Lubricating (and adjusting??) the B/R slide!

[Bill-N-Donna]

I have recently noticed a noise when opening and closing the BR slide. I figured I would remove the bed and check it out. After getting a good look inside of it, I couldn’t find anything wrong so I simply lubricated the sliding tubes with a spray can of RV lubrication. This seemed to have helped a lot from what I can tell.

On another note, I noticed the bolt at the end of the cylinder shaft (that moves the slide in and out) had what I thought to be quite a large gap on one end. My first thought was that this needed to be tightened up to the frame. Before I proceeded to do anything further I wanted to check the movement when open or closed. What I discovered was that this gap has to be there. I realized this was the adjustment setting for when the slide was open or closed. The gap was on the opposite side depending on whether or not it’s opened or closed. I just thought I would pass this along for informational purposes. Hopefully it may keep someone from making a regrettable error if trying to adjust the slides yourself.

On Edit: Photo Links Changed

[Lee F.]

I think I'd look into that a little more. The inside adjustment is locked with two nuts, and only one on the outside that isn't tightened???? Just doesn't look right to me. Since this is a hydrolic piston I'd think it would stop when the slide reaches position, and there shouldn't be any play by those nuts. JMO???

[Bill-N-Donna]

quote:Originally posted by Lee F.

I think I'd look into that a little more. The inside adjustment is locked with two nuts, and only one on the outside that isn't tightened???? Just doesn't look right to me. Since this is a hydrolic piston I'd think it would stop when the slide reaches position, and there shouldn't be any play by those nuts. JMO???

I think maybe that’s why my first thought was that it needed to be tightened up. Once I looked at it a little closer I noticed it was a self locking nut.

[CamillaMichael]

There seems to be two lines of thought on the slide "pistons." One, don't lube them. Two, lube them. Which is correct? Frankly, while it may be harmful to the piston to have large amounts of "lubrication" on them, I think it would be more harmful to have no lubrication. So, I do apply a product marketed specifically for slides. I apply the product and them wipe most of it off before closing the slide. If anyone thinks I am wrong in doing this, would you let me know? Thanks for the pics...until now, the space under the bed has been a mystery for me.

[Bill-N-Donna]

quote:Originally posted by CamillaMichael

There seems to be two lines of thought on the slide "pistons." One, don't lube them. Two, lube them. Which is correct? Frankly, while it may be harmful to the piston to have large amounts of "lubrication" on them, I think it would be more harmful to have no lubrication. So, I do apply a product marketed specifically for slides. I apply the product and them wipe most of it off before closing the slide. If anyone thinks I am wrong in doing this, would you let me know? Thanks for the pics...until now, the space under the bed has been a mystery for me.

What I was placing lubrication on was only the slide tubes. I didn’t even think about lubricating the piston shaft.

On Edit: I would be afraid that lubing the piston shaft may compromise the seal and cause it to start leaking. Just my thinking on this I don’t know.

[jimcol]

quote:Originally posted by Lee F.

I think I'd look into that a little more. The inside adjustment is locked with two nuts, and only one on the outside that isn't tightened???? Just doesn't look right to me. Since this is a hydrolic piston I'd think it would stop when the slide reaches position, and there shouldn't be any play by those nuts. JMO???

Lee, Trust me, it is correct as pictured. If you tighten the outside nut to meet the bracket that ram is going to pull your slide into the bedroom when retracting. I mean way inside the bedroom. Don't ask me how I know! If only I had read the manual on the slides before I tightened that nut I could have saved myself some work. Thank goodness I caught it before it/I did any damage. Jim

[8.1al]

The cylinders for the slides have more travel than the slides do, thus the space between the nuts. If you tighten the nuts up when the slide runs out of travel the cylinder will keep going and damage slide/wall of both.

[pineranch]

You can wipe the cylinder shaft down with a clean lint free cloth after adding a bit of cylinder fluid to the rag. It's done all the time on aircraft hyd. cylinders.
Mike

[Lee F.]

Well, now I know. I didn't realize the outside nut was self locking. It looked as though it had just backed off. I wonder why they didn't use a self locking on the inside also instead of mixing them? After working on helicopters for many years I'm not used to such crude assembly procedures. Intentionally having a threaded rod move back and forth through a hole in a metal bracket as an adjustment is strange to say the least. Oh well....

[Carl n Susan]

Reading the manuals before attempting these processes prevents doing things you later regret (RTFM). If you don't have the manuals, go the the MOC Home page and see if you can find the link(s) to an electronic copy. Lippert is pretty good about making their manuals available online. Here is the link to their instructions on adjusting hydralic slide-outs. Page 9 emphasizes the need for "free travel".

http://www.lci1.com/OwnersManuals/Slideout/Hydraulic%20Full%20Wall-Web.pdf

[dieselguy]

Although crude, the way the slides work on most all RV's is the most cost efficient way of doing it. The cylinder has to have more stroke than needed to compensate for installation differences and adjustment. If the RV manufacturers went with limit switches and the elecronics to process that signal to position the max in or out movement, the price of your unit would go up proportionately ... plus it would add more electronics to possibly fail. As stated above ... never snug up the cylinder rod adjusting nuts up tight on both sides of the push bracket on any of your slides ... there is great power in hydraulics and I guarantee you'll break something that will empty your wallet to repair.

