Slim Rack Repair Kit From Little-Enterprises

[bclemens]

Possibly. I know it is at least the "auto set" version.

[AZFoxes]

Ok, thanks. It works so I’m grateful and incredibly thankful but wish we got the entire prototype and now production ready fix. I’m sure those in the wild that did get the full fix are equally happy. Time will tell I guess.

[gremlin]

So I have a question for people who have gone through the procedure to set the stops which I had to do the other day. It says to move the slide in, then press the set stop button then move the slide out and press it again, and watch for confirmation.

When I moved the slide in it did just stop moving and that's where I set the stop for in, then I moved the slide out and same thing (although I don't think it was all the way out given how much space is between the frame and the wall) is that what others have done or should I be watching for some point before that?

[DW_DX3]

Originally Posted by gremlin

So I have a question for people who have gone through the procedure to set the stops which I had to do the other day. It says to move the slide in, then press the set stop button then move the slide out and press it again, and watch for confirmation.

When I moved the slide in it did just stop moving and that's where I set the stop for in, then I moved the slide out and same thing (although I don't think it was all the way out given how much space is between the frame and the wall) is that what others have done or should I be watching for some point before that?

Every time my bedroom slider loses it setting, I follow this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dDMuMwpx8Q

Its important to remember the in-stop is set first, which is not intuitive to me.

As far how I set it, I set the out-stop to as far as the motors will allow me to go for "maximum" space, and I set the in-stop to the 50% seal compression as the video recommends.

[gremlin]

I guess I wasn't clear, I used the dynamax video, what I'm saying is when I was waiting for the slide to come in, it stopped, so I was like "Oh I guess that's it then" and when it went out it also stopped (Before it should've in my opinion) so I also set it there, I wondered if people actually here it straining on the motors or something? I guess I don't understand how it's settings stops when the motors stop anyway

[jneum525]

FYI Only,
Just spoke to Robert at LITTLE ENGINEERING a little earlier. He now has replacement end brackets for the slim rack slides in aluminum. OEM is plastic.

I had purchased one of his repair blocks that makes use of the three rolled pins about a month ago. Just purchased one of the end brackets so I can carry both with me along with my two spare motors in case I have any slide breakdowns on a trip.

Hopefully I never have to use any of them.

BTW, He has two different versions. One that is flat on the bottom and one that is notched. All eight of the brackets on my Isata 3 are notched.

https://www.little-enterprises.com/s...pgrades.html#/

[Judge64]

In the last day or so, they have just added a SlimRack Repair Kit and Aluminum End Bracket Bundle.

I think I'm going to order this kit since it has just about everything you would need for a repair on the road.


https://www.little-enterprises.com/s..._BUNDLE.html#/

[jneum525]

I would just check your end brackets on your coach and see if they’re flat or notched. I’m sure you can ask him for two notched brackets instead of one of each if all you have is notched brackets.

[Judge64]

Fair point..... mine are notched.

I'm going to reach out and ask if they could include two notched instead of one of each.

Although.... I need to check the inside End Bracket to make sure it is also Notched and not Flat.

[Judge64]

Robert is pretty darn responsive!

I emailed him asking him if I could get two Notched end brackets. He emailed me 30 minutes later and he changed his website so you can pick the type of bracket you want.

I like doing business with people that are responsive and can quickly meet the customer's needs.

[jneum525]

That has definitely been my experience as well with ROBERT. Good guy and very willing to work with the customer. Very Helpful for sure.

[Paddock]

Originally Posted by mmw1124

Not sure I agree with you NXR…

...

On mine, the lower front rail is bowed in against the slide, the others are straight. Same condition when the slide is out or in.. so I think my lower front could be too long by a tooth or less..

...

Of course this is all speculation on my part….

I too continue to speculate (got'a love the internet...) that another possible root cause of slide bow and thus tension/stress is misalignment top to bottom of the rail tooth count when the whole Slimrack "kit" is first assembled for installation.

Watching the Slimrack installation video from Lippert, the step of placing the top and bottom racks into the gear cams on the rotation shaft looks like it would be easy to be off by a tooth. Assembling the whole contraption is not fool proof.

I also observe that the rails, based on the end block placement on the walls (at different distances top to bottom / inside to outside) are not guaranteed to make rails parallel, thus the cams slide up an down on the axel shaft as the box moves in and out, yet another +/-90ish angle for binding as they are forced to slide up and down on the axel shaft while under gear / rail mesh force. This also lead to taller gaps in the slide gaskets to accommodate the up down movement of the tooth rails as the box moves in and out past the gasket.

A lot of these doubts / speculations could be eliminated in the install process if the contraption had a square frame "tooling" that mounts "this whole contraption" to the box wall squarely (with tooth rails parallel to each other, perpendicular to the axel and equally spaced top to bottom / inside to outside). The added frame "tooling" could remain of be removed after the installation step (to avoid seal contact issues).

As it is now the rails can be not parallel to each other, the end cap mounts can be misaligned vertically to each other (top to bottom), and the tooth rails can be bowed, all a result when "this whole contraption" is mounted out of square/parallel.

The groaning, creaking, snap, crackle, pop noises these slide mechanisms make when in use, especially in the big slide boxes, combined with the visual "out of square" observations of these installations is why this thread continues to live on and 3rd party solutions are welcomed and eagerly embraced. The concerns are real, a better design is warranted.