"Bouncy", shaking slide when retracting/extending

[mark5w]

If the screw is close to the edge and you have a large angle grinder, reverse the the sanding disk and see if you can sand the screw away.

[KECoats]

Yes, as wingerdinger said. Jack up the slide far as you can. Mine went up over an inch to where I could see inside the rig while I was under the slide. Then was able to fit an "L" shaped screwdriver under the slide into the big flathead screw and drive it back down below the nylon slide bar. You need the "L" shaped screw driver to do it. Even the stubby screw driver I have was too long to fit between the bottom of the slide and the screw head. Sometimes these things can be a real pain.

Now I am in the midst of replacing all the rubber seals on the outside of the camper to keep the rain out when the slides are closed. Turns out not a difficult thing to do, just another time consumer. WD40 works great for getting the residue off the fiberglass siding after scraping off the bulk of the old caulking. When this job is finished, will have worked the bottoms, sides and tops of all the slides. Wonder what's next?

[toolman.dustin]

Originally Posted by Wingerdinger

Perhaps you could jack up the slide so that all the weight is off the bar, go as far up as you can so you have as much space as possible, then get a large flat screwdriver or some such tool, and lift the bar up enough to get your sawsall under it to get to the screw.
My bar collapsed flat on each end, and I really had to have the rollers.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'll try and raise it again tomorrow. According to my bottle jack I've already lifted it almost 2 inches but I only got about 1/2" lift at the wear bar. I'll have to move the jack closer to the wear bar. Hopefully I can lift it enuf to get to the screw. Thinking about it I'm not sure it would be a good idea to cut the screw off. Since the wear bar is plastic it might just pull it out of the trailer the next time I run the slide in/out. This is such a stupid design, running a 1200 pound slide across a 3/4" wide plastic strip on top of plastic coated fiber material.

This particular slide is about 14' long and both ends of the wear bar are collapsing. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to add rollers at the ends. I probably need the 1/2" rollers, but I need to find out. With that in mind, if I add rollers what are they being screwed into. Is there a metal plate below the slide? Has anyone seen one of these trailers before the slides were installed?

[Wingerdinger]

I would not put less than 5 rollers in 14'. All the weight rests on those rollers, and I've heard of people having trouble when installing less.
They are pretty easy to install, the bracket is 'L' shaped, and rests on top and against the slide opening. I watched a few youtube videos, and got the idea, and went for it. Each install seems a little different. Mine had a wood top, seemed like 1/2" plywood, with a thin metal facing, so of the 5 fasteners used in the bracket, the two uppermost hit the plywood edge, I used deck screws. The lower 3, I ended up drilling out for a heavy pop rivet. They are very secure.
End the headache, and install the rollers, it is a huge upgrade.

[toolman.dustin]

Originally Posted by Wingerdinger

I would not put less than 5 rollers in 14'. All the weight rests on those rollers, and I've heard of people having trouble when installing less.
They are pretty easy to install, the bracket is 'L' shaped, and rests on top and against the slide opening. I watched a few youtube videos, and got the idea, and went for it. Each install seems a little different. Mine had a wood top, seemed like 1/2" plywood, with a thin metal facing, so of the 5 fasteners used in the bracket, the two uppermost hit the plywood edge, I used deck screws. The lower 3, I ended up drilling out for a heavy pop rivet. They are very secure.
End the headache, and install the rollers, it is a huge upgrade.

Well, now I'm adding the rollers. *After several more hours of researching and calling *vendors, I've come to the conclusion the wear bar is guaranteed to fail, eventually. *I contacted BAL (designers of the AccuSlide system) and confirmed the height of the rollers are designed to just barely clear the 1/2" wear bar or 3/4" wear bar (depending on which bar you have). * *This is important, because if you raise the slide more than this amount then your cables won't be pulling straight in/out so you'll have to re-adjust the pully mounts. *so, the 854304 roller replaces the 1/2" wear bar.
the 854303 replaces the 3/4" wear bar. * *BAL phone number: 877-557-7788

I ordered my rollers from COLAW, price was $8.59 each. phone *417-548-2125 *You have to call them, the part was not listed on the website. *Most other places were between $20 and $25 but had none on stock. *I'll mount these with #12 self tapping screws.

Several websites recommend the Lippert J-36 roller as a replacement for the 1/2" wear bar. *The problem is, the J-36 roller is 1 1/16" tall and will raise the slide about 9/16" above the 1/2" wear bar, leaving a 9/16" air gap the full length of the slide. *

At 3:02 in this video you can get a good view of the wear bar assembly. *Notice the seal is part of the wear bar assembly and that's why getting a good view of the wear bar is so difficult, you can't remove the seal to see what you're doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgGEWmeojN0

Here's a good video to get a view of the entire AccuSlide assembly. *The good news is there is a metal frame inside the wall of the trailer to screw into. *I cut out a small section under my wear bar and actually confirmed the metal frame is there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMQS8jbAnNU

Lastly, by pushing the slide all the way out and raising the slide with the jack very close to the outside wall I was able to raise the slide about 1 1/8", or about 5/8" above the wear bar. *I can now see the screw that is holding the wear bar in place is a #3 square drive screw. *I still need to either figure out how to tighten the screw or cut it off or maybe the roller will take the screw out of the equation once installed.

