bottom bedroom slide gasket/seal failing

[sunrisetosunset]

we have an 02 2955rl that has a failing bottom bedroom slide gasket/seal. this began to happen about two years ago and has gotten to the point where there is just a short (about 1 1/2-2') section still up under the slide in the middle, the two sides of the bottom seal having been rubbed off by the in/out action. best i can tell, this seal was just stapled in when the slide itself was installed and maybe just started to give away at one point with the first staple pulling out, eventually leading to another and another until now i'm sure it will totally go little by little......i have pulled the parts that stuck out off but i really want some advice. my biggest concern is that the whole thing is going to give way and i'm going to have the slide bottom riding in/out on the carpet which i can see where the torn away parts are missing. so......these are my questions.......i am pretty sure i have seen a model a few years newer than ours and believe the gasket has been changed to a better design.......i bought a replacement gasket of original style/shape shortly after i noticed the damage happening, but elected not to try to put it on figuring that it would be more costly to do than it would be worth since it didn't seem to make any difference to the water/airtight integrity of the slide as long as i put the slide fully in or out...not a problem there. now,after a couple of years of watching it continue to get less and less.......i am willing to entertain the thought that maybe i need to do something, but what?..try to retrofit with a newer style gasket?? use the one i have??......how??.....i imagine i might want to lift the slide in the out position and somehow get my hands in there to reattach the new gasket in the same place as the old one (which i would have to rip out the rest of the way). this assumes i can even GET my hand in there along with tools/etc........have imagined maybe taking a big bottle jack like i would lift the camper with and putting a pole up from it to under the slide and have a long board on top of that that would run the length of the width of the slide to support it with a wider 'footprint'.....maybe.........biggest concern is i don't know how or what is involved in that slide......i don't want to lift the slide and somehow take it out of whatever track it might be in that allows it to go in/out....
any thoughts would be greatly appreciated......there is a local mechanic who used to work at a local dealer who is out on his own now and have entertained the thought of having him help me..advise me..whatever.......but am really hesitant to mess with this......am i making more out the unknown than i need to??....thanks in advance.......love our anna otherwise.....gary