Community Forums

mr. seaview · 08-30-2012, 06:06 PM

can anyone give me some advice on lubricating my slide out rail on my
national seaview? it seems very noisy and i dont want anything to break or
have it stop working. is this a job that i can do myself or should i take my
motorhome to camping world and let them do it? thanks for any help or advice.

nightriderrv · 08-30-2012, 07:37 PM

You can do it your self there is lube for the rails at the camping store but I've used white lithum grease run it out lube the arms you will see where it rubs then run it in and out a few times

PlayItForwrd · 08-30-2012, 09:00 PM

My favorite stuff is white lithium grease in a spray can. It sprays all watery-like thru the small hose like carb cleaner or WD40, and magically turns into grease a few seconds later.

baraff · 08-31-2012, 04:06 AM

The guy who did our PDI told us to never lube the slide rails; he said it wasn't needed and will just attract dirt. I have always thought this made very little sense, what do you guys think?

**CLIFFTALL** · 08-31-2012, 04:15 AM

What slideout system do you have? I have Power Gear Electric and they specifically advise AGAINST putting lube on the rails. There are some bushings that can be lubed on my system.

njs42 · 08-31-2012, 05:55 AM

The Power Gear manual says it is ok to lube the rollers and drive shaft with light weight oil but not to use grease. I suspect your noise is from a moving internal part, roller bearing or shaft etc;

I use a spray called Dry Lube which I think I purchased at CW. It has lasted a very long time, years. It's claim is that it is specifically for slide outs. It goes on wet but then dries and does not attract dust. When I use this spray on the rollers etc; I also have hit the underside of the slide rails where the track is and then wiped it down. My thinking was more to retard rust.

I apply wax to my rails when I wax my coach.

PlayItForwrd · 08-31-2012, 09:30 AM

Back to spray cans, you can also get spray graphite lube (pretty sure that's aka "dry lube") and spray silicone lube.

Graphite is a fantastic lubricant, but being graphite it's 'dirty'. Probably not much of a problem in this case!

My first choice if grease is a no-go, is spray silicone, and I have a good reason:

About 3 years ago our now-19 year old but still like new Ridgeway grandfather clock started "hanging up", the chimes would run off slow, it would stop running after a couple of hours. I assumed years of dust had taken its toll. I tried gently blowing the movement out with compressed air, to no avail. Having used spray silicone a couple of times, I found it to evaporate nearly immediately, so I thought what the hey, and I just sprayed the entire movement's gear train and everything else in sight, rather liberally too- 30 seconds later there was no evidence I'd sprayed a thing inside the clock, and 3 years later its' still running perfectly--

If it won't hurt a $2500 grandfather clock movement, I doubt it'll do much harm to a motorhome slideout!

Walmart has it...

njs42 · 08-31-2012, 11:02 AM

To answer specifically-sure this is a job you can do and should do regularly. Put it on your routine maintenence schedule.

The actual rails and the track underneath may not be the source of the noise, however you have received some good suggestions for how to lubricate them short of putting grease on. You should be able to access the moving parts of your slide through the basement doors. I always cringe a bit because I have to do some contorsions (I'm 70 years old and not as limber as I once was); but the job goes quickly.

Squirt something in there run it out and back then let us know if this helped/ or what you did instead?