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Birddog Pilot · 10-27-2013, 07:07 PM

With the slide retracted move the passenger chair fully forward. If possible, position yourself behind the chair and turn to face the rear of the wood frame trim on the on the slide. You will see two sections of aluminum channel that have screws at both the top and bottom of these assemblies. These things slide up and down somewhat to accommodate the movement of the slide as it raises and lowers during the extension and retraction sequence. Therefore, you may have to physically slide these channels slightly to have access to all the screws. At this point the slide curtain, if tensioned properly, will retract towards the wall where it is secured with a full length aluminum strip. If you have gone this far and have been experiencing any problems with the curtain not retracting or extending properly it would be an excellent time to remove the entire assembly and rewind the internal roller. Believe me, this is the easy part of doing a chain link/roller repair. Hopefully you will see all the rollers in good condition, but be sure to check the outer edges of the rollers as well as the outside circumference for abnormal wear or grooves. This may be an indication of possible impending failure. It is much better to replace rollers only, than to have metal to metal contact on the chain links. Those kits, RAP91670 have the materials to repair 4 rollers and their 8 links. Besides these rollers and links you also receive 4 stainless steel pins and a bunch of snap rings. This kit is $27.00 vs $13.00 for the 4 roller “only” kit that contains the 4 rollers, 4 pins and again, a bunch of snap rings. During my replacement process, which is still ongoing, I have changed six additional rollers for abnormal wear, besides the five that had completely self-destructed and were found in pieces on the floor. As I’ve mentioned before, I still have the rear lower chain to repair; it has three broken/missing rollers and will require an additional three to be removed for abnormal wear. This job is definitely not something that I’m looking forward to, it will not be easy.

When I ordered all my replacement kits I had hoped to be able to talk with an HWH technician but was told they are a month-and-a-half behind in answering telephone questions. I was then advised that possibly using their web site support feature might be more successful. I had several questions regarding proper slide adjustment that could influence roller wear, new style roller material vs the old black plastic or nylon types, besides several others. That was a week ago and I’ve heard nothing so far.

casper124 · 10-27-2013, 09:36 PM

Thanks Dick, from what I am seeing they look good, should the rollers be lubed with a dry silicone from time to time ?

Birddog Pilot · 10-28-2013, 06:51 PM

Steve,
If you dig around a bit in some of HWH's online manuals I believe you will find that they do not recommend any lubrication of these chain-roller assemblies. I know I read that somewhere but can't find that particular bit of information right now. Obviously, I've been doing a lot of searching throught the HWH site, but have yet to find a specific manual that addresses the type of slide we have in our 2006 models, or other model years as well, with this type of operating system. Ours is called a "B" style because it extends when the cylinder retracts. HWH goes further to say that, "All universal mechanisms are "B" style rooms. The universal rooms have a top and bottom roller chain assembly. There are no metal arms. Early universal mechanisms had the top chain closer to the middle of the room."

So, it would be safe to assume we do indeed have the "Early universal," and I have yet to be able to find any maintenance or adjustment information of this style room slide. I continue to await any response from HWH to my questions on their online "Support."

EngineerMike · 11-02-2013, 10:26 PM

HWH has a Contact-Us feature on their site. I sent them 2 questions 10 days ago (where is the shuttle valve located on a 625/625S, & how much does one cost) and have heard nothing. Either the place is getting incompetently backed up, which isn't good, or they are starting to shut down which is worse.
On the other hand, a friend wandered into a supposed HWH authorized repair facility a week plus ago &they could get hwh on the tech support phone right away. I told my friend it would be worth a $100 bill to the shop to dial my call & hand me the phone.

Birddog Pilot · 11-03-2013, 07:12 PM

Mike, it’s been about the same for me, ten days to two weeks now, and I too have heard nothing from HWH’s web support. As I mentioned the woman answering the phone said they are backed up a month-and-a-half on phone support, “Summer backlog,” as she put it. She also said that I might have more success with web support. Well, maybe not...

Incidentally, all of the 19 destroyed or damaged rollers and their associated links are now complete and installed. I had to make some special tools to work in the area between the rear of the slide and the refrigerator wall; but the whole process went very smoothly. It took more time to make up the tools than it did to remove a section of chain, build up the new section, and install it. I wish I had made the tools first to use on the "easy" repairs to the front upper and lower chain assemblies.

Now I have another problem on the forward upper chain. The roller/chain is not feeding precisely true into the guide block of the carrier assembly. I was in the process of testing the extension and retraction today and watched it very closely as it extended to the point where the slide would make the downward movement to create the flat floor. I stopped the slide at that position and checked as many of the four guide blocks as I could on the slide track channel carrier assemblies with a mirror. On the bottom of the forward upper roller/chain I detected a misalignment of the chain as it entered the chain guide and carrier. I believe the entire track and carrier assembly has shifted on the wall somewhat, and that might be causing the misalignment. I have no doubt that if these roller/chains are not aligned properly they will eventually start eating rollers. In any case, I’ll be back at it tomorrow to see if I can solve, what I hope to be, the last problem in this project.