Slide alignment - Montana Owners Club

Potvin · 06-09-2005, 05:04 PM

Hi Folks

We just came back from the Northeastern regional rally in Saratoga NY on the week-end and we had a great time. When we got back we parked our 3295Rk in the driveway. Stewart had to go out of town for a week so I decided to open up the slides and give the place a cleaning. I had no problem opening the slides but when it was time to bring them in one of the big slides only wants to come in on one end. The other end does not move. I have had to leave the slides out and wait for Stewart to return. Has anyone ever had this problem and if so what did they do

Bill and Ann · 06-10-2005, 12:31 AM

Happened to us once. It was a missing screw at one end of the slice. The slide was trying to go in but wasn't fastened to the outer wall. Have Stewart look underneath.

MIMF2 · 06-10-2005, 02:12 AM

Potvin, Have no worry! It's an easy fix! If the rooms are out far enough to seal a little, they will be OK. Have Stewart call me on my desk phone at 574-537-8900 ext 4303 at his convenience when he returns. He needs to ask for Dale. Life will be good!

sreigle · 06-10-2005, 04:17 AM

Potvin, in case you don't already know, MIMF2 (Dale Brubaker) works for Lippert, the people who built the slide mechanism. So, he knows all about these slides and will be able to help.

Lois, I really like your "favorite quote"! I think that is an apt one for us, too.

Potvin · 06-10-2005, 05:20 AM

Hi MIMF

Thanks for the speedy reply. I don’t think I slept last night worrying about how we were going to fix this problem. Stewart only returns tonight so he won’t be able to call you until tomorrow. And I am sure you will not be at your desk on a Saturday morning. We are leaving again next week with our Monty and we want it up and running. I did a little research at a post that you answered to in Feb/05. It was titled Exercising your slide rooms. Would this be the same problem that we have and can we fix it in the same way?

Regards
Lois Potvin

Potvin · 06-10-2005, 05:04 PM

Well we found out what happened to our slide. When Stewart got home he looked under and found out that a bolt had sheared off the right mechanism which operates the left. Once he fixed that we didn't have any more problems. The slide went in smoothly.

I have a question. What is better to use for lubricating the slides

Silicone

or the Dry Lube

I have read a couple of posts and I am a little confused.

Bill and Ann · 06-11-2005, 12:43 AM

That's what I thought. Same as ours. I will keep checking the bolts from now on.

sreigle · 06-11-2005, 07:59 AM

MIMF, what causes this shearing of the bolts? In other words, other than checking the bolts periodically is there something we should or should not be doing to avoid the problem altogether? Thanks.

DHenry · 06-11-2005, 09:36 AM

MIMF, what size bolts should we carry as spares? What hardness also? Thanks for all your help to all of us here on the MOC forum.

MIMF · 06-12-2005, 12:02 PM

Good afternoon everyone, just got done with another weekend at the campground with co-workers and friends. Food, beverage and a little rain. We were going to hook up my boat and head for Klinger Lake just west of Sturgi, MI. so we could have a little fun but, mother nature had other ideas.

Now, lets tend to business.

It used to be that we installed zinc-coated grade 8 1/4-20X1 1/2" long hex-head bolts. However, we are now recommending that you use the same bolt but, 2" in length. You will also need 1/4" ny-lok nuts. Those are the nuts that have the plastic insert to lock it when tight.

The shorter bolts, we found, left part of the threaded section of the bolt inside the cross-shaft. The threaded portion of a bolt is the weak area if there are two pieces of steel acting like a scissors. Eventually, it cuts thru the thread enough to weaken it and suddenly it snaps. If you use a bolt 2" in length, the shoulder is 1" long and the thread is 1" long. The shoulder is the stronger portion of the bolt and will not shear as quickly and the end of the shoulder will come out near the surface of the cross-shaft. On the smaller end of the cross-shaft, you will not be able to tighten the nut to the shaft surface. Simply bottom the nut to the bolt shoulder.

If any of you have any questions or would like to have this explained to you in more detail, please call me at my desk.

Potvin · 06-12-2005, 03:18 PM

Thanks MIMF

You have helped us greatly. It is very much appreciated. I had visions of driving down the highway to the dealers with the slide hanging out.

I am sure you have also helped other people with the detailed information. Thanks again.

DHenry · 06-12-2005, 04:01 PM

MIMF, thanks for getting back to us about the bolts to use. You are a great help.

Bill and Ann · 06-13-2005, 12:53 AM

Thanks MIMF. The bolts and nuts are on my shopping list. Once burned, twice shy.

sreigle · 06-13-2005, 07:59 AM

Thanks, MIMF. I'm going to get some spares, also.

Question for you. I suspect we have the shorter bolts in ours. Would it be worthwhile for me to replace these bolts with the longer ones before they shear? If so, can this be done without additional support for the slides? Can this be done with slides extended or do I need to retract them? I'm thinking I'd prefer to swap the bolts now rather than on a rainy or cold day when we're in a hurry to get on the road. Also, if these are shearing, ours are probably not too far from doing just that, being almost three years old.

Thanks.

MIMF · 06-13-2005, 01:44 PM

Steve,

Absolutely! Change them any time you wish. The best way to do it is to move the rooms one direction or the other just enough to take it off-seal. That way there will be no pressure wanting to push on the room and the old bolts will come out and the new ones go in easy without the holes moving out of alignment. If they do go out of alignment, you can use an "Arkansas-Fits-All" on the square cross-shaft tube to rotate it one direction or the other to lign up the holes and drop the bolt thru.

When you have one bolt remaining to insert, this would be a good time to check end-to-end distance from the wall to be sure the room alignment is OK. If not, simply rotate the cross-shaft or move the drive end in and out enough to improve the distance. It is easier to have the bolt out of the drive end and rotare the shaft to walk the passive end to match and then drop the bolt into the hole.

Everyone understand what I mean by the drive end and the passive end? The drive end is the end of the of the room with the arm that has the hydraulic cylinder attacted to drive it in and out. The passive, or some people refer to it as the following end, is the opposite end that is following due to the 1" square cross-shaft between them keeping each end of the room the same distance from the wall.

Any questions, you all know where I am.

sreigle · 06-13-2005, 02:33 PM

Thanks, Dale. I bought the bolts this afternoon. Since our slides were out of the coach and reinstalled at the service center they realigned them at that time. Right now they close more tightly against the coach than they did when new, when retracted. So I assume my changing the bolts won't throw out the alignment, right? I will, naturally, save the info for reference.

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