Hi Scott,
I found a pic of your camper to back into the front or rear of the camper. You stated, or I heard (read) the slave rack is where the problem is and it is near the middle of the camper.
Quote:
The first set of pics is the side of slide out that is not opening properly...it is the slave side and it is towards middle of camper...the slide closes properly and seals tight
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This puts the master rack up front by the A frame.
I picked up 3 things from your message;
1. It is the slave end that is not sealing up when the slide is extended out
2. You say the slide closes correct and seals up tight, I'm assuming this is both ends, front and middle of the camper. Please speak up if this is not the case as it can change a lot of what I am thinking the issue might be.
3. The slave rack is in the middle of the camper
Here is the camper
What you area describing has some concern to it on which end is actually wrong. And not being there to see it , I'll attempt to describe it and use your pic's for you to check this out. This may be an easy fix or one that takes a bit more.
At this point we do not 100% know if the center end of the slide (slave rack) is extending out far enough OR the front master rack end is stopping short not allowing the slave drive to complete it's needed stroke? All you see is the center end of the slide stopping short and it looks like it is short of stroke. Unless there is play, looseness, wear in the system OR one side is over stroking, both racks move the same distance in and out. We now have to sort out which is right or not. And then, are you just plan out of phase between slave and master rack. Something had to move or be adjusted wrong to be ways out of phase, but it happens.
We "might" be over compressing on the way in making it look right that we are closing OK but not really.
What you are describing can come from a few things and we need to verify each first before we make any adjustment. Will start here. Extend the slide out until it stops on it own. You may head clunk clunk clunk of the clunk tripping on the way out. This is normal.
1. The slave drive rack has wear in the square shaft drive. This wear can be on either end of the square shaft. The sq shaft drives the pinnion shaft by a bolt, that bolt or hole can be worn and create lost motion. Using an adjustable wrench or and open end wrench, both of a good size, place one on the square shaft and try and rock it back and forth. Make sure power is off to the 12 volts so the shaft does not start up by accident from some one or thing.
See this pic on the slave end. Look for any wiggle between the square shaft and the pinion gear.
Move over to the master rack end and rock the shaft and do the same thing
Both ends should be dead tight. It is rocks a good 10 plus degrees need to figure out if the bolt is worn, the hole is worn. This wear will cause lost motion. Even tightening the nut a little can take up play.
2. Next assuming this was OK, Let's look for the slave drive end plate to have slipped location. See this pic of yours
That slave arm end has slots on the top of it and it is an adjustment to phase both the left and right side. If it looks like that end slipped outward away from the camper it could show up appearing short in travel. Look for paint or rust witness marks of it not being in the original location or all the way to the end of the slots on top. Here is what the slots look like. If it has slipped, and may have been a while ago before you ever had it, may need to move it back to where it use to be by the witness marks. It does not have to be in the middle like this pic, but it needs to be tight and where it use to be. It is never moved, then OK to the next step
3. Next area is you some how jumped mechanical time. This is really hard to do and a very remote possibility as it would have to had jumped gear teeth. Need to rule it in or out. Look at the rack gear teeth, both the slave rack and master rack. If you jumped a tooth something may be damaged like a chiped gear tooth OR signs that the rack use to move more then it use to on the way out. Rust witness lines help tell if the gear teeth use to stop at a different longer place.
4. Now assuming you made it this far and found no issue, we need to make sure someone did not adjust the master rack end too short on the way out causing less stroke on the slave end. Remember if there is no play in the square shaft drive, you are out out phase with the salve rack totally or someone has the master rack end set stopping too short. There is only 1 pic here so it is hard to tell if someone moved the nut 2 and nylok nut a long tome ago. Again look for dirt witness lines. This is your master rack end
And here is out of the manual
Jam nut 2 and the nylock nut push and pull the master rack into the correct position. Then the master rack turns the square shaft that drives the slave rack.
And then there is the stop can. The stop can, jam nut 2 and the nylock nut all have to be in the correct location to each other.
So we are going to start with the extend out stroke stop location first. Have someone run the slide in a foot or 2. You being outside, look at the slide flange on the master rack end on the inside of the camper. Now extend the slide out. When the motor clutch trips and you take your finger off the button, you have reached full mechanical out of the slide actuator. The slide motor cannot go out any more. Did the slide seal stop good agasint the camper? Not super hard compressed and not to short. May have to go inside now and try it too.
If the out motion of the master rack is too short by the time you run out of stroke, the master rack has to be moved out. If you are over compressing really hard the inner bulb seal, then the slide is too much out. By moving the nylock nut and nut 2 in or out you are moving the entire end of the master rack and slide in or out. This needs to be right. The goal is you reach end of actuatr stroke just when the slide seal is nice and firmly snug, not trying to push the wall real hard.
Then we check/set the retract in stroke and stop can.
Have someone close the slide while you watch the stop can and the master rack end slide flange seal up agasint the side of the camper. As the slide closes, the stop can and the slide seal flange should come to rest compressed on the side of the camper at the same exact time. If anything the stop can is 1/32 or slightly less from touching the frame. Do this a few times if needed to confirm. You are suppose to close up, seal off the slide flange to the camper and then the motor stops at the same time the stop can just about kisses the frame. This is what the Lippert service tech told me when I quizzed him on this.
If the stop can is stopping short, means it hits the frame before the slide flange sealed up, the stop can is wrong and needs to be move out to allow more stroke.
Once you confirm the master rack is set correct, it may or may not be, you are left with the slave rack phasing.
5. Assuming you made it this far and you still have a big gap on the slave drive end when the slide it out, go down to the master rack square shaft drive end under the camper
You are now going to phase the slave rack to the master rack with the slide extended out. Look at the square shaft, you see a hole in the square every 90 degrees. You take the bolt out and 90 degrees at a time rotate the square shaft 1 hole and put the bolt back in and try it. When you rotate the square shaft, the slide is going to move you can see it.
Run the slide in and out and see if you are gaining. You should be. You knew the master rack end was set correct to the slide motor actuator, you know there is no play in the square shaft holes/bolts and the slave rack support end has not moved. You may need to go 1 more hole
When adjusting a slide always do small moves at a time. Make sure you adjust in sequence and fully understand each adjustment before doing it, as the adjustments are not always intuitive.
This should gain you something. Mark with a sharpie where you are at before adjusting so you can go back to it if needed.
Good luck and hope this helps
John