How to fix an Arctic Fox slide

There is a couple posts on hear somewhere about Arctic Fox slides malfuntioning. I want to fill people in who may need to tackle the repair job. On my 2006 AF 1150, (And probably several other models) there is a shear bolt in the drive shaft. If it breaks, the slide will not operate electrically or manually. I sheared that bolt dozens of times, and it is pretty easy to just replace it. It is located under a panel , under the drawer that is under the rear dinette seat. Eventually I got tired of replacing it, so I did a bunch snooping and figured out how to cure it long term. Here is the problem: the motor/gearbox turns a shaft that has 2 gears on it. The 2 gears engage with the 2 racks on the bottom of the slide. The way this mechanism was designed by its manufacturer, the motor is supposed to be in between the 2 gears, so it exerts equal force on both gears. That way, everything stays aligned. The way that AF redesigned it, they moved the motor/gearbox to the rear. So a short shaft connects the gear box to the rear gear, then a long shaft (with 2 square tubes telescoped together to form a longitudinal slip joint) transfers motion from the rear gear to the front gear. The amount of play in the slip joint makes it impossible for the rear gear and the front gear to be perfectly syncronized with each other. So it goes like this: when you extend the slide, the rear gear starts turning, while the front gear is stationary, until the rear of the slide moves about 1/2" to 1". At that point the play in the slip joint is taken up, and the front gear begins to turn, moving the front of the slide. This lack of syncronization and the resulting binding of the gear mesh is what initiates the breakage of the shear bolt. Then the bolt holes on the shafts get ovaled out, exacerbating the problem. So here is the cure: remove the kitchen table and the rear seat cushion, the plywood that the cushion sits on, the drawer under the seat, and the panel in the floor under the drawer that covers the rear shaft. Manually (hopefully with some help) push the slide out or in until you have the best access to the shaft through the hole under the drawer. Check to see if the bolt holes are ovaled out. If they are, drill a new hole in the square shaft at 90 degrees to the old hole, so you are in vergin material and can size it properly. If the hole in the solid round inner shaft is also worn, you can drill it out oversize to 7mm or 5/16". Put a new grade 8 bolt in, tighten the nut, and operate the slide all the way in. Then run the slide approximately 1/2 way out and stop. Go outside and measure how far the slide is extended in the rear and also in the front. Write down the 2 measurements. You will probably find the the rear is exended further than the front. Now run the slide all the way out, then 1/2 way back in. Now go out and measure again. You will probably find the rear is in further than the front. Remember, the rear leads the front in both directions due to the slop in the slip joint. Ideally, the difference between the front and back wll be close equal in both directions. For example, when you stopped it on the way out, the rear led the front by 1/2"", and on the way in the rear led the front by 5/8". I don't have an exact spec on this, but but mine was off by 7/8", going in 1 direction vs. the other. So if that is the case, you have to adjust the syncronization between the gears to get them equal. Here is how to do that: Go back in the camper, and look in the hole in the floor. Just in front of it is a beam that supprts the bearing for the rear gear. Go ahead of that beam and cut a new hole in the floor approx. 6"x8" to get access to the syncronizer. You will see how it works by studying it. It has multiple holes that you can put the bolt in to change the synchronization. Make a change, write down what you did, then test and measure the slide movement again. Repeat until you have the difference equalized in both directions. Then put everything back together. I used to have constant problems with this. Since I did this fix, ZERO problems. It took me about 6 hours, and was hard because I had no direction on how to do it. Now you can do it and it won't be so hard. I hope this help someone out. Joel