Power Gear Slide Maintenance

[Gundog]

I was reading the manual on my slides to do the maintenance and it only says to clean the slide rails and spray with a dry lubricant. Looking under it I can see a rack and pinion and a shaft with some points that look like they could be lubed with at least some oil. I would think the rack should be cleaned and some grease or something put on but I also understand grease attracts dirt what do you think? I just cleaned the side rails and sprayed them with some stuff that says it is for RV slides that was left by the previous owner.

[wa8yxm]

Gundog wrote:
I was reading the manual on my slides to do the maintenance and it only says to clean the slide rails and spray with a dry lubricant. Looking under it I can see a rack and pinion and a shaft with some points that look like they could be lubed with at least some oil.

THose are the "Side rails" they are talking about. THe Racks.. DRY lube does not gather Crud like wet lube does. NOTE Some "Dry" lubes go on wet but ... Dry.

[donn0128]

Wipe what you can see down with paper towel. Spray with about any DRY LUBE you can find on your local auto parts store shelf. Do this a couple times a year and your all set.

[rldunn]

One other thing to consider on the slides that I just got burned on is to check all the caulking on the outside of it. I had some cracks in the caulking along the bottom of the slide, just above the big trim piece. This allowed water to flow into the slide, not a ton, but enough. The carpets in the slide have this material on the bottom - forgot the name - but basically it acts as mini-insulation against rain when the slide is completely pushed out. However, in my case, it also prevented the rain water that had gotten into the slide from being able to go anywhere. So, it just sits there and occasionally spills over the edge of the carpet onto the house carpet/tile. Going to be a bit of a mess to get it fixed now.

[path1]

My thoughts exactly on grease. BUT being mine are exposed to, dirt mostly I use spray out of can "dry lube with ptfe" from big box store. And spray the gears more often than what I would have if I used grease. So basically pick your medicine. Spray often or build up of grease. I used that spray lube till can was gone. Then picked up stuff at big box store. Just my take on those exposed metal gears. I also spray my screen down stabilizer Jack's with same stuff.