Lippert Rack and Pinion Lubrication

[K_and_I]

As the title says, I have a Lippert rack and pinion slide on my 2011 Rockwood 2604. While washing it to put it to bed for the winter, I notice both slide skis are cracked. I have news skis on order, but during some investigation as to how the slide works, I found I have a slide strip (plastic/nylon?) that the bottom of the slide rides on vs rollers. The bottom of the slide has what appears to be a fiberglass panel that slides on the slide strip. The panel is getting some drag marks on it. I wondered about possibly waxing the slide strip and the fiberglass panel to make it slide with less friction. Has anyone done this? I saw an article about slide lubrication at RVEnthusiast Magazine about lubing both. They advocate spraying Blaster Dry Lube with Teflon on both where they meet. I can see where this would do a good job of lubricating, but have concerns about the lube rubbing off on the carpet inside the camper. If I am going to do something, I would like to do it when I have the slide jacked up to replace the skis. I am open to suggestions, as this is the first time in the 11 years I've had this camper that I had to do anything to the slide.
TIA

 

[TitanMike]

Some dry-slide type lube on any sliding surfaces should help keep operating effort to a minimum on the slide-out. I would put nothing on the main slide bottom as it will either make a mess on the floor, pick up blown dust/dirt when extended, or possibly damage the bottom material.

That said the only areas I'd lube on the frame rails at each end that ride in the bottom corner of the opening in side walls.

An often overlooked area that needs lube is the side plate bushings on the Gear Cluster (The pinions that engage the rack on the support rails). They are exposed to road dust, dirt, and wet spray that might contain snow melt chemicals. To properly lube it's necessary to jack up the ends of the support rails )only an inch or so), remove the Gear Cluster, then move side-plates out a half inch or so on their shaft. Then spray with a drying silicone type spray, working the side plates back and forth until totally free.

DO NOT use grease or any non drying spray lube as it will just become glue-like from all the road grit/dust.

I had to completely replace my Gear Clusters as I found out the above the hard way. Now it takes only 5-6 amps to run my 10' slide in or out. Before it would dim the lights.

My Slide is a "Flush Floor" type and when riding in/out the slide bottom runs on a narrow metal strip and strip of carpet. I found it helps to keep both the metal strip and carpet clean with a good vacuuming regularly.

 

[K_and_I]

Some dry-slide type lube on any sliding surfaces should help keep operating effort to a minimum on the slide-out. I would put nothing on the main slide bottom as it will either make a mess on the floor, pick up blown dust/dirt when extended, or possibly damage the bottom material.

That said the only areas I'd lube on the frame rails at each end that ride in the bottom corner of the opening in side walls.

An often overlooked area that needs lube is the side plate bushings on the Gear Cluster (The pinions that engage the rack on the support rails). They are exposed to road dust, dirt, and wet spray that might contain snow melt chemicals. To properly lube it's necessary to jack up the ends of the support rails )only an inch or so), remove the Gear Cluster, then move side-plates out a half inch or so on their shaft. Then spray with a drying silicone type spray, working the side plates back and forth until totally free.

DO NOT use grease or any non drying spray lube as it will just become glue-like from all the road grit/dust.

I had to completely replace my Gear Clusters as I found out the above the hard way. Now it takes only 5-6 amps to run my 10' slide in or out. Before it would dim the lights.

My Slide is a "Flush Floor" type and when riding in/out the slide bottom runs on a narrow metal strip and strip of carpet. I found it helps to keep both the metal strip and carpet clean with a good vacuuming regularly.

Mike
Thanks for responding. I do have an area I'm unclear about in your response. The bolded area above, I'm not sure what you mean. Can you clarity?

I'm a little (OK, a lot) OCD, so I've been researching the gear pack lubrication all morning. I did find a video put out by Lippert that shows what you are talking about:

The biggest problem I'm having is that my 2011 slide gear packs look a little different:





They have the gear and wheels on both sides, but not the side plate on the outside of each side, with the 2 bolts holding the plates together. I haven't pulled either gear pack out yet, as I like to get my ducks in a row before I act (OCD). I intend, unless I find them to be too worn, to lube them and put them back in. In the Lippert video, he uses WD40 Special, a quick drying silicone lube, which I will probably use.
How often do you lube yours? Is it a yearly maintenance item, or...?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[TitanMike]

When your slide is extended look at the bottom. On the ends fore and aft (front and rear of trailer) there is a steel structural member, In mine it's about 2" wide. When slide is retracted (again, on mine) this steel surface rides on a "plastic" block in the corner. Look at the metal surface and see if you see scuff marks where it rides on the block. This surface, along with the bottom of the floor (on a flush floor slide like mine) needs to be clean and some dry slide lube helps. It and the metal strip from front to rear of opening support the slide as it passes through the opening and the rails that are supported on the end rollers of the gear cluster support the outer end.

If the gear teeth don't show any wear they don't need to be replaced but if the polymer rollers on each side of the pinion gear show wear, letting the edges of the rail drop to the bottom of the tube they nest in, the gear cluster needs to be replaced. I don't think Lippert sells them separately.

For information purposes the gear clusters are available from Amazon as well as Lippert's parts store.

