Slide - Side to Side Alignment

[Endlesssummer]

Hello- I have a dinette slide alignment issue on my 07 Fleetwood M31. The very top left side is starting to rub on the body which is causing the seals to jam and pulling apart. I don?t know when this started but while I was inspecting the seals I noticed the very top left seals were stuck between the body and the slide.
The motor home is perfectly level. The vertical sides of the slide are plumb. However it looks like the Vertical side of the body on the left side is out of plumb.
Is it possible that the body has shifted and causing this problem?
Thanks

 

[Frank B]

There is so much variation on slides that it is hard to know.  However, FWIW, your unit seems to have the same dual-rack Power Gear slide mechanism that our 2010 Arctic Fox has.  While ours continues to work, I notice that the nylon glides bolted to the outer edge of the trailer floor that the slide rides up and over are wearing, and more on the motor side (front of our unit).  This could cause the slide to be lower where the glide is wearing, and this might cause binding of the rubber wipers at the top leading edge of the slide.


On our unit, I can see the wear on the dinette glide with the slide fully out, and by lifting up the carpet attached to the slide itself.  It is just a flap of carpet that covers over the joint between the slide floor and the trailer floor.



So, just for what it is worth....

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

It is probably that your Fleetwood coach has a Power Gear rack & pinion slide mechanism. With that system, it is possible that the gear track on one end has jumped a cog and the slide is moving in/out at a slight angle. Watch as it closes to see if one side reaches full-closed before the other - it may only be a 1/2". That small angle causes slightly more wear on one side (larger angles may actually jam before full open/close).

It's also possible there is some extra drag on one side, as Frank B described. Sometimes the drag is just a relatively poor fit at the factory (human assembly error). Your coach is 14 years old, so some wear is likely to be evident by now and a tiny misfit  will cause the wear to appear in one place before another.

 

[Endlesssummer]

Great comments- I will survey the possible issues mentioned and report back. What's throwing me off a little is that when the motorhome is level with slide fully extended. I checked with a level in hand both the vertical sides, top and bottom and it was within 1/8? of plumb and level. I know everything has tolerances so as Gary mentioned the age of my motorhome is now showing excessive tolerances that are now visible.
Thanks again for the comments

 

[Endlesssummer]

Hello- I checked the vinyl slides the best I could and found them to be evenly worn and did not look too bad.
With the slide almost closed I put a level on the bottom of the slide to see if it was out of level. It was level.
So I continued to close the slide as Gary suggested and the top made contact first with the bottom needing about 3/4?-1? more to fully close.
I'm not sure if these findings solve anything.
I have attached a picture of the upper left corner.
Thanks

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

On a rack & pinion gear slide, it's normal for the top to close slightly ahead of the bottom. That assures the slide is pulled in for a tight seal as the gears on the bottom pull it in the last 1/2"-3/4".

That crack in the upper corner of the sidewall looks ominous!

If you measure from the slide to the sidewall, is the spacing consistent or narrower at the top than the bottom? Same square or tilt on both sides?  That would tell you if the slide is canted within the opening and whether adjusting the slide train would help any.

 

[Goodspike]

It would help to know the type of slide.  I think yours is too old for this, but the modern Lippert slides you're supposed to hold the button in for a couple of seconds after it reaches the full end of movement.  That aligns things.

 

[Endlesssummer]

It is a rack and pinion Power Gear assembly. The left side off the slide is square to the bottom in other words it's plumb with a level. The gap on the left side varies from 1-1/2? at the bottom and 1-1/8? at the top.
So it's looking like the side of the body is not level to the slide. I know there are tolerances so maybe the whole slide needs to be shifted to the right so the gaps are working OK with the seals.
Your thoughts
Thanks