Slide out problems

[Gutz54]

2018 Montana 3811---out slide out next to the front door does not have rollers under it like the two on the back side----just slides out over a long plastic thing that looks like it made out of the same material a cutting board is made of. The problem is the black fabric like stuff under the slide out box is wearing out--has actually some abrasive cuts all the way thru to the wood underneath...why they didn't design this specific slide-out with rollers is beyond me??? Anyway how hard is this to fix and is it a warranty thing?? Anyone else have this situation with this specific slide out ?? I saw on You tube where an RV tech actually put rollers under it . thanks

[sourdough]

You are experiencing the same problem most Keystone owners encounter with darco on the bottom of a slide. It can be sort of simple to fix or very expensive. Where is the wear and torn fabric...on the ends, in the middle or the entire length? The "long plastic thing" is a wear bar....and wear it does on darco.

[Gutz54]

The wear is mainly on the sides--esp the side next to the entrance door--it's actually wearing away some of the underlying particle board under the black fabric stuff.

[DQDick]

My understanding is that to replace the sliding boards you have to lift the slide up enough to get it out and the new one in. The reason they went that way is simple. Those are cheaper than rollers and it's all about how low is the price compared to the trailer next door on the dealers lot. If folks ever quit buying on price and instead went to buyin on quality things would change.

[WeBeFulltime]

It's been my experience that the ones with rollers are electric and the ones without rollers are hydraulic.

[Daryles]

Here is another thread on this and a different fix rather than rollers. I will Probably go with this.

https://www.montanaowners.com/forums...ad.php?t=82495

[Gutz54]

I guess we'll have to take it to a dealer and see what happened--we bought it used even though it's only a 2018--I suppose we'll get the typical run around but we'll see......Montana better get their act together ......no business can stay in business putting out defective product and think people will put up with it.

[sourdough]

It will be expensive - btdt. A solution that Keystone presented on this trailer was 8"x 1/8" aluminum strips down the ends with countersunk screws....to run over the wear bar. Now think about drilled rotors against brake pads and you can see what I envisioned, it was a no go.

If it is only on the ends I've done a couple of things, on involved completely hyperextending the slides (by the dealer). Expensive and laborious and not sure the end product was any better than some others I've seen or done. Something you might look into, that I've not done but seriously considered, are the slide skis? Attach at each end under the transition strip on the ends of the slides to hold them up. Easy raise of the slide, place the strips, screw them in and attach the bottoms. Might work. From what I've read they do. You will want to make sure you get those penetrations sealed/fixed/repaired quickly so moisture does not make its way into the slide floor.

For me, on this one, and another failure of darco, I decided to push on Keystone. A brand new MHC, first trip, ruined darco. We have one off solid bottoms on our slides now and I don't worry about darco any longer - what should be done on every new trailer.

[beeje]

All 4 slides on our 2011 unit have wear bars. They have been in and out 1000,s of times with no evidence of wear to the darco. Something else it very wrong. Maybe a screw sticking up somewhere or the slides are not correctly adjusted.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by beeje

All 4 slides on our 2011 unit have wear bars. They have been in and out 1000,s of times with no evidence of wear to the darco. Something else it very wrong. Maybe a screw sticking up somewhere or the slides are not correctly adjusted.

You know I have pondered this situation a lot over the last several years. At first I thought it was just the luck of the draw - some got a good one and some not. Further looking into it it seemed like maybe it was older units vs newer units (construction). In the end I've about determined (in my mind) that somewhere in the 2014 (maybe a year or 2 earlier) the construction of the slides (framing, walls etc.) must have changed leading to a tendency of the slide box to warp and not hold the required shape - cheaper/thinner materials. It's a shame and it's wrong as Keystone does not want to admit it but it's pretty much the deal from what I can tell.

I bought this trailer new because I did not like the GD dealer in the same town as the dealer I like. The Keystone darco construction failed on the first trip - I won't do that again and will have to "groom" the GD dealer in the future. I'm not stuck with anything that I don't want but more importantly, I just don't want to deal with a dealer I don't like...I'll have to figure that out.

[phillyg]

Originally Posted by Gutz54

......Montana better get their act together ......no business can stay in business putting out defective product and think people will put up with it.

Ha, they keep building less than great stuff and we keep buying it, so I guess their business model works. In all fairness, the other mfgrs. are no better, IMHO.

[Gutz54]

I wonder why no one seems to think adding rollers in front of the slide bar on the metal piece it as attached to would work--I saw on You Tube where a RV repair guy in AZ put the rollers on so they stick up just enough to engage with the floor of the pull out so it takes some of the pressure off the bar?? Seems like a good fix if I can find someone to actually do it??

[beeje]

I think the issues here arise from doing away with hydraulic slides. I believe on the hydraulic slides most of the weight and pressure is Guided by the steel structure of the slide mechanism itself. In other words very little weight or contact is on the wear bar

On a cable slide or schwintek slide most of the weight is riding on that wear bar.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by Gutz54

I wonder why no one seems to think adding rollers in front of the slide bar on the metal piece it as attached to would work--I saw on You Tube where a RV repair guy in AZ put the rollers on so they stick up just enough to engage with the floor of the pull out so it takes some of the pressure off the bar?? Seems like a good fix if I can find someone to actually do it??

