RV Tip: Care for your slide and stay out of the shop!

July 27, 2011

1.57k

Hey, did you know you need to lube your RV slide out? Well, its a good idea and may just help prevent any maintenance issues.

Trust me you don’t want to be stuck at a campground for an extra day or two because you can’t retract your slide out on your RV. Follow these simple tips to keeping you slide out working smoothly.

For more RV Tips, check out our RVin page.

Tags:

How To, rv maintenance, RV tips

Jason Wynn

Famous for my "how-not-to" videos, and typically the man behind the camera, sometimes I’m forced to be here in the “spotlight”. When you see my face you’re probably reading something more technical than adventurous, but either way I do my best to tell it like it is and infuse my opinions into the commentary…after all this is a blog and not MSN.

Comments (5)

Mike
Actually the “seal” that the tech is pointing our is not a seal at all, but a wiper. The true “seal” happens when the rubber gasket around the outside of the slide compresses against the wall of the coach when retracted, and also when the gasket on the inside frame of the slide box is compressed against the inside wall of the coach when the slide is extended. The “seal” the tech points to serves to literally wipe the side of the slide from moisture and debris when retracting the slide to you don’t end up w/ water or debris inside the coach.
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Don
Baby Powder
With the slides in, get a rag and the powder, coat the inside seals.
This prevents sticking and possibly torn, chipped rubber
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- Don
  Most will tell you to spray your seals with a lubricant, what do these attract?
  Dust and dirt.
  One full timer we ran into, has a 7 year old rig, been using b powder from start, seals like new.
  How much you spending on spray?
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"...nice man from Germany"
Two questions: should the tracks be cleaned with – for example an air compressor – before applying the grease? Secondly, should the coach first be leveled before moving the slide room because the coach maybe slightly torqued/twisted because of the terrain? Bernard
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- Jason Wynn
  Most manufacturers will tell you to have the coach leveled before pushing out the slide as a precaution, but when you ask them point blank they will tell you not to worry about having the slide out when the coach isn’t level. In fact most dealers and mfrs will drive the coach with the slide out when moving small distances.
  As for the tracks I’m sure it will be fine to clean them however you wish, we just cleaned them when we washed the RV and then followed up with the lube.
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