Diagnosis of Gemini or Compass 23TW slide failures, slide movement stops

[Gus52]

I just finished evaluating my Gemini 23TW for compliance to Lippert's OEM slide design standards. The short answer is the TW design does not meet the requirements. The Lippert through wall slide requirements states that their shall be no weight on the mechanism V-rollers, the slide weight must be supported by OEM installed material such as wall roller, floor roller or skids.

Here is an easy test that you can do: move the slide out a few inches and check the V-rollers with your finger. You should be able to make them turn. The V-roller is at the wall just under the track behind the rubber wall gasket. On the TW model there are 6 of these.
Continue to move the slide out, stopping frequently to check the V-rollers. If at any time a roller or rollers can not be turn with your finger then the slide weight is on the V-roller and this is not allowed.

On the TW there are 3 wall mounted support rollers for the bed side, and four floor mounted rollers for the dinette. There are other tests but likely this one will be enough to show the failure.

Keep in mind the load on the slide motor will increase as the V-roller carries the weight of the slide.

Lastly riveting on the H-frame is not recommended by Lippert since it makes fixing the slide parts a lot more work.
The idea is that the slide moves straight in and out and the Lippert slide hardware just pushes and pulls (it is not meant to carry weight).
Image with H-frame/motor/gasket removed, note 3" alignment error. The error at the bottom caused by improper support of the slide weight. I did try and adjust the slide support rollers but their placement needs to be changed or more roller need to be added. Yes, I did fix this problem by doing the later.

 

[DaveThompson]

Gus, what year is your coach manufactured? I've attributed slide out stops or failures to either motors out of sync or coach not properly levelled on my 2022 Gemini 23TW

 

[Gus52]

Thanks for the reply. It is a 2024 Gemini 23TW.
If you go ahead and run the V-rollers free rotation test (as I posted before the V-rollers are inside the H-frame just below the track). I am pretty sure the test will not pass for the full range of slide movement. Weight on those six rollers will indicate the slide installation is not in spec. Depending on the height of the slide support parts (rollers) could cause out of spec condition at different places.

 

[Jimbo57]

So what is the next step add shims under roller to lift slide box

 

[Gus52]

I found that the front edge did not want to be shimmed due to the adjustable floor rollers are not at the wall. I struggled to adjust the rollers to keep the full 36" of track moving straight. I ended up needing to add a roller at the wall, and rollers to support the slide as it finishes coming in (say the last 12"). That would be two changes.

The rear has three rollers at the wall but no rollers to hold the slide up as it finishes coming in. The main issue is the front of the slide needs a roller at the wall therefore the slide cannot be low there (at the H-frame and V-roller axis).
A secondary issue is that there is a lot of weight on those rollers, so adding rollers for the dinette helps carry the load. Yes I did add two rollers at the bed since the error there was 1.5", half as much as the front, but still significant. Note the image attached shows the rear setup with the H-frame rivets removed (black). See how the H-frame is out at the bottom, tight at the top. This error needs to be removed. Three wall rollers can not do this job but they do need to be adjusted to keep the weight off of the V-roller in the H-frame.

In hindsight removing the slide and getting the roller set correctly would be very handy. But I believe more rollers are required and adding them with the slide in does work and most people can jack up the slide at each end and adjust their rollers. I did keep my rollers on the skid plates. The big time hit was finding out what would work. Any 23TW owner should be able to use the same solution without removing the H-Frame this time.
1) roller at the wall installed from the outside (I did customize this part to keep it small).
2) four rollers under the dinette, I used 900lb furniture mover, to roll on the floor, connecting to the floor is not helpful due to the location in too far inside
3) Two rollers at the bed, set on wood feet, not a lot of load here but are still needed. We did change the bench pad to aid the getting on the bed.
Job done.
Key measures:
Jack up the wall when halfway out to find the correct wall roller height for the front, do the same for the back and reset the three wall rollers.
Ensure the slide is parallel to the MH. Measure the inside height to the bed deck and dinette floor. Make wood shims to adjust those roller and install them.

Testing should show very little change in motor sound as the slide come in. The slight should stay plumb.