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After 26 years, the bedroom slide seal gave out and blew out over a 3” long section. It gave perfect service, but it was time to replace as I did not want to have it taped up any longer.
I was able to go to Tom’s house to do the repairs, many thanks Tom. Tom had never done a bedroom slide, so he was very interested in helping and seeing it all go down.
Trying to follow others directions on the forum, but I ran into a snag almost immediately because mine was different than any others that were reported. Although similar in functionality of the control system, the design was different and required a few special procedures. Here is the general outline:
1. Purchased seal, 3/16-18 rivnut driver tool, and aluminum rivnut from Newell as well as E-6000 adhesive and seal splice plate. I used a stainless flat head screw with hex drive about 1-1/4 long to mount the splice plate.
2. Remove the bedroom shade outside the coach and place on top with padding. Due to preload, we had to tie it to keep from falling down to the passenger side wheel well. Toms lift came in real handy for this activity as well as seal re-install, I highly recommend having access to this.
3. The valence above the bed needed to be removed. This is a 2 person job because it is awkward, I don’t recommend trying to do this by yourself. It lifts off of Newells homemade z bracket.
4. Because my back wall could not come in 3” or so from its normal position due to interference with the closet door trim, removal of the padded wall aft of the bed was necessary to pull the slide in the required amount. There are only 2 screws that hold it in to the closet framing but the night stand and headboard had to be removed first. Other people did not have to do this step, so you may not have to depending on your build.
5. When the access panel was removed from underneath the bed, another surprise was waiting to be found. The mechanism was a design that was different than others documentation. So I guess it is true that no two Newells are alike. The access door under the bed only left access to the limit switch that was at full extension. This made the removal of mattress, mattress board and bed lift actuator necessary. It helped having 2 people do this as well because the parts are very awkward. All that is left is the outside frame of the bed at this point.
6. Now you have to lay on your back, and with very limited access from near the headboard you can lay on your back and see the slide “in” stop bolt and the limit switch bracket, both of which need to come off to pull the slide in for seal access. Before you remove the bolt (it holds the limit switch touch point bracket and also acts as a physical stop), you should measure from the end of the bolt the welded on bracket that holds the bolt so you will not disturb the slide adjustments. The only tool I can think of for this is a dial caliper using the depth measurement function. Take all readings in the same manner as you want consistent measurements. Nobody wants extra holes in their slide top! I was able to put a box wrench on the head of the bolt and rest it up against the bottom of the bed understorage so that would not move when I untorqued the nut on the end. Do not turn the jam nut, it is your adjusting mechanism. When reassembling, reverify your measurement to insure you did not turn the jam nut.
7. Don’t pull the slide in any farther than you have to for seal removal clearance. It helps to have someone look on the outside while you do this. Since it has a little delay from when you hit the retract button, go slow, very slow as you don’t want to over-retract more than you have to.
8. Remove the seal. Since mine was original they did not use any adhesive and was a very easy removal. Remove the hose for filling and disconnect from the coach tubing above and aft of the tag axel wheel well. It has a clamp on a push on barbed fitting.
9. In the center of the slide, you will need to cut away the seal retainer (its plastic and cuts easily with an oscilating saw) a little longer than the splice plate to allow for a transition of the seal splice.
10. Install new seal without any sealant compressing the seal as you work your way around especially at the corners. Cut the seal long enough so that you can fold it over for the entire splice plate on itself. Measure 3 times and cut to final length only once, twice is not enough. At the splice plate, I removed the dovetail portion of the seal (be careful not to cut too deep, there is no room for error unless you want it to leak). You don’t have to be exactly flush cut, but I would be kind of close as you want the splice plate to clear the slide on height after complete.
11. I did a trail run of bolting up the seal plate to make sure that I was all set. Then removed seal plate.
12. I cleaned the inside of the seal ends with rubbing alcohol to remove the powder that was in there. Then I applied the adhesive to each end of the seal, double backed the seal on itself and installed the seal plate and tightened the bolt. I was able to keep the splice plate square to the seal by using a block that was up against the slide to keep it from rotating. Mine was ½”, but depending on how far you pull in the slide yours may be different thickness. The adhesive dries pretty fast and is very runny. You should have adhesive remover on hand in case you need it. It is pretty tough not to make a mess….. Tom did pretty good with the caulking gun, he did this action before.
13. Since there was no adhesive all the way around, I did not feel the need to goop it up everywhere, so small amounts were applied every 9”-12” or so around the seal in the groove after I pulled up a small section for a little dollop. It is hard to control the outflow of the sealant from the tube, so be quick and waste some in a rag. It is better than making a huge mess. We used about ½ of a tube, wasting probably half of it due to dripping after the fact.
14. We let dry overnight and reassembled the next day in reverse order.
15. Go slow and you should be fine. Be very careful with all of your adjustments, don’t press the limit switches at the wrong time and you should not have any extra bonus holes in your slide!
Good luck
Ok, I need a pro tip. I’d love for someone to show me what is the ultimate setup for removing vibration from my aux compressor. I have so much vibration I can feel it laying in bed. Not quite bad enough to wake me, but it’s close.
I have a board stuck to the bay floor, rubber dampers from board to compressor. I’m running a little California Air unit that is not as quiet as a Thomas, but it’s a fraction of the price.
