Where does this rubber ring belong?

[Beachcamper]

Here is a new mystery, I see on the motor shaft a rubber ring that surely does not belong there. I had just finished scrubbing all the gear tracks and cylinder with hot soapy water and a brush as I do when I get back from a trip. I let all dry and applied dry silicone to the motor shaft so I could move this ring into the frame hole. I am sure it must have come from there. Exercised slide and there it is again. In the motor schematics I can’t find this part. Any ideas?

[Country Campers]

Vivian

That is suppose to be in the end of the tube that the slide actuator runs in, it is a nylon bushing that guides the slide arm inside the tube.


To add some more info the slide actuator is very dirty and should be kept clean, this is the part the moves the slide in and out, what you can see when the slide is extended. I will guess that you will have to drop the coroplast and see if you can get this bushing pushed back into place, I have not done this so I am not sure if it is doable.

Brian

[Beachcamper]

Vivian

That is suppose to be in the end of the tube that the slide actuator runs in, it is a nylon bushing that guides the slide arm inside the tube.


To add some more info the slide actuator is very dirty and should be kept clean, this is the part the moves the slide in and out, what you can see when the slide is extended. I will guess that you will have to drop the coroplast and see if you can get this bushing pushed back into place, I have not done this so I am not sure if it is doable.

Brian

Brian thank you, I will see if it is even able to get pushed back there with a long stick or something that won’t damage it. Not too crazy about dropping the coroplast. Are you saying my actuator is very dirty? I had just cleaned it…

[Country Campers]

It will be a little tough. In my picture you can see a hole at the top where the bushing goes into the tube, I think there is 3 or 4 of those around the bushing these are for the nubs on the bushing to snap into to keep the bushing in place, yours could be broke off, if that is the case you may want to clean the area very good and use a good tape to hold the bushing in place.

Brian

[Beachcamper]

Country Campers I will get to this after the holiday, would cleaning the tube when I take down the coroplast be ok using WD40? Looks like a lot of grease on that ring. In the worst case scenario and ring still keeps coming out of actuator, would I have to replace the whole motor tube?

[Country Campers]

Beachcamper

Vivian

I am not sure if the whole actuator would need to be replaced, I would ask for a recommendation from others or even Grand Design, Lippert may be a good also. The bushing holds the extension tube centered in the main tube so if it is not there I am not sure if there could be a problem or damage from that. I will reach out to GD to get an idea what they think, this will have to wait until Monday.

Brian

[Cate&Rob]

Beachcamper
Hi Vivian,

I don't think that seal is substantial enough to be a centering bushing for the inner rod. I suspect that it is simply a wiper seal to keep contamination from travelling back into the outer cylinder when the slide is retracted. I have looked through the LCI online parts site and can't find this seal as a separate part. As long as there are no wear marks on the inner rod indicating that it is rubbing on the outer tube or on contamination that has travelled into the outer tube . . . I would not worry about this. If you have the coroplast dropped for some other reason and this seal can be pushed back into the end of the outer tube and taped into place . . . that would be a good thing to do.

Rob

[Beachcamper]

Cate&Rob thank you for the good news, praying you are right. I have an email to LCI technical and also to GD. As soon as I get the replies will post their recommendations.

After the holiday as I noted above, will try to do what Brian suggested maybe take down a couple of bolts near the acutuator opening and see how close it would be to get the ring back in position . Don’t want to take down coroplast in that area lots of cables for brakes and wiring.

[Beachcamper]

First response this morning was from Lippert. Seems you guys are on the right track:

”This would need to be in place to help divert any dirt and debris from getting inside of the actuator itself. You can attempt to use duct tape to hold it in place, however, you will want to make sure that it is repaired properly once you are able to get in there.”

[howson]

Rudy should have answered this one--we found the same thing on his camper. It was as simple as pushing it back in place. I believe Cate&Rob 's description is spot-on.

[Beachcamper]

Rudy should have answered this one--we found the same thing on his camper. It was as simple as pushing it back in place. I believe Cate&Rob 's description is spot-on.

@cate&rob, @countrycampers
Today I removed a couple bolts from each side of underbelly to gain access to actuator and investigate the rubber ring placement. I first went to the dining room slide to look at that rings placement. There is no rubber ring on the actuator and the outer tube is not flared as in picture Brian posted above. I took photos for reference.

Now onto the kitchen slide, the actuator is exactly the same as dining slide there is no flare to accept a ring. As Howson posted, it slides over the outer tube, the ring has a flange that is to be pushed onto the tube like a cuff. I cleaned the tube and ring of any grease and plan to do some soap and water to get it squeaky clean before I put slide back into and put.

I hope the mystery is solved, still waiting to hear from GD to be sure. And hopefully this post will help anyone else with the same issue.

[Cate&Rob]

Beachcamper
Hi Vivian,

Thanks for the follow-up. If you get the surface that slides through the seal ring too clean, I wonder if this will pull the seal loose again?

BTW, I note that your tags to Brian & I did not work. Some combinations of computer and browser are only allowing one quote or one tag per post. This is happening me too. The Grand Design site administrators have been advised, but no fix has yet been figured out.

Rob

[Beachcamper]

Cate&Rob how do you clean your slide out gears? Lippert has always said soap and warm water. Do you lubricate the gears?

[Country Campers]

Vivian,

It looks like you have a different type of slide actuator. Yours seems to have a "gold" colored slide tube where mine and the one that I had pictured is just black. I wonder if that makes the difference in the wiper end.

Brian

[Beachcamper]

Vivian,

It looks like you have a different type of slide actuator. Yours seems to have a "gold" colored slide tube where mine and the one that I had pictured is just black. I wonder if that makes the difference in the wiper end.

Brian

What is strange is that when I asked Lippert, they sent me the schematic for exactly the same actuator you posted. I have not heard from GD and all the research I did and parts lookup were 18.1 motors all actuators same as your pictures here is what is on parts look up, the one I have I can’t find anywhere.


https://www.granddesignrv.com/owner-...ts/detail/2937