend all Saturday fixing a slide, but at least now I understand how they work.

Happy Camping.

jasin1 · 03-06-2022, 02:21 AM

Well I appreciate the post, I’m going to check those screws periodically to make sure they are snug.
If you get a chance maybe you can add the completed repair picture.

Thanks!

SoonerLT · 03-06-2022, 01:32 PM

Here's a shot of the repair. You can see there's a smaller gap between the pulleys. And, of course, you will see where I broke off the screw head in the old hole + the new screws.

jasin1 · 03-06-2022, 02:33 PM

Nice that you figured it out..I know what to look for now if I have an issue.

I ordered the bal slide cable repair kit to keep in my toolbox after seeing a member have a frayed cable.
Just trying to be proactive on issues

**JRTJH** · 03-06-2022, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoonerLT

Here's a shot of the repair. You can see there's a smaller gap between the pulleys. And, of course, you will see where I broke off the screw head in the old hole + the new screws.

Thanks for the followup photo. It helps explain how you did the "two screw repair" and kept it all on the pulley plate...

As an observation, it may be the angle of the camera or maybe just the way things are positioned, but it looks like the back cable on the top pulley assembly is riding up, out of the pulley guide... ??????

SoonerLT · 03-06-2022, 03:31 PM

It certainly does look that way, but I think it’s the angle. I took this picture after everything was put back together, so this photo was taken from an angle left and higher vs the previous angle.

I did run it in and out to watch and it tracked well in the pulley guide. However, I’ll be watching g it closely next few times out!

**JRTJH** · 03-06-2022, 03:56 PM

At the extreme ends of travel, sometimes there is a "slack cable" and sometimes there's just no easy way to adjust the cable tension to remove the slack. If, when you start to extend/retract the slide and that cable "tightens up in the first 1/4 inch of slide travel, I wouldn't worry about it. And, as said, it may just be the camera angle and everything is "well adjusted and there's no problem"...

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