As a follow up to my own question regarding the uhmw, or "teflon", pads on the slides, I have come up with two new pieces of information I wish to share.
My mechanic tells me in a written estimate that it will take him 12 hours of labor to do one slide, replacing the pads on both rams, at a cost of $1,620 plus parts. I haven't answered the email estimate he sent me yet, but when I do, I'll tell him to go pound salt because,
I wrote to HWH and received a reply the next day from a very informative lady in the service department telling me that if both rams needed the pads replaced, they would do the whole slide in three hours @ $90.00/hour plus $65.00 in parts, or a total of $335.00.
I also asked if HWH believed in replacing solenoids on the slides and jacks as an act of preventative maintenance because my mechanic suggested doing so, and they responded by saying that there is no shelf life on solenoids and some last forever, while some go bad in a few years. But because of this, they do not, as a general rule, replace solenoids unless they have stopped working or are leaking, and will not replace them if those problems are not present unless the customer insists on having it done.
Bob, regarding whether or not you can replace the pads yourself I think will depend on the year and model of your coach and the rams within the slides. I did not ask HWH about age or model concerning whether or not the slide has to be dropped, so that is something you may want to do on your own. HWH gave me the impression that the slide does not have to be dropped on any unit, but specifically, I know they will not drop mine because if they did, it would take a heck of a lot more labor than 3 hours. It is my understanding from others who have had the same problem that HWH will not drop a slide under any circumstances and states that if done on a unit under warranty, doing so will void the warranty. I would imagine that since they are the ones putting these slides together, they know how to repair them on the spot and can do so much more efficiently than a mechanic guessing on how to do it.
I will plan on taking my coach to HWH in Moscow, IA on my next vacation to have them repair the slide pads. They also will replace solenoids much cheaper than my own mechanic since his labor rate is 50% higher than theirs, so if I determine my jack problem that won't deploy is caused from a bad solenoid, I might have them take care of that also.