RV slide room rollers gouging underside. Normal?

Dear Dave,
We have wear marks from the rollers on the underside of one of our slides. Is that normal, or do the rollers have a flat spot? —Marcia, 2021 Winnebago Adventurer 35F

Dear Marcia,
Typically there will be some marks on the underside when your RV slide room has rollers. However, these seem to be a little excessive and the one is actually tearing the underside material.

Adventurer 35F has two slide rooms

According to the Winnebago website, your Adventurer 35F has two slide rooms: a bedroom and the driver side larger one. The bedroom slide only has two rollers so you must be referring to the larger slide room.

It looks like that room has a closet to the far right, a dinette, and the “L” shaped couch. The first thing I would look at is the weight that may be disproportionate on the side that is gouging the material. As we have stated before, just because you have storage compartments located all over the place, doesn’t mean you can fill them up. I would guess you have the closet and dinette seats full of stuff that might be putting excess weight on the rollers? I’m not saying that you can’t put anything inside those storage areas. You just need to be aware of what weight might be causing an issue.

Next, take a good look at the rollers as the unit is extended and retracted. They should be rolling freely. If they are not, you could have a flat spot, broken roller, or just the bearings needing lubrication. I pulled up the 3D view of the slideroom and it shows the two rails on the side of the room which indicates it is an In Wall mechanism. According to the parts list, the motor listed is a Lippert Slim Rack In Wall motor. This type of mechanism does require the two motors to be “synced” by leaving the button pressed until the motor stops. Check to make sure the room is not out of alignment or out of sync.

Six rollers on the underside of the RV slide room

As you can see from the 3D diagram, there are 6 rollers on the underside. A good visual inspection should show if they are rolling freely or need attention. This type of mechanism requires the motors to be synchronized, so it might be the room is out of alignment.

I would recommend spraying CRC Dry Lube on the bearings on each side of the roller. This will clean out any grit and lubricate the bearings.

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At times my slideout only retracts partway and stops. What should I do?

Dear Dave,
Our large slideout sometimes goes in 1/4 of the way and stops. I can push on it and sometimes this helps. This happens about half of the time. Other times it goes in OK. I was told that it is low voltage, but the batteries are charged. I am wondering if the relay contacts are the issue and should I replace the relay. Two years ago the screws under the slideout backed out and the slideout was removed and screws replaced. What can I do to help? What type of lubricant can I use that won’t get on the carpet when the slide is in?  Jeff, 2007 Fleetwood Bounder 

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Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and the author of the “RV Handbook.”

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