Darco under slide fraying and ripping

[Darval]

I have a 2019 Montana 330rl HC and large living/dinning slide, the darco is fraying and ripping bottom of slide where it connects to rollers. I was thinking of putting some sheet metal the length of slide and 6" wide to cover and for the only 2 rollers on the slide. I'm worried the sheet metal will get caught up on wear bar when I bring slide in. Any recommendations ?

[richfaa]

Slide is not properly adjusted.

[Ram Montana High Country]

Do yourself a favor - take a pic showing damage and email to Keystone Customer service. They need to hear from us. How many rollers are under that slide?

[Darval]

I talked to Keystone and their fix was to put darco tape on it. I have also talked with a Rv repair shop and I'm going to put some metal glides on bottom of slide to Eliminate fray. Of course I'm just out of warranty.

[ChuckS]

Instead of using metal to cover the frayed Darco I would take a long hard look at UHMW as your repair choice.. It is very slick, excellent weight load dispersion and is very easy to work with...

I've attached tow images of frayed Darco on the bottom of my hydraulic slide outs... Tape of any kind on these slides wont work because the Darco rides up onto a frame mounted wear bar that runs from end to end..

The Tape would just roll up and tear the Darco even more when it tries to ramp up onto the wear bars...

You have rollers so your repair options have some leeway but UHMW is what I would give serious consideration to..

Attached images show my frayed Darco and repair.. images form a PDF I wrote outlining the repair step by step

[Darval]

Chucks, thank you for your suggestion. Is that a hard plastic you put on then ? I have a roller it has to go through then the bend on the slide at the wear bar. I'm worried the screws and what ever I use will get hung up on the friction bar. Have you had any issues with that.

[ChuckS]

This link will give you a good overview of what UHMW is.....

https://www.interstateplastics.com/U...c&withinsite=1

The screws I chose after a lot of thought and looking at other OPs that had done similar repairs with UHMW are #10 SS wood screws 3/4 long... good grip strength and not too long to protrude thru flooring on top side

my hydraulic slide outs actually ramp up and onto a double ramp wear bar underneath the slide floor mounted inside the slide out cutout....

Image of the double wear bar.... I have seen NO evidence after at least 50 cycles in and out now with this slide as far as the UHMW strip snagging on anything... the screws were installed each with a dap of proflex on the threads to add a bit of insurance that screws would not back off...

the screw heads are countersunk about 1/32 below the surface of the UHMW.. and remember this material is ONLY .125 thick... I did not need to do any vertical adjustments to slide .. closes nice and tight on outside and inside..

[ChuckS]

Here is a pic from inside and the circled item shows both the inner and outer wear bars the bottom of the slide Ramos up onto.. fork the outside you can only see the small wear strip to the left of the pic.. the slide ramps up initially onto this and then ramps onto the much larger inner wear bar strip

To far right of pics you can see the edge of the slide out Darco and how it glides over the carpet.the UHMW strip glides right over the carpet and there are no snags, etc

[Darval]

ChuckS
Tha k you it is very helpful. Changes my entire thought of what I'm going to do. I am going to look into uhmw instead of galvanized metal. Thank you.

[hemiallen]

Great images and explanation Chuck.




Allen

[ChuckS]

Originally Posted by Darval

ChuckS
Tha k you it is very helpful. Changes my entire thought of what I'm going to do. I am going to look into uhmw instead of galvanized metal. Thank you.

I would seek the opinions from some of the OPs on here that are much more experienced than I... but to me tape over the Darco is a total waste and a stop gap repair at best. if it evens holds...

UHMW can be bought in various sizes and thicknesses... I opted for the the .0125 thick stuff because I wanted the least amount of vertical height deflection when slide out ramps up on the wear bars...

I also wanted black to try and blend the repair in better with the Darco fabric.. I ordered a piece that was 12"x36"x .0125 and ripped it into four equal strips (minus saw blade kerf cut)... This stuff cuts like butter and does not melt like plastic would...

The bevel angle I cut on the leading edge was done with a miter saw and it cut as smooth as glass...

I drilled the initial attach screw holes and counter sunk on the work bench and then temp installed to see if the concept would work

After successful test I then removed strip and drilled additional holes and counter sunk them on the bench... Really would be a bear to do the additional countersinking with strip attached and working upside down...

anyways ... you have some thoughts to work out and perhaps others with ten times my ability and experience will chime in and you can get a really good repair action plan....

Please post whatever your final results and decisions turned out to be .. it will help others down the road when they have the same issues with the Darco

[ChuckS]

NOTE.. in my case the Darco frayed damage was limited to the outer edges.. about 1 to two inches wide...

I measured the depth of the slide when extended and a 36" long piece x 2.5 inches width was what I needed to cover the outer edge on front and back of slide floor...

There is no damage anywhere else and the slide out is perfectly adjusted ( by me) ... ALso there is noting under the edge of the slide out such as a staple, screw, rock etc that caused the wear... It has been, after all 7 years of use..