In my mind darco is the problem. I have rollers and the darco began disintegrating on the first use. For the brief time I looked at it before having it repaired it appeared the roller was either a git out of square or the darco was possibly applied with the grain maybe a bit crooked. Did not have/take the time to delve into it before it was all taken care of. Both rollers did begin pinching/twisting the darco right off the bat. Rollers seemingly would take care of the issue but I don't think darco is strong enough to stand up to any long term abrasion resistance.

[Montana Man]

Mine does the same thing to the point of gouging the floor. That wear bar is held on by staples that pulled out and causing the damage. I ended up laying down a 2x3 sheet of lexan on the floor. The slide slides over it and not the linoleum. I see no way to fix it properly but to remove the slide and go from there.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by Montana Man

Mine does the same thing to the point of gouging the floor. That wear bar is held on by staples that pulled out and causing the damage. I ended up laying down a 2x3 sheet of lexan on the floor. The slide slides over it and not the linoleum. I see no way to fix it properly but to remove the slide and go from there.

As I was told by my service manager, and it makes sense, to replace the wear bar does require pulling the slide out of the hole. On the 1st darco repair we ever did that is what was done except it was "hyper extended" and not completely removed. It does take a lot of "stuff", folks and equipment but then you can access the wear bar. If the lexan is working I'm not sure that isn't the better way to go.

[laverdur]

You might want to try this from Lippert. https://store.lci1.com/catalogsearch...de-Out+Slicker We use them for all three of our slides. It protects the darco and the carpets in the RV.

[pitman44]

I went with this. Spray it on and let it dry. Did that a couple of times and tried the slide. In and out very smoothly. Now I spray it on a couple times a season. Make sure to let it dry before using the slide.


https://www.amazon.com/WD-40-Special...ustrial&sr=1-3

[woodman]

A couple of us at our RV resort were experiencing problems with scuffing or black marks on our transition carpeting or linoleum from the large hydraulic operated slide-outs. The black marks deposited on the transition carpet and linoleum came from glue residue and bits of the black plastic from the OEM slide-out skis. Eventually, we found a large piece of black plastic and then another. So, we purchased the AP Product sled pack to buy some time.

Both Lipperts product and AP work the same. Below is an Amazon link to AP, if you're interested.



https://www.amazon.com/AP-Products-0...6102476&sr=8-2


Our dealer recommended replacing with the OEM plastic crap. We said, "No". We found a link to Duo-Form skis, which are an aftermarket product that's thicker and wider than the OEM, thereby partially addressing the issue. They cost about $81 shipped and are made by a company located just 8 miles NNE of Elkhart, Indiana. We found a reputable RV repair shop and had them installed, took a couple hours. The staff at the repair shop recommended we continue to use the AP portable skis as insurance. We have 3 slides on our 5th, which is now 4years old, and all the Darco material looks in excellent shape. No wear whatsoever. The slide out issue involved only one slide. I think the problem is two-fold, 1) the slide needs some adjustment and 2) the OEM skis are crap, thin plastic. As long as we have good moisture seal, I'm leaving it alone. I also believe that slide adjustments are often beyond the scope of most RV dealerships. We seemed to have solved the problem because it's working great now.

[Old Okie]

I have a 2017 Montana High Country 305RL I bought new, equipped with the AccuSlide cable actuators. I was having some other problems with the kitchen slide (one side rubbing floor upon retraction and a displaced (rotated) lower right outside cable attachment angle bracket), so I checked this slide and the others to see if I could figure out what was going on. I was surprised to find that the living room/dinette slide and the bedroom slide run on rollers and the heavy kitchen slide ran on a wear bar.

I checked several YouTube videos then contacted AccuSlide, a sub of BAL, which is a sub of Norco, who evidently makes the slide. They replied promptly and recommended some adding rollers they'd specifically engineered for adding to Keystone trailers with the wear bar only slides. They also recommended a specific YouTube video to watch that specified parts needed and showed the guy installing them (you do have to jack up the slide enough to get it off the wear bar). They attributed the slide's rubbing the floor to a cable adjustment problem and gave me detailed instructions for adjusting them (after adding the rollers).

Bottom line, my brother-in-law did most of the work in less than a day, the slide works great, is level and doesn't rub the floor. However, the process wasn't without it's problems.

First, I had to "fix" the outside cable bracket problem which didn't bend but rotated into (bent inward) the side corner of the slide. I did this with some aluminum shims and longer screws, and it seems to be working. It appears to have either had a lot more force applied to it than the other cable attachment points or there is some sort of structural weakness at the attachment point.

The rollers come in both 1/2 and 3/4 inch sizes to match the wear bar height. AccuSlide told me to contact Keystone with my VIN and they could tell me my wear bar height. I did and they promptly said 3/4 inch, which I ordered from the vendor Accuslide recommended (inexpensive). Then I found that the wear bar was visible on both ends from inside the trailer. It was definitely 1/2 inch, so I ordered another set.

When I watched the YouTube video AccuSlide recommended, the guy easily ran the 1/4 x 1 1/4 self tapping screws in (from the side) with his battery powered drill. His trailer was a Keystone, but not a Montana series. We had to use a hammer drill to get the screws to go in. There is definitely a metal band or something around the High Country's floor that you have to drill through. Kinda scary, but evidently no damage done and those screws aren't going anywhere!

The last hassle was that the Accuslide instructions for adjusting the cables required removing the decorative fascia from the front of the slide, since the adjustments have to be done with the slide completely out, leaving no room to work behind the fascia. Of course, the fascia is just power brad nailed on, so it helps to have a power brad nailer to put it back.

I've included a pic of the installed rollers as well as one of the exposed wear bar.