slideout wiper seal replacement
..On our last trip, when we got to the campsite and opened the living room slide, I found that the 'wiper' seal along the bottom of the slide out had broke loose. This is the rubber piece that wipes/scrubs the outside of the slideout when it goes in or out. It does not really seal it. The piece that worked loose was the bottom one, that goes along the bottom edge.
Anyway, when one small part of it came loose at the front, the slideout coming out pulled several more feet of it off. When we left and tried to bring the slideout in, the loose part of the slideout seal kept jamming up in the slide, so slideout wouldn't retract. I ended up having to cut the loose piece of it off, and reaching in with my hand to hold it in place up until the last second, in order to bring the slideout in so we could go home.
(..And of COURSE, this waited until just a few months AFTER the warranty ended for this to happen. That'd be my luck! :R )
I'm in the process now of getting this fixed. Just ordered the wiper seal material from Forest River, which fortunately turns out to not be that expensive. Will be here next week, at which time I'll either let the local RV service shop here put it on, or may get brave and install myself. I'm leaning toward the former, as this seal is in a very difficult place to get to, very small clearance.
At any rate, here is my question: Even though I'm obviously going to fix this, I'm really wondering/questioning if one could not get by without the wiper seal, especially the one on the bottom edge, for a while without any problems? They do not seal the slideout at all, all they do is wipe/scrub the slideout's outside walls when it goes in and out. As long as you wiped off the bottom of it (or whatever side where the wiper seal was not there) good and clean before bringing in the slideout, could you not get by OK without this?
Also, has anyone else had to replace a bottom wiper seal on one? Any experiences, advice you can offer on this?
Anyway, when one small part of it came loose at the front, the slideout coming out pulled several more feet of it off. When we left and tried to bring the slideout in, the loose part of the slideout seal kept jamming up in the slide, so slideout wouldn't retract. I ended up having to cut the loose piece of it off, and reaching in with my hand to hold it in place up until the last second, in order to bring the slideout in so we could go home.
(..And of COURSE, this waited until just a few months AFTER the warranty ended for this to happen. That'd be my luck! :R )
I'm in the process now of getting this fixed. Just ordered the wiper seal material from Forest River, which fortunately turns out to not be that expensive. Will be here next week, at which time I'll either let the local RV service shop here put it on, or may get brave and install myself. I'm leaning toward the former, as this seal is in a very difficult place to get to, very small clearance.
At any rate, here is my question: Even though I'm obviously going to fix this, I'm really wondering/questioning if one could not get by without the wiper seal, especially the one on the bottom edge, for a while without any problems? They do not seal the slideout at all, all they do is wipe/scrub the slideout's outside walls when it goes in and out. As long as you wiped off the bottom of it (or whatever side where the wiper seal was not there) good and clean before bringing in the slideout, could you not get by OK without this?
Also, has anyone else had to replace a bottom wiper seal on one? Any experiences, advice you can offer on this?
