Slide out pins continue to snap

I tilt the coach so that gravity assists the slide mechanism. I haven't had any problems since I started doing that. The last time they sheared I made sure that I used grade 8 bolts with no threads in the shaft and coupler, as others have recommended.

There are two different Shear Pins that Power Gear (Now LCI) used

one was a quarter inch roll pin, the other a quarter inch GRADE 8 Bolt

My slide outs use the bolt.. Ok Here goes the story

IN days of old before I did Research and someone told me what to do I'd buy those bolts by the dozen couple times a year.. Now it's been years.

The temptation is to buy a bolt the SAME LENGTH as the original, long enough to go through a washer, the joined shaftes, another washer (or 2) and take a NYLOCK nut... Sounds like a good plan but.... With the threaded portion of the bolt INSIDE the shaft.. Toothpick city (Snap like toothpicks)

Buy a LONGER bolt. one where the smooth SHANK of the bolt goes all the way through and sticks out.. NOW use multiple washers to build it up so the nut can tighten properly.

And again GRADE 8

I think I've had to replace one of those longer bolts.

Oh, I also had to re-drill the square shaft since the holes had gotten a bit.. oblong...


INVENTORS/Fabricators

What I would like to see. about a 1/4 inch thick piece that will fit SNUGLY over the square shaft and take that bolt. it would have to be a 2-iece thing (one half under the head other under the nut) at least 1/4 inch thick if not thicker.

This would not make it exceed the shear specs, but it WOULD make easier to MEET the shear specs.

1. Use a Grade 8 bolt. It MUST have NO threads where the shaft of the bolt is in contac with the square 1 inch drive shaft. This is the difference between Slide Shaft bolts and regular bolts, the smooth shaft is LONGER and the threaded end is short.
2. When you continue to shear the bolts, the problem is the Square 1 inch drive shaft. Instead of a 1/4 inch diameter hole that the bolt goes thru, the hole has become elongated. This causes a SHEAR action when engaging the motor and drive shaft. That small extra room on the hole causes the square driveshaft to move slightly and this causes a Shear action on the bolt. You either remove the 1 inch square drive shaft and cut 1 inch off the end and drill a new 1/4 inch hole or you cut it inside the storage area and drill a new 1/4 inch hole. Doug

A little dangerous but just install a regular bolt.
Just keep n mind that after that, if the s/o hits anything that stalls it carnage will result.

Not sure what slide mechanism you have, but mine is a Power Gear and is basically an electric motor, rack and pinion system. The motor turns and is connected to a square shaft that turns the pinion gears on each end of the shaft that drive the slide by the attached racks on front and rear. The square shaft is connected via bolts (on mine), to the motor and the pinion gears and occasionally shears one (due to slop in the bolt holes from the previous owners' lack of maintenance on them). The bolts should only be Grade 8 and only the unthreaded neck of the bolts should get the pressure of the turning motion....otherwise the weakened threaded part will eventually shear. If there is any play in the bolt holes, (as with mine), that will also cause additional shearing force as the twisting torque increases before it engages against the bolt shaft.

It's not a hard job to do to replace the bolts, but you should identify WHY it keeps shearing them. If it's slop in the linkage like mine, I'm not sure what you can do to fix it. It may also be a slide alignment issue, like I also just found on mine, that puts it in a slight bind every time you deploy or retract it. And I also found out that the coach itself should always be as level as possible before deploying the slide.

Hope this helps.