Thought I was going to have 50 amp this trip at the spot we were going to, but there was a lot of tree trimming to do to get to the spot where the plug was put in so we parked in our usual spot where we have 15 amp. I generally plug in to that when I'm not running the A/C and have a question. I go into my settings on my Magnum Inverter to change my AC input amps from 30 down to 10. When I then go back onto generator power I"m assuming I need to change that back to 30 again or does that AC input setting only have to do with power that I'm plugging into.
Would be infinitely easier if I could leave in on 10 vs. remembering to change it back and forth, but don't want to screw something up.
My brother-in-law has worked on lots of generators before and I would like to help him remove the generator and replace the exhaust ‘rope’ that keeps the smell out of the coach (hopefully that’s all it is). We were going to rent a portable engine hoist - what all is involved in this procedure please? I don’t see anything like this on the forums after doing a search (but it never works for me)…
Anyone know what this thing is called? It’s below the starter. I think it must have come loose and fell out…
I noticed my coach was leaning right (not in a conservative way) … I went through a bunch of threads and found Richard’s most useful information and a list of questions. I have included the questions and my answers below.
Can someone please point me to a thread that shows how to adjust the FRONT ride height?
With the engine running, and the coach in travel mode:
Does the coach come to the proper ride height? No, rear both 12” front: 14” (need to come
What pressure do you read on the pressure gauges at the front? 100 on Supply; 115 on Brake
If the coach does not come to the proper ride height please describe what it does.
- The front is too high in the front on both sides (14”)
With the engine off, but the key in the on position.
Starting with the coach at ride height. DONE
Does the coach stay level? If not describe what happens. Travel mode level, yes (front high, back correct height);
What happens with the air gauges in the front? Important to comment on all both the brake and supply. Supply dropping about 1lbs per minute on average (I’ve got a leak in the rear but have not located it yet)
Do you hear air escaping at any location. Not with my normal hearing - need to check with Infinicon later…
With the engine running and coach at ride height, place the coach in LEVEL mode, but don’t press any other buttons.
Does the coach stay level?
What happens with the air pressure gauges? Supply shot up to about 110lbs; and exhausting air from the front; the coach leveled and will stay level;
Last data.
Leave the coach in level mode and turn off the ignition.
What happens with the pressure gauges? 110v pump was on so everything good; turned off 110v pump and waited 5 minutes: Brake: 115lbs Supply: 100lbs
Does the coach stay level. Seems to be staying level - will see how long it takes to leak down :-(
The following pictures show: pass side view dumped; driver side view dumped; pass rear height (at the square tube in front/behind the wheel just above/inside the fiberglass trim); driver rear height; pass front height; driver front height; coach pass side in travel mode; driver side in travel mode
i helped a fellow guru today on the phone and i thought i would share this.
he called me and said that he had lost power for one of his 3 air conditioners (it is a 80's classic with roof airs) and several plugs and things were dead.
all of us have power meters for both legs of the power (voltage and amperage). when this happens you just need to look at those and see if you have voltage of 120v on each leg.
if not....it is most likely a power at the pedestal problem. or in his case it could have been one of the contactors in his manual transfer switch.
it ended up being a transformer at the park was losing power on one leg.
if you are handy and experienced with a volt meter just check the power at the pedestal. or get one of the 50a units that plug into the pedestal and then your cord plugs into it and it will tell you if your incoming power is ok.
tom
Any Gurus in or very close to Mesa Arizona?
I am bidding on a bunch of miscellaneous stuff from a Starman Bros auction. Nothing very large.
Two part Question:
Is anyone Near there and can pick up, maybe ship for me?
Or, if you are coming to the No Rally, Rally at the end of the month/first week of October could bring it there?
Just putting out some feelers. I trust you all far more than the auction and shipping folks! 
Thanks!
Good morning gurus!
After lots of looking I found a nice 2002 coach to purchase. I’m running into a minor problem I’m hoping the vast knowledge on this forum migh be able to answer. The seller has the coach in an approved Newell facility in Michigan to take care of a few things. The two most serious are drivers side salon slide seal replacement and what was initially a burning oil smell that turned into something more serious. It turns out a tag brake hung up and over heated everything to the tune of having to replace all seals, bearings, caliper, pads, rotor, and plastic site glass. The problem I’m running into is trying to get the repair facility to let us know how long it takes to get the parts. I’m trying to book airfare, which seems to go up exponentially every day and all we need is a call from them telling us whether they will have the parts before the end of the month when I plan to fly there. They said normally, they can have the parts in a few days, but occasionally they will be back ordered for weeks. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to impress upon them how great it would be if they could just make a phone call and let me know. Does anybody know if these parts are rare or hard to obtain? Ig the answer is no, I will take a chance and book airfare. FYI, they have the slide seal parts from Newell.
I know there are very few coaches here that have propane. I love having it due to the way we use our coach. Silent. We do not have to run the generator in the winter for heat and the solar system keeps the electrical loads more than adequate to run everything we desire. I had a company come over on Saturday and had them replace the main valve on the tank. The original would leak slightly when opening or closing it. New valve in and all is good. Today I drove to the filling station about 40 min round trip to put in 50 gallons of propane. It should last quite a while for our two heaters and one dual burner gas cooktop. The location of this place is in a weird area next to a landfill, concrete plant and truck repair. I had to navigate some odd dirt roads to find it. Felt like I was in another country yet within the city if that makes sense. About $700 total for repairs and fuel.
I am having a mobile wash company come and clean the coach today. It's dirty from the typical Arizona dust storms that get topped off with just a slight sprinkle of rain to set it in.

