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Old 10-07-2018, 05:38 AM   #1
Pocketlake1
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Lubricating slide outs with electric cable system

Have a squeaky kitchen slider on our 318RE. Our rig is electric with cables for the slides. All cables are tight and the wheels, pulleys are fine. The bedroom and living room slides have rollers, the larger kitchen one does not. Someone suggested using Dry Lube by applying to bottom of slider floor on the tarp type material. Wanted to see if others have done that. The dry lube I have seems to be for gears and cables. Did not know if there are different types of dry lube. Can't find anything that seems to be made for applying to the floor that contracts the rails. I did apply some silicone to the material covered rail and now it hops when sliding out so believe I made a mistake in doing that. Don't want to make another, so hope someone can provide some insight
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Old 10-07-2018, 07:38 AM   #2
xrated
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pocketlake1 View Post
Have a squeaky kitchen slider on our 318RE. Our rig is electric with cables for the slides. All cables are tight and the wheels, pulleys are fine. The bedroom and living room slides have rollers, the larger kitchen one does not. Someone suggested using Dry Lube by applying to bottom of slider floor on the tarp type material. Wanted to see if others have done that. The dry lube I have seems to be for gears and cables. Did not know if there are different types of dry lube. Can't find anything that seems to be made for applying to the floor that contracts the rails. I did apply some silicone to the material covered rail and now it hops when sliding out so believe I made a mistake in doing that. Don't want to make another, so hope someone can provide some insight
If ALL of the cable are tight, that could be the issue right there. The cable slide system is a "give and take" type system, and if you are unsure of how that works, I'm going to suggest that you download the manual on it and read it thoroughly until you have a complete understanding of what is going on and what it takes to make it operate correctly. Here is a link to the manual....... http://norcoind.com/bal/downloads/ac...ice-manual.pdf

What you will find is that let's say the slide is all the way out (extended). The cables that you can see outside the trailer (all four of them) should have a bit of slack in them, and the manual will tell you how to check for that. When the slide is run all the way in (closed for travel position), the cables that you can see inside the trailer will have a bit of slack in them. If all the cables are tight, as you stated, the system is "fighting itself" because when one set of cables are supposed to be giving, the other set is supposed to be taking....and vice versa on the other direction of travel.

That is the first place that I would looks to confirm that the cables are adjusted properly. One other note here, as the slides come from the factory, there really isn't any good method/parts on the system to "LOCK" the adjustment of the cables, once they are properly adjusted. Myself and others have added 1/4"-20 nuts to the adjustment piece to be able to "lock" the added nut up against the existing adjustment nut....so that it cannot move unless you are purposely trying to adjust the system. Hope this helps
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Old 10-07-2018, 08:06 AM   #3
Pocketlake1
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XRated, thanks for insight. When I say tight I am able to move them the 1/2" outlined In the manual. They don't have any actual slack. The hopping only started on the 2 slides immidiately after I applied the silicone, never happened before. Seems too coincidental. Ever hear of applying any type dry lube to the bottom of a slider than has no rollers?
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Old 10-07-2018, 08:35 AM   #4
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XRated, thanks for insight. When I say tight I am able to move them the 1/2" outlined In the manual. They don't have any actual slack. The hopping only started on the 2 slides immidiately after I applied the silicone, never happened before. Seems too coincidental. Ever hear of applying any type dry lube to the bottom of a slider than has no rollers?
Ken
You're welcome. I wasn't sure how much you knew or didn't know about the slide setup, but it sounds like you are well informed on how it works. I've honestly never lubricated mine (two slides with no rollers), but my trailer is only about 1 1/2 years old. I'm actually going to buy the necessary rollers and do a modification to both of my slides to add rollers and hopefully take some of the worry out of it. Hopefully some of the other members here might be able to comment on the use of the dry lube....I have no experience with it.
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Old 10-07-2018, 08:46 AM   #5
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I hope by applying the silicone you haven't caused yourself ongoing problems. It along with the "slide lube" they sell at CW and the like just cause problems for the cable slides running over a wear bar.

Your best bet will be to completely wash the underside of the slide where you sprayed the silicone with acetone and then quickly rinse and dry. I've used Dawn dishwashing liquid but it seems the acetone gets rid of the residue better. Depending on how much you sprayed the wear bar may be completely covered in the silicone and that can be a big problem because you can't get to it. I've read of some folks lifting the slide to clean it but I won't do it. I had the dealership lift and hyper extend them then install Teflon like sheets under each of the big slides to eliminate the wear and fraying the wear bar was causing to the Darco fabric.

If the wear bar (behind the bottom seal under the slide) is saturated with the silicone you might try spraying it down with the Dawn solution and move the slide in and out a few times then repeat. Hopefully that would cut the silicone that had stuck to the wear bar - just don't move it all the way in and out and get the stuff back on the Darco making you repeat the cleaning process. I won't use acetone under there liberally because I'm afraid it will harm the Darco because it would sit on it too long.

As far as "lube", when I called the manufacturer they said they used a product called Zep 45 in house and it is what they recommended. It is very hard to find and isn't sold in stores that I'm aware of. I ordered mine from Zep after Bal? recommended me to them. Some others have mentioned a WD 40 product called "dry lube" I believe. I have a couple of cans of it and it seems to work. Don't use anything that leaves a residue to collect dust etc. nor any of the "slide lubes" sold and CW and the like. On mine one slide was grabbing a little and I saw some wear on the Darco. I took it in for the CW "slide maintenance"...adjust and lube. They liberally coated the undersides of the slides and wear bar with the "lube" spray just before I took it off and they went in and out fine. Took it home (60 miles) and tried them the next morning; it was like they were stuck in super glue, hanging, jumping, motor groaning etc. - made a terrible racket. Took it back and they couldn't get it all out so the problem continued. Final resolution was for me to pay $2200 and have the material placed under each slide. The kitchen slide still does a tiny hop every now and then but I just spray a little Zep or WD 40 dry lube on the new strips and it quits for quite a while.

You might try the above and see if it helps or cures your problem. From what I've experienced and read, once it starts and you ever put the wrong stuff on it, it stays with you unfortunately. I'm wishing you the best of luck.

Edit: I just read Xrated's comment on rollers. That might be an option and would be something I would look into if my slides ever gave me the kinds of problems they did for a while (unless I just bought a new trailer). I have watched a video of the process and it didn't seem to challenging.
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Old 10-08-2018, 06:12 AM   #6
Pocketlake1
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Sourdough, I sure appreciate the feedback but it is disappointing news. Going to start with trying to remove the silicone and cross my fingers. I should have done a lot more checking before applying the silicone. Thanks!
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Old 11-03-2019, 10:51 AM   #7
dmharris
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Pocketlake1

I have same problem and same model. Did you ever find a solution for that jerky kitchen slide?
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Old 11-03-2019, 02:02 PM   #8
Brentw
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Add the rollers, there is a good video of a DYI installation. Dealer stung me with a $ 2400 bill after they thought it would be a warranty repair. If you go that route, you could probably get them to do it cheaper if you press them into adding them without removing the slide to change the wear bar.
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