Silde Darco repair

[LHaven]

While handling the dumper a couple days ago, I noticed degradation of the Darco under the edge of the slide. Took a photo so I could see it better. The photo shows me it's not just the ripped patch, but the whole edge for 4" or so is wearing badly. What's the recommended repair here?

[chuckster57]

I would cut off the e loose stuff and apply Scrim tape.

[LHaven]

That was my plan when I thought it was only a ripped patch. When I saw that 4" of the edge all the way down the photo looks flattened, scuffed, and folded, as if the "slot" under the slide were somehow thinner there, I worried about scrim tape making the Darco along that avenue even thicker. Is that a worthwhile worry?

[chuckster57]

Scrim tape is very strong but also very thin. I wouldn’t worry about it.

[koda57]

Cover it with scrim tape and install Duo Slideout skies. The skis will cover the patch. The ski is about 6" wide. Had to do the same thing to mine when it was under warranty. Mine was scored thru and not ripped. Either wat the ski is a good repair.

[ChuckS]

I repaired similar worn/torn Darco on my Alpine slides using UHMW strips to cover the entire edge underneath

Second season of use and the repair and rest of the Darco are still like new..

Darco should never have been used on slide out bottoms…but it has and is because it cheap and easy to use during build construction

[madweazl]

Is this product ok? I got a tear from a pebble getting trapped under the slide (tore up the linoleum too ) and was thinking about using it to repair my issue.

https://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Flex-P...118291&sr=8-15

[ChuckS]

Of the slide out has rollers it would be ok.. if it doesn’t and you install this tape when it goes across the lower wear bar you will have a much bigger test and mess to repair

[sourdough]

I would warn of the repair tape on the bottom of a slide. It sticks really good but a wear bar will definitely pull it off - btdt. For some unknown reason the previous trailer came with a strip from front to back on one of the slides from the factory that I didn't notice. I did notice it when the slide started binding and chunks of black material that looked like darco were left in the floor. Found that strip pulled/pulling off and the wear bar and balled up in front of it causing it to bind. That was a bear getting that stuff out....and I never could see anything on the original darco layer that would cause them to put it there. If you don't have rollers (and I think some of the 315/316s did on one of the slides) I would be careful. I've had great success with uhmw.

[madweazl]

If I ran the tape from furthest inside point to the furthest outside point, would that work to keep it from peeling up? If it doesn't tear up the Darco, I don't see why it would tear up the tape.

[sourdough]

The strip on mine did the same; all way from the front to the back. It looked like it actually started to tear up in the middle then as the slide was used going back and forth it started pulling the tape in both directions. Looking at it my guess was that the force coming across the wear bar made the tape come loose somewhere along the edges of the tape. As it curled and deformed the sticky side started catching on the wear bar then it started pulling it off more and more. The factory darco isn't exposed to that kind of wear because there are no glued edges being ran across the wear bar, it is one solid piece of material on the bottom. Even then on many, if not most the wear bar eventually starts degrading, fraying or tearing the factory darco.

[ChuckS]

Any kind of tape is a temp fix at best.. Fix it with slide skis or UHMW strips and you have a permanent fix that will outlast the rest of the entire slide Darco covering...

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by madweazl

If I ran the tape from furthest inside point to the furthest outside point, would that work to keep it from peeling up? If it doesn't tear up the Darco, I don't see why it would tear up the tape.

If you use a floor jack with a T to spread the weight you can jack up the slide and access the front leading edge of the slide. If the tape starts at the leading edge and ends at the rear wall, the ends won’t cross the west bar, done that repair lots of times.

[skids]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

Any kind of tape is a temp fix at best.. Fix it with slide skis or UHMW strips and you have a permanent fix that will outlast the rest of the entire slide Darco covering...

Chuck, would it make sense to use rollers under the UHMW strips? Also, I thought I read that HDPE (High density poly ethylene) for plastic strips was being used?

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by skids

Chuck, would it make sense to use rollers under the UHMW strips? Also, I thought I read that HDPE (High density poly ethylene) for plastic strips was being used?

Before I started using uhmw I did a lot of research on the proper material. I originally wanted teflon but the cost was ridiculous. UHMW is much better for wear and lubricity than hdpe;

https://www.curbellplastics.com/Rese...s/HDPE-vs-UHMW

[skids]

Chuck and Danny, what about rollers in addition?

[sourdough]

Skids what kinds of problems are you having and what type of slide? I'm sorry but I don't recall (if I knew) and about to cook supper. If you put uhmw in the "wear tracks" there really isn't any need for rollers IMO. I looked into rollers initially and talked to BAL about them (I have cable slides). Ended up going with the uhmw strips and never had another issue.

On the rollers with the darco; I've seen them used and I've seen older trailers with them that the darco looked like it wanted to fray along the edges of where the rollers ran and pushed/pulled the darco - that doesn't happen with the uhmw.

I don't know about adding rollers and uhmw. The rollers come in the same height as the wear bar (1/2" or 3/4" as I recall). The uhmw comes in varying thickness, I use 1/8" but others have used 1/4". There will be a line somewhere that will require adjusting the slide if the thickness gets to be too much (speaking to cable slides).

[skids]

Danny, the Darco as installed has a glued overlap, as if the slide was wider than the roll that was available. It is not yet coming apart but I worry about it.

[ChuckS]

With the Schwintek in wall slides they ALL use rollers underneath the slide bottoms.. AS far as I am aware of..

Most hydraulic slide outs that I have seen, and the current Alpine I own has 3 hydraulic slides don't use or need rollers...

My two main slides roll onto UHMW wear bars ( OEM ) and the Darco has to run across these wear bars to ramp up onto and off of during motion..

My BR hydraulic slide uses the Lipper BR Cradle and no rollers on the bottom of the material ( BR slide bottom is not Darco covered )

UHMW is high load capacity and self lubricating. HDPE is also good stuff but IMO the UHMW is better suited to supporting higher weight loads the HDPE...

read the specs on the two materials and suggested applications and form your opinion on what you want to use..

If I had to recover the entire bottom of either of my main slides it would be with a full sheet of UHMW and I would not remove the slide to install it..

I would lift the bottom of the slide just high enough to work the UHMW sheet up onto the factory wear bars and then secure with screws as close to the wear bar as possible..

The remaining accessible UHMW would then be secured with wood screws with the heads slightly counter sunk to provide flush finish wear the UHMW rides on the wear bar strips

I am on my second season of use with the UHMW I installed and NONE of the screws have backed out... they wont because they were installed with a drop of sealant on the threads..

.125 thickness is what I used and I believe it would also work very well with the Schwintek in wall system...

I don't think the two motor drive gear teeth meshing properly in the drive tracks on the walls would be an issue...

When I worked at Micron we used UHMW strips to slide equipment across clean room flooring and never had issues with the UHMW and never left a mark on the flooring.. The typical equipment weight we were moving was well over 5K lbs

[chuckster57]

Schwintek uses rollers only if the room is a minimum weight or size:

https://lci-support-doc.s3.amazonaws...cd-0003910.pdf