Slide Out Screech

[PoppaDon]

I just bought an '09 Forest River Georgetown. Of the three slideouts, two work fine, but one (living room with the table & fireplace) has a terrible screech sound when beginning it's cycle on extending out. Once it gets going it becomes quite again (like the others). The salesman at the dealership says thats normal and the sound is just fluid coming from a common reservoir. All three sound find when being retracted back into the coach. To me it sounds like something may be binding and needs to be lubed. I tried to look today and everying is covered up. Any one have any experience with this??? What was the solution???
Thanks in advance,
Don

[NWJeeper]

Don, first of all welcome to the forum.

When you open your compartments and take a look you will notice that many of them have a blank off plate at the top so that you can't see all the way through the compartment to the other side. FR is big on hiding the inner workings of their rigs. If you remove these covers you will see the hydraulic rams for the slides. You can then lubricate them with silicone lube. Do not use oils like WD40 as they will attract dust and hold it. Only use a silicone lube, it is available at Walmart for a much better price than Camping World.

A few of our levelers tend to make the same squealing sound at times but it's usually nothing to worry about. Do your slides seat O.K. when in and out? Do your decals or paint lines line up when the slides are closed?

Also I have noticed that even though most of the slide hardware is double nutted to keep things from backing out they have worked loose on ours so check all the stop nuts and adjustments to be sure they are still solid. You can find a manual for the slides on Lippert Inc. web site for these slides for more information.

For the bedroom slide (if you have the 378) there is a thin wood panel under the bed that once removed reveals the ram and mechanism for the bedroom slide.

[PoppaDon]

Thanks for the tip. I did see a plate/cover that goes all the way across to hide the internal mechanism right under the slide itself once extended but there were so many screws across it that it looked like a daunting task. But maybe I'll attempt it as the dealer is quite aways away. In the meantime I'll go to Lippert, inc.
Thanks again NWJeeper.
Don

[The Rooky]

Had the same problem on my '06 Grand Surveyor. Noise was so loud my neighbor came running over to see what happened. Took it to Pete's Camping near us. They called the next day to pick it up. Seems there is a length of half inch PVC that holds the electrical wires and protects them. This PVC rides in and out with the slide out. It is supported by two half round conduit clamps, which it rides on. The PVC had warped just a little and was scraping on the clamps. Hard to believe it could make that much noise. They lubed it real good and I have been a happy camper since them. Was relieved that it was nothing serious. Did not have to remove anything since it was all exposed when the slide is out. Just my two cents worth.

[PoppaDon]

I hope that's it. Since this slide has the electric fireplace and a tv located in it I'm going to have to check that out.
Thanks,
Don