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Old 04-28-2018, 04:40 PM   #1
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Replacing secondary slide seal

I noticed my secondary seals were sticky and looking as pictured.

So I ordered 50 feet of it from RVUpgrades for about a buck a foot with shipping.

Easy enough to pull the old seal out with a pair of pliers. You might want to clean the groove the new seal rides in to facilitate installation. No lube necessary to slide the new seal the length of a big slide.

I surmised the OEM seals were installed in the slide frame before the frames were attached to the slide. That complicated things for installing the new seal. The frames were cut at a simulated 45 degree angle so the channels almost matched but in doing so didn't leave any room to slide the new seal into the groove.

I started from the right end of the slide and removed the plastic corner cover, three screws. By removing the cap and screws the seal will pull out of the channel and at the same time allow the vertical to drop out of the way. I did the same for the other end except I only removed the upper left and lower right screw and left the cap in place.

I used a hack saw to partially cut the vertical seal channel out of the way. Line op the hacksaw blade with the bottom of the seal channel and make the cut. Use pliers to break out the two channel pieces and maybe the very top of the vertical channel. You might want to file the break points smooth to ease sliding the new seal in. No photo of this but it's a straight forward process.

I didn't bother cutting the new seal at an angle because the factory did such a ****ty job with the OEMs that a straight cut would suffice. It is a secondary seal and only works when the slide is closed. Also, the bottom of the vertical seal is open so whatever gets in there will fall out. I did leave the new seal just a little longer to overhang the abortion from the factory.

Next was to put the cap in place, slide the vertical back up to touch the new seal and screw it down. Put the screws back in on the other end and it was finished.

I had about 10 foot of new seal left over, enough to do one vertical drop but they are in decent shape. Maybe later on but the next project will be to replace the innermost seal, the one on the body of the RV that the blind installers slathered Silicone all over.

This little project took me about an 90 minutes but now that instructions are available it will take less.
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Old 04-29-2018, 12:28 PM   #2
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Good job. One question, do you use talcum powder on your seals?
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Old 04-29-2018, 12:41 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by franktafl View Post
Good job. One question, do you use talcum powder on your seals?
Never have used powder on them.
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Old 04-30-2018, 06:32 PM   #4
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I found out it keeps them from sticking
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Old 04-30-2018, 08:16 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by franktafl View Post
I found out it keeps them from sticking
They weren't sticking, they were sticky, gooey and mushy.
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Old 05-01-2018, 09:21 AM   #6
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UV exposure can turn some rubber into a sticky, decomposing mess, my slide rupper did exactly that. There's no bringing it back once that starts.
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Old 05-01-2018, 05:12 PM   #7
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303 baby, keeps them pliable and protected from the sun.
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Old 05-01-2018, 06:46 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by wildwest450 View Post
303 baby, keeps them pliable and protected from the sun.
If I follow the suggested application, 3 to 5 weeks, and using 4 weeks as a norm, I would have to apply 65 times to equal the time before replacement. That's about once a month to ladder the RV and apply the product. That seems like a lot of work for it to be effective.

30 minutes and 50 bucks every five years works better for me.
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Old 05-01-2018, 08:25 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by sundancer 87 View Post
If I follow the suggested application, 3 to 5 weeks, and using 4 weeks as a norm, I would have to apply 65 times to equal the time before replacement. That's about once a month to ladder the RV and apply the product. That seems like a lot of work for it to be effective.

30 minutes and 50 bucks every five years works better for me.
Nah, I do mine twicw a year. I suppose if the slides were out 365 days a year...
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