Broken and cracked cable guides

[Davidceder]

The plastic cable guides (my term) under my dinning room and living room slides are cracked. These are the guides that collapse and expand (bow and unbow) as the slide opens and closes and carry all the necessary cables that run between the slide and the main rig. This is the second time in 2 years that the dinning room slide guide had cracked (in the same place) and the first time for the living room. The dinning room guide has a lot of cables it is holding up because all my entertainment is in the slide (TV, Radio, Fireplace). The living room carries less but my kitchen is in that slide. This time when the dining room guide cracked it snapped the tie wraps holding up the cable bundles. Thus the bundles fell unto the slide track and several were severed when the slide closed. I was lucky that I had my coax connectors and compression tool as it cut my TV coax. The other wires were speaker wires that I spliced together. You might want to inspect your guides if you have a similar set up. I was able to jury rig a fix and make it through the summer.

I have come to the conclusion that a major cause of this problem is that on the rig side, the guide is on a pivot but on the slide side it is hard attached with two screws and the guide material is just not up to the task, maybe too brittle. The solution I came up with but have not yet implemented is to put a gate or door hinge on the slide end and attach the guide to it. This will allow it to bow and unbowed without so much stress. If anyone might have another ideas or suggested fixes, please feel free to share.

I do want to point out that I have been treated very well by FR. Both Gary and Robert have been very helpful. Even though I was 30 days over my two year warranty they have agreed to repair the unit under the warranty. I know we all are rough on FR sometimes but I have always been treated well by the warranty dept.

[DaveSchwartz]

I have exactly the same failure. Good to hear they are covering it... I'm still early in my second-year warranty but the dealer wasn't sure. So far, I'm just using a bungee to support the bundle while travelling. In my case, the bundles don't rest on the slide tracks so they're just hanging a little low and still have enough room to fold up without severing any.

[Davidceder]

Hay Dave;

I used some bailing wire to support mine. I know that it will continue to happen unless something new comes along. I asked FR if there was a more robust solution but I haven't heard back nor do I expect to. Need something to pivot on the slide end. Still intend to try my hinge solution if nothing else comes up. Don't know what else to do.

[DaveSchwartz]

When the service manager said he wasn't sure if FR would cover that under the second-year warranty, I said to order me one anyway because I'll need it. Since it broke near the screwed-down end, I could probably trim it square but it might then be too short.

I agree that the slide-end needs a hinge because the stress is probably just too much when open - especially in cold weather. If I replace it myself, I plan to use a stainless piano hinge.

As with you, several of the cable brackets are also broken away from the guide. Since they have no openings, the cables must have been run through them after the guide was already mounted. I don't see how they can replace the guides with the same type without disconnecting the cables and really doubt they would do that. Again, if I do it myself I will probably use zip ties.

It really should have been a metal arm like those used for rack-mount servers. Cheap, cheap, cheap!

[Davidceder]

Maybe you can make a small slit in the brackets and push through the cables. I do not remember how they did mine last time. Those are nice brackets as they allow some movement of the cables when the guide flexes. Suggest you don't make anything too tight and allow some movement. Also check where the bundles are attached to the rig just under the slide opening. They used plastic zip ties that broke. I used bailing wire to tie them up and wrapped it around the screws prior to tightening down to ensure they don;t slip. I think my jury rig is better than their engineering.........I think I will use a gate hinge as that will bring the attachment point further out. Good luck...

[NCRadioman]

Not sure how to point you at it, but if you go to my photo area/Mods (NCRadioman) you can see how I addressed this. I didn't want to have to re-cable the lines (as far as I can tell, you have to thread the cables thru the guides...), so I patched it, so to speak.

BTW - if someone could give me a clue on how to insert a link...

[Davidceder]

Radioman. Try copy and pasting the link in the body f a reply. Works for me. Interested in what you did.

[Davidceder]

I cannot find your mod/photos page.......

[NCRadioman]

OK, let's give this a try: Forest River Forums - NCRadioman's Album: Broken Flex Guide and Repair

[Davidceder]

Nice fix. Of the three breaks I have had all have been only at the attachment points, never in the middle. My hope is to only put the hinge at the attachment points. What do you think? Perhaps when I do the fix to the attachment points it will make it last longer and thus the middle might become the weak link.