[Lee F.]

Carl n Susan,

I couldn't find the information in your link, but I did find it here:
http://www.lci1.com/OwnersManuals/hy...20Gear-Web.pdf

Look on page 16 figure 9. It's not very clear but I think it reflects what your saying. The most important part for me was the note on the top of page 15:

NOTE: All slideout room adjustments must be performed by certified
service technicians. Adjustments made by non-certified
persons may void any and all warranty claims.

Dieselguy,

What you say makes perfect sense. I'm learning.

[pineranch]

Lee,
Since you are a rotorhead, I'm sure you cleaned many hyd cylinders. Was a rotorhead 30 years and loved almost every minute.
Mike

[Slufoot733]

Bill, I don't mean to muddy the waters on this but I ran in to the same issue. I checked the link noted by Lee above and Figure 9 shows the nuts tightened together. However, if you check this link:

http://www.lci1.com/OwnersManuals/hy...20Gear-Web.pdf

and go to page 17 you will see that there is supposed to be 2" to 3" of movement at the end of the piston shaft. Point is that SOME systems are tightened and SOME are not. Mine are not and I suspect yours should not be also.

Good luck,

KT

[Bill-N-Donna]

quote:Originally posted by Slufoot733

Bill, I don't mean to muddy the waters on this but I ran in to the same issue. I checked the link noted by Lee above and Figure 9 shows the nuts tightened together. However, if you check this link:

http://www.lci1.com/OwnersManuals/hy...20Gear-Web.pdf

and go to page 17 you will see that there is supposed to be 2" to 3" of movement at the end of the piston shaft. Point is that SOME systems are tightened and SOME are not. Mine are not and I suspect yours should not be also.

Good luck,

KT

I agree it needs to be left alone! The gap I have needs to stay as is. As I quoted in the first post; “What I discovered was that this gap has to be there. I realized this was the adjustment setting for when the slide was open or closed.”
Thanks everyone for the comments and also posting a link for the manual it can be very helpful for all of us!

[SlickWillie]

This is one of the things I need to do; fine tune the LR/DR slide. I worked on it some a few months ago. One end was low. I raised that up. I does not sit perfectly square in the side of the trailer. That means one end seals better than the other. I noticed that when we bought the unit, but the tech gave all sorts of reasons it can't be fixed. It can be fixed. I need to move it in on the rack gear on the front(only the front is adjustable in and out), then tighten the inner nut on the cylinder rod to move the entire slide out a small amount. It doesn't leak, so it hard for me to get the initiative to crawl under there and adjust it. One day.......

[CamillaMichael]

quote:Originally posted by pineranch

You can wipe the cylinder shaft down with a clean lint free cloth after adding a bit of cylinder fluid to the rag. It's done all the time on aircraft hyd. cylinders.
Mike

I read somewhere (cannot remember where)that if the exposed shafts were not cleaned occasionally, they could pit and from that there could be some leakage around the cylinder seals...that is what led me to spraying the shafts with the lubricant intended for that purpose and then wiping the shaft down. Rather than a rag, I have used paper towels to do the wipe down...think that might cause any harm (paper towel vs towel)?

[dieselguy]

Comparing aircraft hydraulic and RV hydraulic maintenance issues is in a fashion like apples and oranges. Aircraft hydraulics run at a much higher pressure and the result of failure has much greater implications. Any hydraulic cylinder rods are generally hard chromed and durable, but extended exposure to say salt air will pit them. Your maintenance schedule and approach for your RV should probably be what you feel is best for your rig. Just a note ... most cylinders have a wiper seal on the end of the cylinder barrel that helps protect the rod from contaminates to a point. On RV hydraulics, I'd doubt if you'd ever tell a difference between wiping them down with rags or paper towels. I commend the issue here as wiping down cylinder rods is not something that occurs with regularity amongst RV owners.
JMHO

[lenlin84]

Lubricating the BR or any slide with a silicone spray works for me. I agree with 'Pineranch' as far as lubing the hydraulic cylinder. I was a hydraulic Mechanic for TWA and American Airlines for 40+ yrs. We were taught that periodically Landing Gear pistons and all hydraulic pistons should be wiped down with a lint-free rag and what ever hydraulic fluid that the system uses. In this case a little fluid from the slide/pump reservior will not only clean the chrome piston shaft but lubricate it as well with fluid that will not damage the rubber seals.

[CamillaMichael]

quote:Originally posted by lenlin84

Lubricating the BR or any slide with a silicone spray works for me. I agree with 'Pineranch' as far as lubing the hydraulic cylinder. I was a hydraulic Mechanic for TWA and American Airlines for 40+ yrs. We were taught that periodically Landing Gear pistons and all hydraulic pistons should be wiped down with a lint-free rag and what ever hydraulic fluid that the system uses. In this case a little fluid from the slide/pump reservior will not only clean the chrome piston shaft but lubricate it as well with fluid that will not damage the rubber seals.

Since I carry a container of at fluid to refill the the hydraulic reservoir if needed, it would serve as a ready source of lubricant for the hydraulic shafts...thanks for the idea!