slideout questions

[RandyH]

I recently purchased the lippert slideout service assembly bracket for my kitchen slide. It came with no instructions for installation. Would anyone have a picture of the brackets installed on their Montana or advice on installing them?

[dieselguy]

We need to know your RV model number and if you're talking about a hydraulic slide or an electric slide. I'm unfamiliar with a "service assembly bracket". Can you post a photo of it to get us headed in the right direction?

[Mikendebbie]

His personal profile says it is a 2020 3121RL, so it is a hydraulic slide.

[ChuckS]

I would guess he is referring to a roller for the slide... my three hydraulic slides dont use rollers...

Lipperts nomenclature calls a lot of the rollers a "Service roller"

[RandyH]

I have a 2020 3121RL. Here is a picture of the bracket. It is supposed to prevent the crowning of the slide out tube.

[RipNC]

Randy,
Just got my brackets and they are not going to work w/o substantial modification(s). I just sent photos to Lippert for follow up. There is an issue with vertcal clearance and the holes that are supposed to fit over/around the nubs of the 2 wear guides are not properly spaced (they are about 1" centers vs my actual wear guides which are about 1-3/4" centers).

The concept is to jack your slide arm to remove the weight on the gear pack, pull the outside GP bolt and Insert it thru the assembly as you re-bolt the gear pack - then crank the heavy plate down to remove the "crown" from the top of the inner arm (which holds the gear pack).

Photos attached for those that want to see the part and issues. Note the assembly is sitting on the inner arm and is too tall to go back on top of the outer arm where it needs to be installed.

[RandyH]

RipNC.
That’s the issue I was having. If mounted it pushes the wear tabs out. It is too tall but I can cut the excess off the bolts so that is not an issue.

[RipNC]

I'll post here when I hear back from Lippert.

My wear guides are spaced almost where the bolts are welded to the heavy plate so no clue how they could fix the current assembly. Seems a different configuration might be required.

[RipNC]

The following response from Lippert is contrary to the discussion I had with a customer service rep named Vance who was very knowledgeable on this issue and has actually done work on this slide issue. I will be calling in and NOT FOLLOWING THIS ADVICE:

"The portion of the outer tube with the wear tabs will need to be pounded down some so it is flat. Then the bracket will need to be placed on the outer tube with the plate pressing down on the wear tabs and metal. In some cases the portion of sub floor would need to be removed so the bracket can sit correctly. I would double check with your coach maker to see if the subfloor is two piece wood with foam core. If you have any questions please feel free to call our techs at 574-537-8900"

[1wayhighway]

So the slide out tubes are not heavy enough to handle the loading of the slide thereby causing the tube to bend (crown)?

Just a question. We are getting ready to pick up our unit so I am just trying to understand.

Thanks

[RipNC]

1Hwy,
Sort of. Yes it is too thin but also caused by adjustment issue - if the inner arm sits too high when the slide is closed it will not make good contact with the gear pack and skip teeth. The arm being to high also pushes up on the (too thin) out arm and causes it to crown and makes skipping more likely.

Randy,

Today's call suggested adding a plate with proper hole spacing over the wear guide nubs and then installing the service assembly. HOWEVER, field measuring the service assembly I realized that even with the bolts cut it isn't going to over the outer arm (much less after adding another 1/4" plate). The center of gear pack bolt to top of outer arm is 4" and max clearance in service assembly is less than that (even with the nuts on the wrong side of the bracket - should be inside the bracket - see photos:

[RipNC]

I think you can return them. Lippert sent mine for free. I think I will have it welded too. Unless I can get it fixed at the rally...

I bought these slide pads https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B079CT1N...roduct_details and they worked well for our trip to Morryde for IS last week. The pair was so long I cut them in half, rounded the cut ends and removed some of the 1/2" pad and bent down the edges - we use one on each end of each slide and it has solved our skipping for the time being. Here is photo of the modified slides:

[RipNC]

PS - slides are quieter than they've ever been! These keep the slide more level as it goes out - normally the inside edge will drop a bit as it starts out and the arm is pushing a bit upward allowing the skip. I've also done this Lippert fix (though originally for single wear guide - I did it on both). I've lost one washer on last week's trip, but I made spares.

[Mikendebbie]

Does anybody know if the tube steel inner tube is the same size/thickness on the 2020/2021 models as has ALWAYS been used by Lippert? Or did they change and start using a thinner walled tube that is subject to bending under compressive load as the slideout is being retracted? Has this been an issue for years and years?

Also - what causes a gear pack to bind - therefore placing the tube into high compressive load so that it bends/crowns?

[RipNC]

Mike,
It doesn't really bind, but as the slide comes in it first angles upward over the glide strip, as it reaches midway it starts to angle downward until the bottom pulls in tight at which point it is fairly level. The point at which it angles down will lever the inner arm against the wear guides at the top of the outer arm which contribute to the crown problem. Depending on the vertical adjustment of the outer wall the inner arm may not be down on top of the gear pack when the slide is retracted, if so it can be pushing up against the wear guides (I learned this on today's call) and should be slowly adjusted so it doesn't push up there when the slide is closed. Further, if the arm is pushing up on the outer arm and wear guides when closed it will not be in firm contact with the gear pack which creates room for it to skip teeth. The idea is that the rack is down on the gear pack when closed but not pushing the slide up off of the glide strip.

