Slides and slide seals...spring maintenance in general

[Captain Skippy]

Pulling out the girl this week for spring (and her first) maintenance. What is the lubricant of choice here? She's been under a large metal carport type awning, a/c's covered and batteries removed. And of course the water system was winterized. I previously placed bug screens on every possible opening due to dirt dobbers. Other than slides, batteries, roof and tires what else do I need to check?

[ShooTingSTar]

I would suggest a suitable rubber lubricant. We got ours at the dealer as well as slide gear lube as well.

I would also suggest servicing the bearings yearly. Brakes pulled, inspected, bearings repacked and all put back together once everything is given a clean bill of health. But that's just me. Nothing like a wheel bearing going south in Alaska or brakes that say WHAT, YOU WANT TO STOP coming down a mtn pass.

[Megan Coriale]

When we put out the dinette slide we noticed that the rubber seal at the top corner closest to the door is torn. That slide has also started to make an awful squeal when running in/out. Two questions - how to eliminate the squeal and should we be worried about the torn seal?

[Dave and Monica]

It sounds like the bulb seal is damaged and should be replaced. It slides onto the T slot of the swipe seal and can be purchased at any dealer by the foot. The squealing noise is from the gear pack on the slide drive which needs to be lubricated regularly...2 on each slide connected with a cross shaft and run against the gear racks.

Dave

[Canyonlight]

Captain--interesting that in the Owners Manual there is nothing about slide lubricants for the rubber swipe and bulb seals. However, this thread post #3 from Mike addresses using CRC lube as recommended by GDRV at the (2015 ?) rally: http://www.mygrandrv.com/for...ight=lubricant

George, below, mentioned another lube in his post #2 and there are several others on the market and suggested on this and other forums.

Others of us and shared by Dave and Monica in post #4 of this thread recommended the baby powder method also widely used by RVrs. We use this too (see my post #20) and here is that thread: http://www.mygrandrv.com/for...ight=lubricant

The GDRV Owners Manual does specifically state that the gears/rails/tubes/etc. do not need lubrication (just wash with water and soap as needed when dirty) and notes why as wet lubes will attract dirt/grime etc.

Regarding other items to check, we de-winterize/check all appliances, water heater, outside shower, AC, furnace, lights. faucets, grey/black valves, rear electric stab. jacks, antenna, booster, water pump, check for leaks, basement water panel operation, etc. Generally anything we will or could use while camping/on the road gets the once over.

Dan

[Megan Coriale]

It sounds like the bulb seal is damaged and should be replaced. It slides onto the T slot of the swipe seal and can be purchased at any dealer by the foot. The squealing noise is from the gear pack on the slide drive which needs to be lubricated regularly...2 on each slide connected with a cross shaft and run against the gear racks.

Dave

Thank you. I will look into it and hopefully find some time to fix it in the next weekend or two. Fortunately we have a member of our campground that used to fix RVs for a living, I can probably leverage some help from him. This thread has been very interesting to me as almost all of the units in the campground I'm at have slides and I have never once seen anyone lubricating the slide seals, let alone the slide mechanisms.

[Cate&Rob]

Slide squeal . . . according to the GDRV techs at the Elkhart Rally, this is from the main rails rubbing against guides within the trailer frame. They cycled ours in and out several times while spraying the rails with CRC lubricant and the noise went away . . . for a while. The technician did offer that the "right" way to fix this would be to drop the underbelly and lubricate the guides.

Slide out wiper seals . . . this came up at the Rally tech sessions and the LCI rep was very clear that they don't want anything used on these seals. This is probably why there is no mention of this is the manuals. His reason was that the seal material is "self lubricating" and any sprays or even baby powder would be detrimental to this ability. Not saying that I agree with this . . . just forwarding the message.

Rob

[Canyonlight]

Rob--I saw where you had a thread started in 2015 on your squealing slide if I recall correctly......I take it you are still dealing with that or ?

Gotta love it.......at the same GDRV Elkhart rally (maybe different years) LCI says use nothing on the rubber seals but GDRV said to use CRC.......left hand right hand anyone. Your comment on nothing in the manual makes sense to me as well but I wouldn't take that to the bank.

Hey Rob, just for entertainment purpose only, at this years rally, see if you can find any two people who can explain (in the same fashion) self lubricating seals and how they work.....that should clear things up !

Dan

[Cate&Rob]

Dan - The slide gear squeal comes and goes. When it starts to squeal, I do exactly as the Rally techs did and spray the rails with CRC Powerlube while running the slide in and out . . . and the noise goes away (for a while). When I have to drop the underbelly for some other reason, I will have a closer look for exactly where the noise is coming from. This would seem to be a good place for a grease fitting with a tube, that remains accessible when the underbelly is in place.

Rob

[Dave and Monica]

I've had success reducing that squealing by lubricating the gear packs as outline on page 9 of the Lci1 slide out service manual...here's the link... http://www.lci1.com/assets/content/s...ice_Manual.pdf


Dave