I hunted around looking for black UHMW and of all places I looked this fella had just what I needed at a fair price.. I didnt need a full sheet of the stuff

https://www.ebay.com/itm/11320615491...75.c101224.m-1

[psomers]

I don't have any frayed darco now but will keep this thread in case I do. Chuck I think your choice of repair is a good one. Very good explanation. I do have one question concerning your post #9. The fellow that used the white UHMW and slide it between slide bottom and wear strip, wouldn't that cause the slide to not be level with floor and be high the thickness of the UHMW?

[Mikelff]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

I would seek the opinions from some of the OPs on here that are much more experienced than I... but to me tape over the Darco is a total waste and a stop gap repair at best. if it evens holds...

UHMW can be bought in various sizes and thicknesses... I opted for the the .0125 thick stuff because I wanted the least amount of vertical height deflection when slide out ramps up on the wear bars...

I also wanted black to try and blend the repair in better with the Darco fabric.. I ordered a piece that was 12"x36"x .0125 and ripped it into four equal strips (minus saw blade kerf cut)... This stuff cuts like butter and does not melt like plastic would...

The bevel angle I cut on the leading edge was done with a miter saw and it cut as smooth as glass...

I drilled the initial attach screw holes and counter sunk on the work bench and then temp installed to see if the concept would work

After successful test I then removed strip and drilled additional holes and counter sunk them on the bench... Really would be a bear to do the additional countersinking with strip attached and working upside down...

anyways ... you have some thoughts to work out and perhaps others with ten times my ability and experience will chime in and you can get a really good repair action plan....

Please post whatever your final results and decisions turned out to be .. it will help others down the road when they have the same issues with the Darco

Chuck, this is great information. I have the same issue. My big slide is on rollers. The smaller slides do not have rollers. They are electric cable pull. I am just starting to see wear and expect the Darco will start to shred like yours did at some point down the road. Your repair material makes sense and probably will take lubricants better as well. I try to keep my wear areas lubed to help reduce the wear, which seems to be working. You mentioned on your next repair you will try to have the bevel at 17 degrees? Might that be a little to sharp an angle and risk damaging the front edge of the bevel from being too thin? Just wondered. Sounds like this material is on the soft side rather than being somewhat brittle ? Just picking your brain. Thanks!

[Bad Moon]

Too bad Keystone cheaped-out and used the darco stuff where it didn’t show, rather than the better (more expensive) stuff they put under the bedroom slide, where it DOES show. I am leary of using screws to attach anything to the bottom of the slide, since screws will almost always eventually work loose, and rip up the vinyl floor covering. Is there an adhesive that would adhere to the product recommended above? Gorilla glue? Isocynate?

[ChuckS]

Originally Posted by Mikelff

Chuck, this is great information. I have the same issue. My big slide is on rollers. The smaller slides do not have rollers. They are electric cable pull. I am just starting to see wear and expect the Darco will start to shred like yours did at some point down the road. Your repair material makes sense and probably will take lubricants better as well. I try to keep my wear areas lubed to help reduce the wear, which seems to be working. You mentioned on your next repair you will try to have the bevel at 17 degrees? Might that be a little to sharp an angle and risk damaging the front edge of the bevel from being too thin? Just wondered. Sounds like this material is on the soft side rather than being somewhat brittle ? Just picking your brain. Thanks!

The 17 degree angle is at this point for me still a thought..I have now cycled this slide out close to 100 in/out cycles with not an issue..

The material needs NO lubricant ever..UHMW is self lubricating on its own and is super super slick.

With the slides with rollers I see NO reason why UHMW could not be used.. I have no way to verify as my slides are all hydraulic and use a double wear bar setup.

[ChuckS]

If anyone on this group would like the PDF I wrote regarding my repair of the Darco with HUMW PM me and I will email it to you.. The file is about 5.8mb in size with a lot of pics and more info on steps I used to do this repair.. The info might give someone else a better idea to improve improve what I have done

[tom woodward]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

If anyone on this group would like the PDF I wrote regarding my repair of the Darco with HUMW PM me and I will email it to you.. The file is about 5.8mb in size with a lot of pics and more info on steps I used to do this repair.. The info might give someone else a better idea to improve improve what I have done

Chuck,
after paying 5K to have my slides aligned the dark started to tear almost immediately. could you send me your PDF file. Sounds Like a good fix;
Send to; Buhwana@charter.net

Tom

[Route66Rambler]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

If anyone on this group would like the PDF I wrote regarding my repair of the Darco with HUMW PM me and I will email it to you.. The file is about 5.8mb in size with a lot of pics and more info on steps I used to do this repair.. The info might give someone else a better idea to improve improve what I have done

PM sent. Thank you.

[Daryles]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

If anyone on this group would like the PDF I wrote regarding my repair of the Darco with HUMW PM me and I will email it to you.. The file is about 5.8mb in size with a lot of pics and more info on steps I used to do this repair.. The info might give someone else a better idea to improve improve what I have done

PM sent.
Thanks Chuck