Battery Slide Out REPAIR - Help - What do I use?

[Busskipper]

Battery Slide Out Tray REPAIR - Help - What do I use?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Knape-Vog...hrome/30421307

OK - Issue is - After almost 15 years the Slide out Tray has just about stopped Sliding.

Need to replace the Slide out Runners - Looking for an Experienced Owner to help guide me through the process.

So point me to a post, as the search feature, is the weakest part of Irv2 . ---------

Thanks in Advance to all those who help me out.

---------

[bobmac]

I would purchase a new RV battery tray and replace everything. The Wal-Mart slides are designed for drawers in a house interior. They were not designed to be used in an outdoor environment with changing temperatures and humidity. Check the size of the rollers on your current slide and compare them to drawer rollers and you will see the difference. A failure of the battery roller system could be catastrophic if the batteries were to short in the process.

[Scooter]

Is rust the problem ? Bearings stop working ? What caused the problem.

Try PB Blaster first. Or buy new completer slide from Kwikee or similar.

[Dav L]

I would:
1) mark all wires on which set of batteries and which terminal the connections go
2) take a picture (this is the part I thought I did and forgot...that made this a whole day affair to track down every wire...)
3) remove all wires
4) remove all batteries
5) top up the water if lead acid batteries. Replace batteries if they are needing to be (can't replace just one...)
6) put batteries on slow charge if you have an external charger (one at a time)
7) clean the battery tray. I use a power washer. Follow this with a baking soda treatment to neutralize the battery acid. Rewash.
8) Decide to either clean / lube / replace the bearings in place or to remove them. If in place, Clean the roller bearings and side rails if the bearings are open faced (no seals). I start with the power washer, followed by compressed air to push out grit and water, followed by light lubricants like WD-40 to flush out any grit. The slide should move easily now.
9) wire wheel and clean the tray and put a coat of paint on everything to freshen it all up.
10) pack the bearings with wheel bearing grease. You can also use a pin adapter on a grease gun. Best is to remove the bearings, but this can be done in place too if the bolts are too tight / corroded to safely remove. Put some dry lubricant on the slides so they don't attract dirt.
11) The tray should move nice and easily now
12) put new convulated tubing on all the cleaned up wires to pretty them up.
13) clean the batteries and their contacts and the wire ends with a wire brush.
14) reinstall batteries
15) rewire batteries connecting grounds last.
16) put some grease on the battery terminals as anti-corrosive.

If the tray bearings are too corroded, you can try to remove them, and get replacements. Ideally the bearing part number is stamped on them. Otherwise measure carefully and try to match. Or go to the tray manufacturer and buy them direct (always more expensive per bearing). If that fails, new expensive tray is in order. No way will those walmart slides work. They will corrode immediately and won't handle the weight.

Strong odds that the bearings and slides just are packed up with dirt and rust which makes the tray hard to move.

The above should take around 4 hours.

The problem with this forum is that Search is hard to use...this type of content really should be categorized in a Wiki with chapters....

[Busskipper]

Originally Posted by Dav L

I would:
1) mark all wires on which set of batteries and which terminal the connections go
2) take a picture (this is the part I thought I did and forgot...that made this a whole day affair to track down every wire...)
3) remove all wires
4) remove all batteries
5) top up the water if lead acid batteries. Replace batteries if they are needing to be (can't replace just one...)
6) put batteries on slow charge if you have an external charger (one at a time)
7) clean the battery tray. I use a power washer. Follow this with a baking soda treatment to neutralize the battery acid. Rewash.
8) Decide to either clean / lube / replace the bearings in place or to remove them. If in place, Clean the roller bearings and side rails if the bearings are open faced (no seals). I start with the power washer, followed by compressed air to push out grit and water, followed by light lubricants like WD-40 to flush out any grit. The slide should move easily now.
9) wire wheel and clean the tray and put a coat of paint on everything to freshen it all up.
10) pack the bearings with wheel bearing grease. You can also use a pin adapter on a grease gun. Best is to remove the bearings, but this can be done in place too if the bolts are too tight / corroded to safely remove. Put some dry lubricant on the slides so they don't attract dirt.
11) The tray should move nice and easily now
12) put new convulated tubing on all the cleaned up wires to pretty them up.
13) clean the batteries and their contacts and the wire ends with a wire brush.
14) reinstall batteries
15) rewire batteries connecting grounds last.
16) put some grease on the battery terminals as anti-corrosive.

If the tray bearings are too corroded, you can try to remove them, and get replacements. Ideally the bearing part number is stamped on them. Otherwise measure carefully and try to match. Or go to the tray manufacturer and buy them direct (always more expensive per bearing). If that fails, new expensive tray is in order. No way will those walmart slides work. They will corrode immediately and won't handle the weight.

Strong odds that the bearings and slides just are packed up with dirt and rust which makes the tray hard to move.

The above should take around 4 hours.