My trailer is a 2018 model, purchased in 2019. *I'm really surprised this wear bar has failed so quickly. * Less than 2 years of use. *If I had to do it over I'd make installing the rollers one of the first things I did after purchase.

[toolman.dustin]

I found a way to tighten those wearbar screws and cut out sections of the wear bar to install the rollers.

I created an offset sawsall blade by welding a blade on top of an old blade to raise the cutter blade about 1" to better reach under the slide to cut sections out.

To tighten the screws you can drill a 1/4" inch hole into a scrap piece of metal, heat it red hot then drive the hex head driver bit into the hole. Then plunge it into cold water to shrink the metal around the driver bit. I welded mine in place but I suspect epoxy would work just as well. The finished tool was 1/2" tall and 7" long. I put a #2 square driver on one end and #3 on the other end.

[007matman]

Great idea!! That's great advice!

[Wingerdinger]

Originally Posted by toolman.dustin

I found a way to tighten those wearbar screws and cut out sections of the wear bar to install the rollers.

I created an offset sawsall blade by welding a blade on top of an old blade to raise the cutter blade about 1" to better reach under the slide to cut sections out.

To tighten the screws you can drill a 1/4" inch hole into a scrap piece of metal, heat it red hot then drive the hex head driver bit into the hole. Then plunge it into cold water to shrink the metal around the driver bit. I welded mine in place but I suspect epoxy would work just as well. The finished tool was 1/2" tall and 7" long. I put a #2 square driver on one end and #3 on the other end.

I guess I was lucky. When I raised the slideout, one end at a time, I had probably 1 1/2", maybe 2" clearance. I was easily able to just stick my (Ridgid cordless) sawsall over the top of the bar. I used a long blade. It worked much better than expected, and a whole lot better than these things usually go for me.

[toolman.dustin]

Originally Posted by Wingerdinger

I guess I was lucky. When I raised the slideout, one end at a time, I had probably 1 1/2", maybe 2" clearance. I was easily able to just stick my (Ridgid cordless) sawsall over the top of the bar. I used a long blade. It worked much better than expected, and a whole lot better than these things usually go for me.

I have my slide all the way out when I lift and that may be why I don't get much gap, think isosceles triangle. I bet if I move the slide in much further I can get way more gap. I'll try that tomorrow.

[Wingerdinger]

Originally Posted by toolman.dustin

I have my slide all the way out when I lift and that may be why I don't get much gap, think isosceles triangle. I bet if I move the slide in much further I can get way more gap. I'll try that tomorrow.

yes, move it in at least a little. You are probably catching the trim on the inside top, and I found that was very close to the carpet on the inside. Just 3-4 inches, and you still have plenty of working space.

[KECoats]

Originally Posted by toolman.dustin

I found a way to tighten those wearbar screws and cut out sections of the wear bar to install the rollers.

I created an offset sawsall blade by welding a blade on top of an old blade to raise the cutter blade about 1" to better reach under the slide to cut sections out.

To tighten the screws you can drill a 1/4" inch hole into a scrap piece of metal, heat it red hot then drive the hex head driver bit into the hole. Then plunge it into cold water to shrink the metal around the driver bit. I welded mine in place but I suspect epoxy would work just as well. The finished tool was 1/2" tall and 7" long. I put a #2 square driver on one end and #3 on the other end.

GREAT job! We all do what we gotta do. Your shop is better equipped than my garage. Glad you got it.

[toolman.dustin]

Originally Posted by Wingerdinger

yes, move it in at least a little. You are probably catching the trim on the inside top, and I found that was very close to the carpet on the inside. Just 3-4 inches, and you still have plenty of working space.

Moving the slide in a few inches helped quite a bit. I was able to raise the slide another inch. Using the tool I made I was able to tighten all the screws about 1/4" turn, all of them. The screw is a #2 square drive (not #3 as I posted earlier). The screw that was too tall and rubbing the bottom of the slide was on the end of the wear bar and took almost 2 full turns. I cut out
five 4 3/4" sections of the wear bar on both of my 12' long slides and my rollers should arrive today from Colaw. I should have ordered two more for the bedroom slide and gotten this all over with at the same time.

Thanks to those who have provided input and insight to helping resolve this latest problem.

[toolman.dustin]

The rollers make a huge difference. Even when it was new I hated opening the slides. The motors really sounded like they were working hard. I've held my breath every time hoping nothing would break. No more groaning, just rolls in and out with little effort. I put 5 rollers on each 12' slide, spaced about 34" apart.

I was curios to compare the height of the roller vs the thickness of the wear bar. Just like the lady from AccuSlide said, the roller is ever so slightly higher than the wear bar. My wear bar was .5" and the top of the roller stands .53".

Be safe.

[Wingerdinger]

Nice post, and excellent work ,Dustin. This should inspire more people to upgrade to the rollers that should have been there from the factory.

[Lloyd]

Good job Dustin, and a nice write up.