Bedroom aft slide seal replacement

Bedroom aft slide seal replacement - Printable Version

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Bedroom aft slide seal replacement - Gnawrocki1 - 09-16-2024

After 26 years, the bedroom slide seal gave out and blew out over a 3” long section. It gave perfect service, but it was time to replace as I did not want to have it taped up any longer.
I was able to go to Tom’s house to do the repairs, many thanks Tom. Tom had never done a bedroom slide, so he was very interested in helping and seeing it all go down.
Trying to follow others directions on the forum, but I ran into a snag almost immediately because mine was different than any others that were reported. Although similar in functionality of the control system, the design was different and required a few special procedures. Here is the general outline:
1.       Purchased seal, 3/16-18 rivnut driver tool, and aluminum rivnut from Newell as well as E-6000 adhesive and seal splice plate. I used a stainless flat head screw with hex drive about 1-1/4 long to mount the splice plate.
2.       Remove the bedroom shade outside the coach and place on top with padding. Due to preload, we had to tie it to keep from falling down to the passenger side wheel well. Toms lift came in real handy for this activity as well as seal re-install, I highly recommend having access to this.
3.       The valence above the bed needed to be removed. This is a 2 person job because it is awkward, I don’t recommend trying to do this by yourself. It lifts off of Newells homemade z bracket.
4.       Because my back wall could not come in 3” or so from its normal position due to interference with the closet door trim, removal of the padded wall aft of the bed was necessary to pull the slide in the required amount. There are only 2 screws that hold it in to the closet framing but the night stand and headboard had to be removed first. Other people did not have to do this step, so you may not have to depending on your build.
5.       When the access panel was removed from underneath the bed, another surprise was waiting to be found. The mechanism was a design that was different than others documentation. So I guess it is true that no two Newells are alike. The access door under the bed only left access to the limit switch that was at full extension. This made the removal of mattress, mattress board and bed lift actuator necessary. It helped having 2 people do this as well because the parts are very awkward. All that is left is the outside frame of the bed at this point.
6.       Now you have to lay on your back, and with very limited access from near the headboard you can lay on your back and see the slide “in” stop bolt and the limit switch bracket, both of which need to come off to pull the slide in for seal access. Before you remove the bolt (it holds the limit switch touch point bracket and also acts as a physical stop), you should measure from the end of the bolt the welded on bracket that holds the bolt so you will not disturb the slide adjustments. The only tool I can think of for this is a dial caliper using the depth measurement function. Take all readings in the same manner as you want consistent measurements. Nobody wants extra holes in their slide top! I was able to put a box wrench on the head of the bolt and rest it up against the bottom of the bed understorage so that would not move when I untorqued the nut on the end. Do not turn the jam nut, it is your adjusting mechanism.    When reassembling, reverify your measurement to insure you did not turn the jam nut.
7.       Don’t pull the slide in any farther than you have to for seal removal clearance. It helps to have someone look on the outside while you do this. Since it has a little delay from when you hit the retract button, go slow, very slow as you don’t want to over-retract more than you have to.
8.       Remove the seal. Since mine was original they did not use any adhesive and was a very easy removal. Remove the hose for filling and disconnect from the coach tubing above and aft of the tag axel wheel well. It has a clamp on a push on barbed fitting.
9.       In the center of the slide, you will need to cut away the seal retainer (its plastic and cuts easily with an oscilating saw) a little longer than the splice plate to allow for a transition of the seal splice.
10.   Install new seal without any sealant compressing the seal as you work your way around especially at the corners. Cut the seal long enough so that you can fold it over for the entire splice plate on itself. Measure 3 times and cut to final length only once, twice is not enough.   At the splice plate, I removed the dovetail portion of the seal (be careful not to cut too deep, there is no room for error unless you want it to leak). You don’t have to be exactly flush cut, but I would be kind of close as you want the splice plate to clear the slide on height after complete.
11.   I did a trail run of bolting up the seal plate to make sure that I was all set. Then removed seal plate.
12.   I cleaned the inside of the seal ends with rubbing alcohol to remove the powder that was in there. Then I applied the adhesive to each end of the seal, double backed the seal on itself and installed the seal plate and tightened the bolt. I was able to keep the splice plate square to the seal by using a block that was up against the slide to keep it from rotating. Mine was ½”, but depending on how far you pull in the slide yours may be different thickness. The adhesive dries pretty fast and is very runny. You should have adhesive remover on hand in case you need it. It is pretty tough not to make a mess….. Tom did pretty good with the caulking gun, he did this action before.
13.   Since there was no adhesive all the way around, I did not feel the need to goop it up everywhere, so small amounts were applied every 9”-12” or so around the seal in the groove after I pulled up a small section for a little dollop.   It is hard to control the outflow of the sealant from the tube, so be quick and waste some in a rag. It is better than making a huge mess. We used about ½ of a tube, wasting probably half of it due to dripping after the fact.
14.   We let dry overnight and reassembled the next day in reverse order.
15.   Go slow and you should be fine. Be very careful with all of your adjustments, don’t press the limit switches at the wrong time and you should not have any extra bonus holes in your slide!
Good luck

RE: Bedroom aft slide seal replacement - Jack Houpe - 09-17-2024

Looks like you got it done with ease. Did you notice if any of the seal track was loose on the bottom part of the slide opening? You just saved yourself thousands in labor. thumbs up

RE: Bedroom aft slide seal replacement - encantotom - 09-17-2024

It was fun and glen is great to work with. The plastic track was not loose anywhere

Tom

RE: Bedroom aft slide seal replacement - Richard - 09-17-2024

Very nice documentation. Thank you!

RE: Bedroom aft slide seal replacement - Gnawrocki1 - 09-17-2024

Thanks for the kind words!

I hope the documentation will help someone else. It is definitely a "do it with another" job and would take someone 2 physical days to complete, but not 2 full days.

We got stuck for a few hours trying to figure out how to get at the limit switch bracket and stop bolt. Phoning Mark M. at Newel and Richard helped guide through that step of bed tearout and wall removal. Was very glad that after bed disassembly that I could reach in for bolt removal on limit switch bracket, I did not know if something else was going to be in the way, the hole was very dark from the other side....

Now I have a better idea on how to disassemble to rebuild the slide lock pins as well.

I will be headed back to Toms to replace the saloon seal after the temperature drops a little....