Slides won't slide on 2005 Allegro

10forty2 wrote:
Not knowing exactly how your slides work, I assume that since they are electric, there is a motor attached to the running gears via mechanical linkage tubes. That's how mine works. And every so often, it will shear the bolts that connect the linkages to the motor, requiring me to replace them. If that's your case, then be sure to replace with Grade 8 bolts and not just your everyday hardware store bolts.

The "shear" factor is by design to help protect the slide mechanism in case it gets bound up. But, after sliding and rotating and working and traveling down the road, the bolts also tend to loosen a little allowing some play and eventually the force of activating the slide will shear them off.

A Grade 8 Bolt will have these markings on the head:

There is NO shear by design factor on your type slide out. What causes repeat shearing of bolts is NOT using Grade 8 WITH the long smooth shank. IF you have any of the threads of the bolt that engage the square driveshaft, it WILL shear regardless of Grade 8 bolts. Also, when they shear, look at the 1/4 inch hole in the steel driveshaft. You will see it is NOT 1/4 inch round, but slightly elongated. That allows the driveshaft to shift from the torque of going in and out and will hasten the bolts shearing. The FIX is to cut the 2 inches off the end of the driveshaft and drill 2 new 1/4 inch holes in the driveshaft to get a tight fit when you install the new bolts. Doug