Slide Seal

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I am back home after being worked like a borrowed mule by the King. I believe tool man Jim Keller, King Roger and I can say slide seals can be easily replaced by two men and I will be drafting a how-to article.

I should note that despite my position against slides, anyone looking at or considering a slide coach should not be afraid of one because from what we three saw and experienced. They are not so complex that the average person cannot work on them. We needed help from Scott to get us out of trouble (due to poor Prevost maintenance manual information), but apart from that the entire project went very well.

[Gary & Peggy Stevens]

I am back home after being worked like a borrowed mule by the King. I believe tool man Jim Keller, King Roger and I can say slide seals can be easily replaced by two men and I will be drafting a how-to article. I should note that despite my position against slides, anyone looking at or considering a slide coach should not be afraid of one because from what we three saw and experienced. They are not so complex that the average person cannot work on them. We needed help from Scott to get us out of trouble (due to poor Prevost maintenance manual information), but apart from that the entire project went very well.

Damn it Jon, where where you 3 guys last year, when I needed ya !!!! Not so complex indeed

Gary S.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I don't want to minimize the learning process. The things we found troublesome were not covered in the shop manual or told to Roger in advance despite the fact he spoke to a lot of people about how to prepare.

Also there are some tools not readily available to most people such as a port-a-power that made part of the job incredibly simple. Without Jim Keller's vast tool collection we would have had a more difficult job.

Beyond that by making some errors we learned how to do it in a trouble free manner and the article will cover in detail what not to do as well as what to do.

Editorial comment: Slide seals, air bags, hub seals etc. are all routine maintenance items and having now done every one of them I can say the only reason those of us who do our own maintenance do projects such as these is because Prevost has gotten way beyond unreasonable in their pricing. I learned recently that Prevost now charges $4400 to replace all air bags. To put that in perspective they have $1200 (approx.) in material costs allowing them $3200 for about 10 hours labor. For slide seals they charge around $4500 to $4800 for the small rear seal, of which $2095 is the cost of the seal allowing about $2400 to $2700 for about 10 man hours of labor.

Even if you do not want to repair your own slides for example at the very least shop around for a facility that will do the work for a reasonable fee.

[garyde]

Hi Jon. Ive watched mine replaced so many times now, I would be very interested in a step by step article on the replacement of a seal. Also, where to purchase the correct seal for my Coach.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Gary,

We three have saved sections of the seal. I intend to send sections out to seal manufacturers to get quotes. The seal consists of 2 extrusions, the inflatable portion and the wiper. They interlock and there is also an adhesive bond making the seal a single unit.

The quest for pricing is to find a more reasonable price for such a simple product, and to perhaps set up a way to supply seals to POG members. I don't think any of us three want to be in the business of selling and installing seals, but we do recognize that as coach prices continue to fall on used coaches the Prevost costs begin to represent a huge percentage of the coach value just for slide seals. That is what we want to address.

[GDeen]

I spent a couple of days at Prevost FW last month with my bus. One of the projects they had going at the time was a slide top re-built. The techs showed me the upgrade plans and what they were doing. Quite an extensive (and expensive) project.

On one hand, I was very impressed with a number of the techs they had working there. The night crew foreman was particularly helpful in showing me things on coaches they had in the air. The main guy on my job was responsive to my concerns and understood cost was an issue. He was also willing to help me understand things under the coach. They did become nervous with me constantly under the bus poking around and asked that I limit my time under there to necessary review of work. That is fair given the potential liability.

On the other hand, I could see work languishing if it wasn't being bird dogged. Not necessarily as part of a scheme, rather because they have so much going on in there. Hours here and there deciding on the need for a part, finding the part, getting back to that particular task, being one example. Some of the guys were also less efficient than others.

Overall I was impressed with the facility and the work product. Would never just leave my bus there though for work on my dime. Just too many ways for that to become very costly. They were very good though since I was on site at informing me of the estimated cost of things on my list, and suggesting I might be better served to do it myself if that was what I wanted to do. Very courteous and straightforward about how much things would cost to do which allowed me to make informed decisions about what I did and didn't want them to work on.

[garyde]

The problem with the previous seals in my coach seem to be with the manufacturer.
The seals were too thin. I hope the new seals are thicker and less vulnerable to breaking.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Gary,

My original thought (and Roger's) was the inflatiable portion was little more than a thin bicycle tube cross section. That is probably a good analogy, but after seeing the failure on Roger's seal and the fact the inflatible portion is not in contact with the slide room until it is inflated I am not so sure having a robust design is important.

Roger's seal failed at the point where it flattens. The flexing due to inflation and then being under a vacuum causes the flexing to occur at a single point along its length and that is where it failed. The failure could have been caused by over inflation due to a poor pressure regulator, but the real culprit is the seal (like our air bags) is only flexing at one point and that is where it split. The split was about 15" long.

I saw no indication the inflatiable section had ever been pinched or physically damaged and my guess is age got to it just like all other rubber components like tires, air bags, brake diaphragms, etc. We all agreed however the Prevost system and seal may be needlessly complex, but short of re-engineering the entire system that is not going to change.

[grantracy]

I have HWH slides in my bus..they were installed by HWH and so far have been pretty much trouble free. There is no inflatable seal on my slides, they fit flush to the bus..I added a thin weather stripping to eliminate some minor wind noise. I guess my question is are the inflatable seals necessary?

[merle&louise]

Granvil,

I too have HWH slides on my coach. I have inflatable seals, and I feel that without them I would get water inside my coach when it rains. Regardless if I was in motion or parked. I have a gap when my seals are deflated (when the room extends or retracts) to where you can see daylight. I haven't had any leaks during rainy periods. And I too am very satisfied with my slides and the seals.

I would like to see how your slides functions without seals. That must be a neat installation.