Shop Recommendations for Slide Seal Replacement

[Toranch]

HELP! It's time to replace the slide seal on our 2000 LXI SS. I am in need of a qualified and reputable shop to perform the work and make sure that the entire system, including alignment & locking pins are good. Any Recommendations? I'm in the Los Angeles area, but willing to transport it to a top shop. I see a lot of discussions about the Brady Seal. Since its an HWH Slide, I've also called them to see if they can do the job? They say they can, and that they have their own source for the seal. Looking for recommendations about which seal and shop to use.

[davidbrady]

Hi Dan,

I can't help you with an installer in the LA area but I can help with the Brady seal. When I designed the seal I added a 1/4" bead to the top to increase the seal's stroke. I've since learned that the bead height can be too much for some LXi slide to bus body gaps. Turns out Blue Bird was far from consistent in the hole size they cut into each coach. Some coaches have large gaps while others have gaps so small that the slide virtually touches the body. Another factor is the later LXi's used a true vacuum pump to draw the air out of the seal when deflating the seal which causes the seal to tightly seat against the bus body. Early coaches w/o this PIAA vacuum pump may leave the seal and it's bead vulnerable to damage. I'd say you need 3/8" of gap minimum between the slide and the bus body for the bead not to drag on the slide body as it's worked thru it's range of motion.

[al perna]

Dan,
I have recently had this job done , and if I were to do it again I would go to HWH . Yes it is a trip for sure ,but this is a great time of year for travel . As David said , BB did not cut any two holes the same , so the Brady seal may work best in a tight slide opening , where a HWH seal would work best in a larger cut hole of the slide .
Knowing you Dan , care of your paint and trim is of the utmost . so why not go to the folks who know the slide best . You could ask marathon, or even Holland down in San Diego , but if I ever do one again I will only trust HWH . As they say Dan, just a opinion , but it is based on experience .
Look at the space around your slide and measure the distance between the slide and the coach . I'm with Ron R and we will do the same and post our measurements in the morning for you to compare . As I said the HWH seal is thicker than the Brady seal .

Besides fuel is cheap and your heading this way anyhow and like David said , they now demand a heavy duty vacuum with the HWH seal .