What did you do about broken cable guides along the brackets. The guides that hold the bundles to the flexible brackets. Some of mine are broken. I think loose cable ties will work, maybe metal.

Any input appreciated.

[NCRadioman]

Just a thought - You might be able to take a piece of aluminum angle iron (much easier to work with and light...) "Notch" out one side to match the plastic holders (make sure to "oversize" them so the existing plastic guides will act as a bushing of sorts.) Screw this to the guides and the - I'd use cap screws/small bolts and nyloc nuts. Although probably easier, the tip of sheet metal screws may penetrate the insulation and short the wire runs. Use some oversize washers at the plastic strap penetrations.

[Davidceder]

I will give that some thought. Thanks much for all the input. I got toi believe there are MANY rigs with this issue if only the owners would look for it.

[NCRadioman]

I believe you are right. Mine gave out just over a year after delivery - new... I noticed it while doing my pre-departure check when I was leaving a CG in NC. This was on the entrance/curb side. I'm watching the other side closely.

Good luck with your "patch".

73 de W4DNA - Dave

[peterbilt]

i left the pieces the cables run through alone you can slide broke strap through them and run new strap back through screw back to body no sure what new strap was but not much

[DaveSchwartz]

Problem is that the brackets are so flimsy that the weight has broken the loop the guide slides through - the cables are still through their holes, just no longer held to the guide. Thus just sliding the broken guide out of the ones that are still intact and sliding in the unbroken one won't do anything for those.

I was napping on the couch this afternoon and a thought came to me... a few years ago, I bought a couple rolls of this with no real use in mind - just thought it looked neat and would come in handy some day. Well, now's the time. I plan to cut some lengths, loop it fairly tightly around the guide and lock the ends together with a double link (see pix). Then the loop provides lots of slots on each side to attach the individual bundles and hoses with regular zip ties.

[Davidceder]

Nice thing about the original bracket is that they were able to slide along the bracket sort of finding their own place. If we zip tie the brackets in place we loose that ability. Not sure how important that really is. Cables are different lengths sort of folding in their own manner. Leaving things loose but contained might be a way to go so as not to apply stress. I wonder if we got some original brackets, sliced the holes open and put the cable inside if that would work. Just a thought........Of course you would need to disconnect the guides so you could slip them on.

[DaveSchwartz]

I plan to leave the loops of the plastic chain tie loose enough to slide a bit and also the zip ties loose enough so that what's being held up by them can slide back and forth a bit too. Some of the existing brackets (the ones still attached to the guide) have bunched up so that their distribution isn't very even so I'm aware that things need to move.

The 'mcguivered' brackets will work just like the originals but be made of individual pieces that can be replaced without disconnecting cables.

[Davidceder]

Sounds like a plan Dave...............

[DaveSchwartz]

Okay... I've started work on the repair and have fixed the broken end.

The first picture is of the break. The end with all the holes was where it was screwed to the post on the slide end, the jagged gap is obviously the break and the other end is where I trimmed it off.

The second picture is of the finished repair. For the hinge, I used a 6" piece of stainless steel piano hinge with a few extra holes drilled to make 5 holes. Its secured to the post with #10 x 1/2" self-tapping screws into fresh material and the guide is held to the hinge with 5 1/4" bolts with 1/4" flat washers and split lock washers.

Tomorrow's job will be to replace the broken brackets with the plastic chain and zip ties. An example is shown in the third picture and I already have 10 lengths in place around the guide. There where 10 original guides but they only held cables on one side. I plan to use zip ties on both sides so there will be twice the support as before - and cables tied on both sides means that the loops can't spin around on the guide.

[Davidceder]

Hey Dave;

Good luck with the fix. Weather permitting I will do mine on Sat. I just picked up some hinges today. How wide is your guide? Looks a lot wider than mine. Mine are 3.5 and 2.5 inches. I am going to install the hinges but in December the dealer will replace both guides. I just want make sure my fix works before he does that. I am going to put on new guides that the cables pass through by slotting them. I than plan on riveting a new one and old one together along the length of the guide, sort of making a double layer. That will allow the old cable guide to maintain the cables through the opening and the new guide to slip through the bowing piece of plastic. Hard to explain but hope it works.