 

[K_and_I]

When your slide is extended look at the bottom. On the ends fore and aft (front and rear of trailer) there is a steel structural member, In mine it's about 2" wide. When slide is retracted (again, on mine) this steel surface rides on a "plastic" block in the corner. Look at the metal surface and see if you see scuff marks where it rides on the block. This surface, along with the bottom of the floor (on a flush floor slide like mine) needs to be clean and some dry slide lube helps. It and the metal strip from front to rear of opening support the slide as it passes through the opening and the rails that are supported on the end rollers of the gear cluster support the outer end.

If the gear teeth don't show any wear they don't need to be replaced but if the polymer rollers on each side of the pinion gear show wear, letting the edges of the rail drop to the bottom of the tube they nest in, the gear cluster needs to be replaced. I don't think Lippert sells them separately.

For information purposes the gear clusters are available from Amazon as well as Lippert's parts store.

Mike, Thanks again for responding. I appreciate your assistance. I see why I was having trouble following you- your slide is made differently than mine. You have "steel structural members" at the ends of the slide. I have plastic slide skis. These skis run on a plastic or nylon slide trip that runs front to back of the slide opening. The skis and the fiberglass panel on the bottom of the side bear on this plastic slide strip.
Here are a couple pictures of the slide ski.




Here are a couple pictures of the slide strip.





I have new slide skis ordered and plan to replace them. I was thinking about using wax on them and the slide strip to reduce friction. I use a boat gel coat wax on the trailer, and was impressed with how slippery the surface is after waxing.
I plan to remove one of the slide gear packs next week to see if the wheels and gears are reusable or need to be replaced. If I need to replace them, I'm not sure what to use. I guess I'll call Lippert to see if the wheels and gears out of the new gear packs are compatible, but I don't need most of what they sell as a gear pack. As my trailer was made before 2013, I probably need an 18 tooth gear which is sold separately (at additional cost). I can't use the 15 tooth gear or the side plates. I guess I'll see next week.
Thanks again for your help.

 

[K_and_I]

Well, I may be out of luck. I pulled the front slide gear off and cleaned it up. It looks OK, so I had planned to reuse. The one wheel likewise looked OK, but the other one has a hairline crack in it. I got in touch with Lippert, and we determined that it is a Power Gear slide unit, which they now own, but the parts are no longer available. As the gear pack attachment to the slide is no longer used, if I wish to replace parts, I have to have someone cut the old slide out and weld a new through the frame unit in place. I have researched enough to find what the part numbers are, but an internet search comes up empty. For now, I'll put the old wheel back in and hope for the best. Bontrager's Surplus RV Parts is looking through their stuff to see if they have something that matches, so maybe there is some hope. I don't know what this wheel is made of. The thought occurred to try some acetone to see if I can melt the break together. Any thoughts?
Crack is at 12:00 on attached picture.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Camp20144]

Replacement roller

Something to consider would be Grainger or McMaster-Carr or similar type supply houses. Very unlikely they would have that specific part/number. But they may have a roller of the same/similar dimensions.
I’ve made many repairs looking for replacement parts using parts totally unrelated to the project at hand because too old, discontinued, or… - not available.
May be worth a try while you wait to hear from the “boneyard”. Far cheaper $$ than the major RV repair shop installing a new system. This part search costs time that you may or may not have/wish to spend.

 

[K_and_I]

Camp20144
Thanks for responding. I guess I wouldn't know where to begin to find a wheel like that, especially when I don't know loading, etc. I do have more time than money, though, so maybe I should give it a try. At this point, I am putting the old stuff back in hoping for the best. I don't want to leave the slide jacked up as I won't get a chance to look at it again until Thurs at the earliest. If the rv boneyard finds something, it's a 15 minute job to get the old back out.

 

[Camp20144]

If you have a bricks and mortar Grainger nearby take it with you and stop in. If the counter people have been around awhile they may have suggestions if they don’t have similar. Tell them what it’s out of and the function it performs. They may have an idea of the material it’s made of.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Often times you have to politely get them out of “why did you come here, we don’t sell those”. I usually put it to them as this part is no longer available and I’m looking for a suitable replacement and thought you might have something or have suggestions as to where I might find similar.

Before you re-install take lots of good pictures of it holding a tape measure or similar next to it. Or, a dial indicator if you/friend has one. O.D., I.D. Width of surface etc.

 

[K_and_I]

I think there is a Grainger in town, but I've never been there, so not sure. I went ahead and put them back in. The biggest reason being, I was using a bottle jack to lift the rack off the gear enough to get it out, and I know the jack bleeds off slowly. I wanted to get the back set off to see what kind of shape they are in, and needed the jack anyway. As a twist to the plot, both back wheels had the hairline crack in them at the same location as the front one (there is a single digit number on the wheel and the crack runs over that. I decided to take a better look at the front one that I didn't think had the crack, and it has it, too at the same place. So maybe it's there by design. In any case, I'll probably keep an eye on it and use what I have. I did learn a lesson through all this- I was using Thetford Premium RV Slide Lube on the slides when they got noisy, and that stuff had built up to the point there it took me a long time to get it cleaned off. I had to scrape with a putty knife, then scrub with mineral spirits. I won't be using that again.
Anyway, thanks again for your help. These forums are such a great place because of helpful members who take the time to help out.