Electric Through Frame Slide is Jumping Spur Gear Teeth

[Cate&Rob]

An electric underfloor slide drive moves one end of the slide with a single electric motor, There are two spur gears on a common shaft to keep the two ends of the slide box aligned. If one of these spur gears jumps teeth on its associated rack, the slide box will go out of alignment.

The parts to solve this are available from LCI, but I would not have know about the reinforcing bracket if not for the information provided by KimD in this related thread https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...lide-wear-tabs

The attached information describes the required parts and the installation process to flatten and reinforce the "bowed" outer tube to keep the rack on the bottom side of the inner tube properly engaged with the spur gear.

Problem solved .

Rob

Jumping Slide Drive.pdf

[howson]

Cate&Rob -- is the reinforcing bracket required on both sides or just the drive side?

[Cate&Rob]

Cate&Rob -- is the reinforcing bracket required on both sides or just the drive side?

The reinforcing bracket would only be required on an outer tube that has been deformed (bowed). This could be either side, but in my case was only the drive side.

Rob

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Would this situation be caused by the deformation of the tube or the worn gear? Or......?

[TedS]

The gear pack appears to be constrained to maintain local contact with the rack as I understand the manual pictures. Unless bolts are loose, I don't see how the gear could jump off the rack.

On edit: maybe the white wear button is worn allowing the rack and tube to lift.

[Cate&Rob]

The inner tube with the rack on the lower side is kept engaged with the spur gear by the wear button inside the end of the outer tube. See the detailed discussion in the thread linked in post 1 as to what happens if this wear button is missing. Although it seems impossible for the relatively deep teeth of the rack and spur gear to bypass each other, this is what happens when the outer tube bows upward and the spur gear teeth are worn. There are service procedures to shim the wear button down from the outer tube, but this does not reinforce the outer tube where the top side is bowing upward. The service reinforcing bracket is held in place by the spur gear attachment bolts so the dimension between spur gear and rack is maintained.

Rob

[Jlawles2]

Rob, is the tube bent?

Recently I noticed that the slide ski on my sofa slide has developed a low spot where the slide sit's when retracted leading to opening issues. When the unit sits, the low spot will cause the slide to stick closed and require me to manually start the opening from the outside (6" out so) then it runs normally.

I wonder if you have a similar issue? Have you inspected the ski's and their corresponding counter parts on the inside to see if there are any signs of wear that could be leading to your issues besides the buttons?

[TedS]

Cate&Rob got it. Thank you. Looks like LCI could use a heavier walled outer tube to solve the bending.

On edit: I had to look at my slide tubes. No crowning and has two wear tabs, so not loading the center of the tube.

[emcee]

Excellent info Cate&Rob. One of my outer tubes was crowned as a result of the slide adjusted to high from the factory. I'm requesting GD send me the Lippert tool gratis. I plan to flatten the tube then remove the tool. You seem to imply that you left the tool installed after use? Not much clearance to the slide floor there.

[Cate&Rob]

emcee

Lippert sells this part as a “Slide Service Assembly” . It could certainly be treated as a tool and removed after, but the outer tube is obviously a weak point and leaving the reinforcement in place made sense to me. The reinforcing plate is much thicker than the tube wall and has three holes in it to accommodate two wear tabs or one. I did have to cut the adjusting bolts shorter to clear the floor above.

Rob

[Jlawles2]

Cate&Rob Rob, was shimming the fender skirts today with ABS plastic that I cut on the table saw and thought about your issue with the missing wear buttons. Would it be possible to take some of the ABS and thermo form it into a U shape so the reinforcing plate holds them in position?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


If you need thicker I guess the next option is UHMW

[Cate&Rob]

Jlawles2 Hi Joseph,

My slide tracks were (luckily) not missing the wear buttons. That goes back to the original thread by KimD who was able to shave one down so it could be inserted.

It is rather disconcerting that our slides operate on these "wear parts" that are not replaceable by any easy method. It does make some sense to search for a replacement method. I had some further discussion with Grand Design technical folks (former LCI employees) about what happens if the wear buttons can't be replaced. The outer tube is welded to the frame rail and this has to be cut and the outer tube extracted from the other end after dropping the coroplast. Then a new one is inserted and re-welded to the frame rail. Definitely complex for a small part that should be easily replaceable.

Rob

[emcee]

The outer tube is welded to the frame rail and this has to be cut and the outer tube extracted from the other end after dropping the coroplast. Then a new one is inserted and re-welded to the frame rail. Definitely complex for a small part that should be easily replaceable.

Rob

Yes that's a major effort to replace the wear tab. I think I would just force a crown tall enough to insert the new wear tab, then flatten the tube again using the tool.

[mrdezine]

We had the same issue and had a shop in Livingston, Texas look at it. They shimmed the bars in the mechanisms which helped it go out more evenly. Before that, one side was dropping before the other side and acting like a lever to throw off the timing. The slide has the living room hutch and table with chairs on it but it was "unbalanced" when it extended and retracted.