Slide Seal Alternative

[davidbrady]

IIt's all good Chuck; you keep us thinking! lol!

I couldn't agree more about the benefit of removing the air compressor, regulators, air dryers, electronics, hoses, etc. As you know, my bus has a bulb style seal, non-pressurized, and only containing atmospheric pressure! I don't have hydraulic jacks either, only air leveling. The absence of these two systems makes arrivals and departures quite a bit easier. I pull in, check the level, if it needs leveling I hit a switch and it auto-levels or I can choose to do so manually. I then reach for the slide controls. A twist of the knob retracts the locking pins followed by slide extension. I hold the knob until the LED changes from red to green. That's it! Leaving is as simple as turning the knob to bring the slide in, starting the engine and going - the bus is already up on its suspension. Simple.

Here's the bulb seal used on my Vantare:


It's a fairly large cross-section seal, approximately 1.5"x1.5". The seal for retraction is mounted to the exterior body. The seal for extension is mounted to the interior slide flange. The pics above are the seals for extension taken from inside the coach. They don't get fully compressed. There are bump stops at the top of the slide that allow for partial compression of the seal. I think this gives a better seal and allows for a longer lifetime (no pancaking of the seal).

I agree that the flangeless slide bodies look better, but I think function overrides form here. We don't hear too much about M450 slide seal issues. Replacing a set of air seals on a factory Prevost slide is about $4K per seal. I have to confess, I'm a convert.

I like your idea. I think you'd want to simulate a flange of sorts, and few things seal better than rubber on rubber. There's actually a metal trim strip that's screwed to the outer and inner circumference of the LXi slide body. Maybe with some ingenuity it can be converted to a small flange.