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Slime Continues To Be A Great Fix For Leaky Air Bags


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Well I have had my sunrader a few years now and when i took the cover off of her this year, rocket had lost air in both air bags to 10 lbs. I slimed them up again and inflated and they are still holding steady at 80 lbs. The last time i slimed was 2 years ago. SO there you have it... seems to be a cheap good fix that only needs refreshed every 2 years.

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I am still surprised by some of the good products that are sold under the "Slime" brand name. I was looking for a good dually type tire pressure gauge and filler recently and Slime had one of the best ones I could find locally. Kind of a wacky name - but with good stuff even though the original Slime creators are long gone.

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  • 1 month later...

Before figuring out how to add Slime, have you checked to make sure that it's actually the air spring that's the source of your leak? It could be the fill valves, the hoses or any of the connections.

If it is the air springs, though there have been reports that Slime is a cure, I've got to admit to I'd only expect it to work if the leak was low down. The air springs don't really move or spin around like a tire does to distribute the Slime as you move down the road.

Having made you read all this, I guess to 'install' the Slime you'd do just as you do for a tire. I've never used it but assume you'd have to remove the Schrader valve core and then 'blow' it in with compressed air.

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You remove the valve core, attach a hose to over the valve stem, invert the slime bottle and squeeze the bottle. After dispensing the desired amount of Slime into the tire, (or in this case air bag,) add some air to the valve before reinstalling the core to push the Slime through the valve stem. I had a core get gunked up and I would not seal properly due to the Slime. After clearing the stem, reinstall the core and add air.

My air bags drop from 80 psi to 70 psi in 2 days. I still can't find the leak so I may add Slime. I have used it in many tires on lawn mowers, wheel barrows, cars, etc and it works well. I always give the tire guy a little extra for having to clean up the rim when they eventually have to put on a new tire.

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in my area for a wheel barrow eather slime or a solid tire too many thorns

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I'm going to have to try this. I wonder if you do this just before a trip the slime will distribute around inside as you bounce down the road? Through the years I've managed to get my one leaking bag down to about a 2 lb loss per day by replacing the air lines.

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@ Derek, yes the leak is pin hole on bottom of back in the perch which is molded... I sprayed soapy red water stuff (that they use to find leaks in industrial tires) along the entire air circuit couple years ago right before the slime to ensure tightening the line connectors wouldn't help. Slime eventually dries out thus i have to keep adding. Is the air bag filling up with junk? yeah but its on its way out anyway. when they finally die, I will get custom springs, possibly a lift kit.

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  • 2 years later...

digging up an old post here  - but need some clarification.

I am assuming that you'd need to get under the RV and put the Slime direct into the bag, and not through the tubing at the inflation point on the side of the RV?  

Thanks in advance...

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Inspect the bag, is it old, weather checked, need to be replaced? If you slime a bag that needs to be replaced and it works in the driveway then go on a trip and it fails, then what?

Are you 100% sure it is the bag?    Jim

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A simple soap spray will show where the leaks are, and slime is a band-aid at best. I ditched my old bags when a soap spray revealed hundreds of tiny pin holes in the sidewall of the bag, in short it was worn out.

I probably could have re-slimed but decided instead to replace.

still, even if the bags failed your RV is still drive-able.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • 11 months later...

Dug up this old thread a while ago and couldn’t make up my mind if I should attempt the slime fix for my slow leak in one airbag. Finally took the risk and I am happy to report it had been 100% for a week now. Zero air loss and no clogged lines. Just made sure I pumped plenty of air in after squeezing in the slime.

The good thing I had going for me was that it was a slow leak, around 5psi every two days. Also , the leak was at the very bottom of the airbag. 

I know it is not a permanent fix, but I really did t want to throw down over $500 on replacing airbags. I would rather spend that on new torsion bars, more solar, fix fridge, stereo speaker upgrade, the list never ends :) 

 

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I have both used slime as well as personally replaced my airbags. Slime wins every time until it doesnt; its cost vs easy to do. Anyone saying anything else is simply biased or not having done the jobs to compare. If you are going to take the time, ready the tools and put your money down it would be best to replace them both at the same time.  If your bags hold well after slime then that's awesome and i would keep doing that until you cannot. Remember its riding around under 20 psi that really wears the bags out causing them to rub on each other.

Edited by Totem
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  • 7 months later...

I'm about to take the RV out for it's first trip (for me) of more than a couple hours from home.  I added Slime to the airbags earlier this year and they seem to be holding pressure now, but am unsure of how much psi is best. What is recommended?

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