After I hear back from Lippert (doubt they have another solution since this sefvice assembly doesn't fit), I plan to close my slide and see how it looks and adjust if required. I'll post photos of before and after to this thread.

I do think the outer arm could have been beefier or had a plate tacked to it like the screenshot in my post #13.

There are videos and pdf files on slide adjustments, but most important is to make very small adjustments.

[RipNC]

PS - I can gauge the outer arm thickness with a caliper, but I have nothing to compare it to. I suspect that the gauge is the same but the slide is heavier (primarily the residential fridge?).

[RipNC]

The arm is straight though if you look at it, the end drops a bit as the slide goes out. The slide room floor is what rocks as it moves in/out over the white glide strip. Watch your slide as you bring it in/out (watch both inside and outside) and you'll see. The wear guides are plastic (see middle photo in post 5 where I am measuring the spaces between the wear guides).

[1wayhighway]

love threads like this, thanks for taking time to post.


So when we did our PDI I noticed the kitchen slide doing that rocking motion as it went out. The problem and fix discussed here will improve/eliminate that? Does this indicate that the brand new set up already having this crowning issue?

Since we didn't get to take the rig home I can't check yet to see what is going on.

Thanks again

[RipNC]

No, that is just the way these slides work. In order to get (somewhat) flush to the interior floor they must drop down when extended and conversely need to ride up and over that white guide strip, then, as they come in they reach the tipping point (think see-saw or bongo board) until they pull tight against the side of the trailer. Slides on rollers and schwintek slides operate straight in and out.

I think it is a combination of factors that can cause the crowning - slide adjusted incorrectly, weight (our issue was under the residential fridge) and the outer arm being too thin. I think our slide was never adjusted properly and when closed the inner arm was pushing against the top of the outer arm - it made creaking noises as it went out. That noise has gone away since using the slide pads shown in my post #15 above, the pads actually stop the inside edge from angling down as the slide reaches that tipping point on the way in and keeps it more level on the way out helping the rack stay pressed to the gear pack.

Lippert did change the outer arm from a single wear guide at the top to 2 wear guides but they only allow the inner arm to slide more quietly and don't prevent crowning. The crowning happens slowly, our rig is a 2021 that we are longtiming in (we were fulltime for 10 months but now own a home in FL). Look at where the inner arm is when slide is closed, it should not be pushing up against those wear guides on the outer arm (per Lippert). Maybe hard to see but it you can slide something thin (feeler gauge) freely between the inner arm and the wear guides your slide is adjusted ok (at least as far as this issue goes). There are lots of adjustments that can be made on these slides and Lippert has lots of info out there. They do have a video on through frame hydraulic slide adjustment, but the slide has interior rollers where ours have the white plastic glide strip (to allow the "flush" slide floor). Some info in that video is very wrong for our slides, specifically the use of measurements from the slide floor to the inner and outer arms. DON'T follow that measurement advice with flush floor type slides (I also confirmed this with Lippert).

Lastly, be careful using any techs to mess with your slide! Before I really dove into the details of this issue and started addressing it myself, I had a mobile tech come out and spend 2 hours and only managed to actually break a tooth on the gear pack. Sent him away and started down this rabbit hole on my own. Installing the new gear pack and using the slide pads were intended to allow us to get our rig to Morryde for our IS installation (6 cycles of the slides over 1 week period) snd the slide pads worked way beyond my expectations. Slides actually worked better on that trip (week of 5/14) than they ever have.

One note about the slide pads: the opposing slides work on path of resistance when you open and close. When using the slide pads the resistance is lessened to the extent that the slides may not open in the same order as before using the pads and may both move at the same time.

This the end of my "stream of consciousness" on this question, sorry for rambling...

[rames14]

I was not aware that they were making these outboard brackets. In 18 years across four Montana’s we have had a slide issue twice. So, not everyone will see this as long as you own your Montana. If you do have the problem, it is a fairly easy fix, if you are handy. I have done this twice. The last time in January, we were on the road and broke the pinion. Our dealer got us in for service the next day at a dealer on the road, overnighted the parts to them and provided this repair procedure. That dealer in Albuquerque would not follow the Lippert TSB. I got it back and the slide once again came out crooked. Did the fix myself in a Harvest Host parking lot. Took longer to go get tools to cut the washer than to do the fix. Here is the link. https://lci-support-doc.s3.amazonaws...cd-0002436.pdf The reason I am chiming in is shortly after we did this fix in January, we were in Quartzsite and ran into another MOC member with slide issues. Camping World had “fixed” his unit by welding a bunch of washers. For months he couldn’t put his main slide out. He ended up taking it to Affinity. They told him they couldn’t fix it. He went to Lippert and they had him on the road the same day. I know the small split washer works. It looks as though the support assembly would work if it was sized properly. I would hesitate to weld anything there. We have a good extended warranty. Hopefully, I never have another issue. Will be on my list at rally.