Kitchen Slide Alignment - Off on one side

[BobJones]

Hi Folks!

For years now this motor home's kitchen slide has been off on one side. When extended the distance from the front of the slide is 20" off the wall and the rear of the slide (kitchen section) is 19" off the wall (as measured from outside).

As a result, when inside in the kitchen, you can see that the inside rubber does not seal up against the wall letting noise and drafts through.

So I went out there today and had another whack at it. I disconnected the rod with the shear bolt in it and manually got the rear of the slide to 19.5" That was as far as the slide appeared to be able to go physically. I put the bolt in, tightened it back and cycled the slide and got the same thing - 19" off the wall.

This brings to mind a couple of questions.....

1) The slide does not seem to want to come out more then 19.5" when doing it manually. At that point there is physical resistance. Is there a stop bolt or something that I can adjust to get it to go further?

2) I'm adjusting it using the rod with the shear bolt. It looks to me like that method is not fine enough.

Here's a pic to familiarize yourself with the slide design I'm working with. I would really love to get this thing flush and sealed !!!! The bolt on the left, on the rod, is the one I am removing and trying to use for adjustment.

[Ivylog]

If this is a hydraulic slide it needs synchronizing...try holding the switch on for 4-5 seconds after the slide stops moving in both directions. Repeat if necessary.

[BobJones]

No, it's a Power Gear unit and it's manual. There is not automatic syncing. It needs to be physically adjusted I did find a document, Power Gear Tip #70, and it does appear to address the issue but I have yet to be able to figure out just what they are talking about. Mine does not have cotter hairpins.

[shootist]

Does the shaft go from one end to the other with a second gear drive on the front?

[NvGuy]

Give this a shot: https://lci-support-doc.s3.amazonaws...g_82_s0503.pdf lots of info, so there will be a bit of reading. Page 8 tells you how to release the motor brake
But here are some generic instructions (the key seems to be going halfway out).

SYNCHRONISING A 2 RAIL SLIDE-OUT ROOM WITH A COLLARED DRIVE SHAFT ASSEMBLY Should the slide0out room go out of synchronization this procedure will allow you to retime the room. Measure room synchronization from common solid points at each end of the room. NOTE- This Tip Sheet covers low profile slide-out systems with a collared drive shaft assembly. To synchronize the room please refer to the Figure below. With room about half way out, release slide-out motor brake.
1. Unbolt the nut / bolt / washer assembly on the collared drive shaft
2. Using an adjustable wrench, turn the collared drive shaft clockwise or counterclockwise to move that end of the room to the desired location.
3. Check the timing of the room for accuracy.
4. While rotating the collared shaft move it in or out to allign the closest collar hole with the motor shaft hole.
5. Re-install the nut / bolt / washer assembly and torque per specifications in appropriate TIP sheet.
6. Check timing. Room should be within ¼” of even. If not repeat steps 2 through 6 . 7. Move motor brake to “Engaged” position.

[BobJones]

Originally Posted by shootist

Does the shaft go from one end to the other with a second gear drive on the front?

I'm pretty sure it does on the kitchen one. But...I found a power gear doc that seems to indicate that you are not actually supposed to use the shear pin (nut and bolt in my case) to align the slide. It seems that what you are supposed to do is push the idler wheel (the gear in the middle of the track in the pic) to one side. This should unload that end of the slide and allow me to manually position it by pushing it in or out. Then, when it's in the right spot, apparently you push the gear back in.

This makes sense. The shear pin/but & bolt is too coarse an adjustment as it only has two holes. That seems to indicate you can only get the slide to within 2" of where it should be (or so). This is why I thought there must be a better, more granular way to do it. Certainly if the idler can be pushed off the track, and back on, then it would be within one tooth of perfect.

I'll try it tomorrow and I'll take pics as the service manual is not that clear in some respects.

[BobJones]

Originally Posted by NvGuy

Give this a shot: https://lci-support-doc.s3.amazonaws...g_82_s0503.pdf lots of info, so there will be a bit of reading. Page 8 tells you how to release the motor brake
But here are some generic instructions (the key seems to be going halfway out).

