Challenger 371 bad slide design???

[JRock1014]

New to posting on forums, so pleased bear with me. The whole story is long, but I will try to condense it.

We ordered a new 2009 Damon Challenger, recieved it Feb. 13th 2009, it was at the dealer for over 2 months later in 2009 due to a problem with the dinette slide (12foot) bucking and jerking and finally shifting towards the front chipping paint on slide opening. Dealer ended up removing slide and replacing slide ride plate and teflon rail that slide rides on. This is a BAL slide with a cable at each corner. After a few weekend trips & one 10-day trip to New Orleans this February the slide has again shifted to front and is chipping paint, but seems to move in & out OK. I emailed Damon & dealer from trip on Feb. 12th to notify them prior to warranty expiring and just dropped it off to dealer today.

Mechanic at dealer said there is nothing that keeps these slides centered in opening but he would contact Damon to see if there's something they can do. This doesn't seem like a very good design, anybody else having problems with this type of slide???

[jcthorne]

Ours on out Daybreak (same 4 cable mechanism) was bucking/jumping etc as well. Read posts below about adding aluminum plates to the bottom of the slide to reduce wear. Thought those a good idea.

Anyway, when installing the plates, I found the source of the bucking. The rollers run along the bottom of the slide in several places, 6 on our 12' slide. Where the seatbelts for the sofa are bolted through the floor there is a doubler plate and the bolt head was right in the path of the roller. Two places.

I added the new wear plates, moved the two bolts out of the path of the rollers and adjusted the cables so they did not have the significant slack the previous adjuster left in them. Slide move in and out smoothly and without binding now. Really was not that hard but perhaps your dealer can look into the path of the under slide rollers and see if bolts or other obstructions are in the way.

[powerboatr]

i would add
on our last fiver they had to install 3/4" x1" x6" nylon rub/guide blocks on the lower corners of the frame where the slide travels, it kept em centered up.

you might want to mention a setup like that to damon and see what flies...

[JRock1014]

Thanks for the replies, and when I get the unit back I will look into installing the plates mentioned. I'm pretty handy, and I have little faith in my dealer Thompson's in Davenport, Iowa since within my one year warranty they fixed the slide incorrectly by grinding the wear plate, lied about ordering parts, and admitted to never seeing this type of slide before. I have everything documented including names in case I need it now that my warranty has expired.

Some updated info:
The slide is made by Norco Industries, I think I mentioned BAL which is another name I have listed. It's an "Accu-Slide" model.

I got a response from a Thor service manager telling me it's a self centering slide, and I responded that wasn't true in my case twice within one year and my dealer will need their help.

Thanks again everyone,

[jcthorne]

The following link will get you the service manual for the accu-slide that Damon uses in the Challenger and Daybreak models.

http://norcoind.com/bal/downloads/ac...ice-manual.pdf

Adjustment is not that hard once you have the manual. Mine was adjusted very incorrectly by a previous service location. Works much better now. Thor is correct about it being self centering, once properly adjusted.

[JRock1014]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcthorne The following link will get you the service manual for the accu-slide that Damon uses in the Challenger and Daybreak models. http://norcoind.com/bal/downloads/ac...ice-manual.pdf Adjustment is not that hard once you have the manual. Mine was adjusted very incorrectly by a previous service location. Works much better now. Thor is correct about it being self centering, once properly adjusted.

Thanks for the reference. I had printed and read this manual previously, and it mentions adjusting, but I can't find specifically what to do if slide is off center. Obviously it was adjusted wrong to start, maybe still is. Possibly now the rollers have taken a 'set' and wants to go back to the non-centered location. We'll see how far the warranty gets me.

[jcthorne]

Its the cables that pull it back to center. If the slide goes off center or out of square, the cables are out of adjustment. If adjusted correctly, going off center would increase tension inthe cables on that side, pulling it back. When traveling inward, all 4 cables should have a considerable level of tension in them, none slack. Good luck with using the warranty. I have found for part failure and direct replacement its not to bad. For anything that requires diagnosis, adjustment or just plain old thinking, warranties are worthless as there is not time/funds alloted for 'diagnosis' or 'troubleshooting'

[stevephillip]

Hi friend,
I read your message, For anything that requires diagnosis, adjustment or just plain old thinking,warranties are worthless as there is not time/funds allotted for 'diagnosis' or 'troubleshooting.
Thank you



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