Over my years traveling I have found sliding windows in RV’s to be reliable, and at the time of our purchase, the frameless windows were suffering a rash of delaminations; therefore, we selected the sliders. They have been nothing but trouble.
I could not get help from Lippert until I left a very poor review at the BBB. They finally paid for the outrageously priced run channel I had already purchased in an effort to solve the problem. This did not create a reliable repair.
Here’s two related threads on the issue and attempted repair.:
https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...lem-23201.html
https://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f...val-23880.html
Now I have removed the Lippert run channel except on the radiused end. I replaced it with:
https://www.outwater.com/121-PARENT?...for-shipping=2
I set this in the bottom and top channels. It probably won’t seal quite as well, but does fit the glass edge nice. I bought a black, however it is not UV stabilized, so we’ll see how it holds up. It is easily replaced. White was the only UV treated color.
I used the caulk some folks hate, silicon, to put it in the track. I wanted a mild adhesive in case I need to remove it, but did need some adhesion to keep the slick plastic in place. I also wanted some seal. I did not want to use a solvent based caulk, Geoseal or Lexel, because I did not know if it would attack the plastic.
The caulk is drying, but the windows slide nicely on the slick tracks.
We leave on a medium length, 5 week, trip next week, so we’ll see how this works. Hopefully I have working windows now because I prefer the manual awning and want to keep the sliders on that side.
I’ll attach a picture of the Lippert run channel, and the plastic channel I replaced it with.