SYNCHRONISING A 2 RAIL SLIDE-OUT ROOM WITH A COLLARED DRIVE SHAFT ASSEMBLY Should the slide0out room go out of synchronization this procedure will allow you to retime the room. Measure room synchronization from common solid points at each end of the room. NOTE- This Tip Sheet covers low profile slide-out systems with a collared drive shaft assembly. To synchronize the room please refer to the Figure below. With room about half way out, release slide-out motor brake.
1. Unbolt the nut / bolt / washer assembly on the collared drive shaft
2. Using an adjustable wrench, turn the collared drive shaft clockwise or counterclockwise to move that end of the room to the desired location.
3. Check the timing of the room for accuracy.
4. While rotating the collared shaft move it in or out to allign the closest collar hole with the motor shaft hole.
5. Re-install the nut / bolt / washer assembly and torque per specifications in appropriate TIP sheet.
6. Check timing. Room should be within ¼” of even. If not repeat steps 2 through 6 . 7. Move motor brake to “Engaged” position.

Interesting. That came from the same service manual I found and that makes sense but there is only one hole in the shaft which makes for only a coarse adjustment. I found that on page 81 of that doc it shows a much more granular adjustment can be made. Using the shear bolt method I could only get within one inch - no more. And it needs more then that. That's a very good link by the way!

[onechaddude]

Maybe I missed earlier in the thread, but if it's off by one or two inchs in the outer position, would it not be the same when it's pulled in tight to the coach? If it's tight on both sides when pulled in, is it possible the slide was built "out of square"? Like I said, maybe is misread it or forgot about it earlier on.

I'd be afraid of adjusting the outer limits and messing up the seal when the slide is closed. Just my thoughts here.

Chad

[BobJones]

Well, we spent all afternoon on it and we made some progress in some areas and lost in others

Originally the front of the slide was @20" extended and the rear was @19"
Now the front is just under 20 and the rear is around 19.5"

The problem I am finding is that the rear does not want to extend to 20 unless under force (manually turning the driveshaft with a wrench). It needs to be 20" or possibly even a little more, to get the inside seal to set.

This appears to be the main issue. I cannot get the inner seal to set on the kitchen end of the slide because it does not want to go to 20" I altered the slide stop so that it can reach 20" but something keeps holding it up. If I manually force it, it will get there and as soon as I take the wrench off the driveshaft it springs back to 19.5 or so. This happens with that end of the slide disconnected. So it seems to me to be something in the slide itself that is pulling it back in.

The roller at that end of the slide does not adjust properly. One side of it is responsive (lifts or lowers the roller) The other side, furthest away, does not appear to do anything. The bolt will start threading out of the hole. It appears to be stuck in the downward position.

I'm officially lost.

[royellithorp]

I had a Mobile Suites that had what appears to be a similar slide out gear system. It would just jump a couple of teeth on the gear. I just used a crowbar/gooseneck to pry the slide up and re-time the gears. That was possible because the slide mechanism was so poorly built (by Lippert). Possibly you could loosen something that would allow you to pry the slide up a bit and re-align it on the gear.
All the Best

[royellithorp]

A quick addendum, you would do this when the slide was part way out, that way you could adjust either end and not be trying to force it against a stop.
BTW, when I got to a shop I had the mechanism re-worked so the problem didn't recur.

[BobJones]

Tx for the info! I'm at a loss with it. I did re-time the gears but the immediate problem I am facing is that I can't get the rear out far enough to properly compress the inside seal. As a result, I have a draft and noise gets in etc. That corner of the slide just does not want to go out past 19.5" on it's own. Under pressure I can it to 20" but in a perfect world 20.5" would probably be ideal. But it does not want to do it. Something is holding it back.

[1st-tt2018]

Jumping the teeth on the rack sounds like the way to go. It sounds like there is an end of travel area in the rack that is thicker....like a ramp near the end of travel...or maybe there is something under the rack at the end preventing it from going...can the rack be taken off and adjusted to give you more slide too?

[shootist]

If the front of the slide is out and you try to push the rear out you are having to compress the seals tighter and tighter up at the front. Bring the front out a few teeth and see if it doesn't start to cooperate a little better.