[scottz]

Ok, I’m done with this project. The most important thing I learned (thanks Chuck) was that these gear packs need to be serviced periodically. All four of mine were tight; the end pieces with the bronze bushings took a small hammer to come off. After disassembly, cleaning, removing all the factory paint, and greasing they spin freely.

The second issue is the gear/track alignment; don’t get crazy over this. I think they were probably ok. Keep in mind these gears are not powered; they just keep the slide square as it moves. However, as long as I had them apart, I fixed it. I did this by installing a large washer on the outside of each white guide wheel. This eliminated the space where the gear could move on the shaft. With less space for the gear to move on the shaft, I had to be careful not to over tighten the bolts holding the gear pack to the frame mounts; that could have made it too tight for the guide wheels & gear to move. When I disassembled, I noticed the bolts were not very tight; they don’t have to be. I put them back with a little blue Locktite and made sure everything was free to move. When you are done, you should be able to put a box wrench on the head of each bolt and turn it with little resistance.

My slides work better than when it was new. The have always squeaked and groaned while in motion; not any more.

Now to address the original reason I climbed under here; installing the plastic slides to stop the Darco from wearing out.