The problem with this forum is that Search is hard to use...this type of content really should be categorized in a Wiki with chapters....

Dav,

Thanks for the detailed correction list - guess I should have been more specific as to the issue - The Rails are SHOT.

Looking for replacement Rails - as the ones that have worked have always been - IMHO - Undersized and a Pain.

So Looking to find a suitable replacement as cleaning - oiling - working with the existing is just No longer possible.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009ODZMM..._t1_B0069C8C3K

These may work - but just trying to see what others have done as this is surely not the First Bad set of Rails or Rails to Go Bad.---

[Lt Dan]

Here is one alternative in 36" length rated for 500lbs. They have all different lengths and weight capacities. I used three pair of these in 48" length to build my own compartment slides for our Allegro RED.
https://www.ovisonline.com/36-Drawer...eavy-Duty.aspx

Here's another source:
https://truck-hardware.orrorr.com/vi...50-and-500-lbs

[Dav L]

Why are the rails "shot"?
Do you have a picture of the issue?
is it the side rails or the bearings that are beyond repair?
Do you weld? Have a friend that does? If the side rails are really that bad, they can be replaced. If there are like mine, from memory they are just some regular angle iron. HomeDepot stocks steel like that. Might need some flat stock welded to the edge of the angle iron...can't remember what it looks like.
And the bearings can definitely be replaced.

Then again...I am basing this on my battery tray...your's might be completely different. Picture would help!

[veraken]

I replaced mine with the following:

https://www.accuride.com/9301e-heavy...xtension-slide

At the time, I found the best price at:

https://www.cabinetparts.com/

[Busskipper]

Originally Posted by Busskipper

Dav,

Thanks for the detailed correction list - guess I should have been more specific as to the issue - The Rails are SHOT.

Looking for replacement Rails - as the ones that have worked have always been - IMHO - Undersized and a Pain.

So Looking to find a suitable replacement as cleaning - oiling - working with the existing is just No longer possible.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009ODZMM..._t1_B0069C8C3K

These may work - but just trying to see what others have done as this is surely not the First Bad set of Rails or Rails to Go Bad.---

Same as this one - http://www.irv2.com/forums/f274/batt...ml#post4516218

I can weld - Build - Repair - Etc - just trying to find out the Exact set of Slides others have used - as I'll rebuild - repaint - weld, this thing back together - just trying to gain a little insight from those who have already done it.

Thanks - think I'll go with a 500# set of Rails that overextend, just to make it Easy.

These - https://www.accuride.com/9301e-heavy...xtension-slide or these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009ODZMM..._t1_B0069C8C3K

[Dav L]

Gonna bet that you just need new bearings. The slides themselves are pretty thick steel.
Soak them, jar them with an impact air tool to loosen them up, and get the slide out, disassemble and rebuild.

I wouldn't take the rails off if not absolutely necessary. It will create more work to get new rails lined up and attached. And, none of those rails listed are nearly as heavy duty and resistant to corrosion.

[Quincy]

I just cleaned mine with a garden hose and wire brush and did not have to remove or disconnect anything. I will do the four hour method when I replace the batteries.

The more oil and grease you use the more dust it will collect.

WD 40 is good to use to clean the guides but it is not a lubricant, it is a cleaner.

You need a graphite lubricant.

For the ammount of travel the guides or bearings had to do, it is highly likely they are just dirty not shot. My guides would not even move before I cleaned them.

[FIRE UP]

Busskipper,
As has been stated, NONE of those "drawer glides" are designed for the application you're intending to use them on. The reason, about 99.999% of them use EXPOSED bearings. That is, there is nothing shielding the bearings from the harsh environment they'd be subjected to. Those bearings and slide mechanisms would jamb up in about a month of traveling. Many, if not most, battery tray systems are exposed to the outside elements and not enclosed. Some are but, not that many. And being they're subjected to that kind of environment, the bearings need to be protected.

So, for most battery trays that extend, there are ROLLERS that have sealed bearings. Basically, what the trays are gliding on IS a bearing that is used in other applications but, was adapted for use in that kind of need. Now, in some cases, if you look at the tray sides and the tracks that those rollers work in, you'll see a potential way of disassembly.

That is, you may see an access hole in a specific spot that you can either use a tool like a screw driver or, socket or some other tool that you can use to remove the axle that the bearing rolls on. Not all are like that. Mine for example have that axle and, a nut. But there is absolutely ZERO way to grab the opposite end from the nut. No screw driver application, socket, nothing.

But, also as has been suggested, we need maybe to see closeup pics of your particular set of slides and, the mechanisms involved to help with an accurate attempt at a remedy. Good luck on your fix.
Scott

[CountryB]

Check out Morryde if you have not already... Storage Systems, Sliding Trays, Storage Trays

[Busskipper]

Thanks to all who tried to steer me in the right direction.

Was able to get it to lift out one more time to check the fluid level.

So this will be part of the spring Cleaning.

a few Pic's