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RangerStrider · 07-21-2015, 22:14

Extended the slide today to take another look. It's hard to get to but here's picture of the hole which is on the exterior side just behind the brush trim. It looks like there's significant abrasion around the hole which extends longitudinally for about 1.5 inches. Nothing around the seal would have caused this so it could be manufacturing defect or it occurred during installation...the second probably be more likely.
Tried cutting a small piece of bicycle tube and placing over the hole but it seem to still leak whereas when I put my finger over it, no leak. May try cutting the tubing smaller for a better fit. If I can get it so it doesn't leak, then I'll try gluing it in place with super glue. Seems like I'll need a little pressure in the seal to provide a good mating surface.
Tried calling Roger at DRI but he wasn't available, will try tomorrow.
Thanks for all the input / support.

http://www.pbase.com/stryder/image/160806025

davidbrady · (This post was last modified: 07-22-2015 07:28 by davidbrady.)

Hi John,

I'm going out on a limb, but could that be a previous repair? IOWs, it looks like a typical bicycle inner tube repair. First you scuff the area then apply a patch - granted it's impossible to say anything definitive when only looking at a photo.

RangerStrider · 07-22-2015, 11:27

David,
It's possible it is from a previous repair but I don't see/feel any glue or patch remnants. The hole looks pretty round...like it could have been a drill bit, screw driver, etc. that punctured it but that wouldn't explain the abrasion/scuffed area...but a bike tube patch repair would. Spoke with Roger at DRI this morning and he is sending out a new seal which will probably ship next week....just have to find someone who can put it in. He would like to know how it failed so I'll take more pictures once I get it changed out. In the meantime, I still want to try a patch or maybe even a trimmed tire plug. Should be getting a 0-30PSI pressure gauge tomorrow that I can mount to the manifold and check the regulated pressure side prior to trying any patch.
John

davidbrady · (This post was last modified: 07-22-2015 12:31 by davidbrady.)

Great news John. I had no doubt that Roger would come thru. Roger can explain it much better than I can but EPDM requires very specific adhesives as do all rubber types. it's doubtful that a standard bicycle patch for a butyl rubber tube would hold. I'm not surprised that an alleged patch would completely dislodge taking with it all remnants of adhesive.

JD33 · 07-23-2015, 08:17

David, just curious at this point but are seals for the M380 available from DRI?

davidbrady · 07-24-2015, 15:49

Hi Jim,

I looked into having DRI do an M380 seal but because of the two piece nature Roger couldn't do it cheaply enough. I think the tooling costs were up around $1500. We could try again if there's interest.

JD33 · 07-24-2015, 19:05

Thanks David, I have no need at present, but maybe someone else does.