DIY Genny Slide

[epretot]

I'm considering making the generator slide myself.

Curious what your thoughts may be regarding heavy duty drawer slides or linear rails.

I need the bottom of the generator to remain open as there is a maintenance compartment accessed via the bottom.

I have an onan 10kw generator.

[luvrbus]

I'm considering making the generator slide myself.

Curious what your thoughts may be regarding heavy duty drawer slides or linear rails.

I need the bottom of the generator to remain open as there is a maintenance compartment accessed via the bottom.

I have an onan 10kw generator.

You need to use steel sealed cam rollers, drawer slides are are waste of time and money the 10kw weighs 700+ lbs , the vibration and weight kills the drawer slides.they work good for a while 

[Jim Blackwood]

I put wheels on the bottom of mine. In this case the enclosed skirt doubled as support for the axle shafts and I just found 4 hard rubber wheels that were 4" diameter and had a shaft bushing so they were rated for the weight++. Ran a solid rod through the side plates with a spacer tube between the wheels, wheels project enough to lift the skirt off the floor 1/4 to 1/2". Hairpins to retain the rods, pretty simple. Set one shaft back a reasonable distance from the tipping point so it could slide out farther for better access. When the wheels go past the floor the skirt grounds out and stops it.

Jim

[epretot]

I would prefer to have something that can cantilever beyond the opening.

The truth is, I need very little access to the top of the generator. There is no floor in the old ac compartment which allows me access to the bottom from under the bus.

[Jim Blackwood]

Ah well that would be a bit different. My genny does cantilever out for probably close to half of it's length but with no floor you need tracks of some sort. The issue is that to get most of the unit outside you need a double track. Now if you had enough vertical clearance you could use something like barn door tracks and stack them up for the cantiliver effect. Also there are rollers made to fit inside the sides of a I beam which are often used for overhead hoists and such. You can get those for light and small section I beams and they make for a very versatile and heavy duty roller that could easily handle the load. A telescoping slide made with those would be pretty easy. There are also stud mounted rollers available in numerous sizes that are essentially a bearing on a bolt head, all you need with those is a track. The biggest issue with any of those is that your track and bearing needs to be able to handle the static/dynamic loading of travel vibration in the stowed position without creating flat spots.

Jim

[luvrbus]

V groove cam roller (cam followers) are the easiest to work with all they take is piece of angle iron with the V up for the roller track, the regular cam rollers take 2 pieces of iron 1 top and 1 bottom, The V track is easy to clean I never can keep my regular cam roller track clean on my generator slide and if I don't keep it cleaned and lubed it blows the fuse or shears the pin in my roll out  actuator.

[epretot]

I'm leaning towards the rollers.

I hadn't really considered the v groove, but hearing how easily the ride on the peak of an angle has peaked my interest.

[Jim Blackwood]

Yeah that sounds good. Only thing is, for cantilevered you need a track under the roller plus another one above it. Think about the load and you'll see why this is so. Once the load passes the outside roller the inside one will try to lift. That and the need for nested tracks makes it a little complicated which is why I suggested the I-beam arrangement. Channel iron could also work fine with the tapered rollers and those would be self cleaning also. It'd be pretty easy to stack channel iron for the double extension I think.

Jim

[luvrbus]

If he has the QD 10000 they are tall he may not have a enough clearance for I beams,you can cantilever one out a little over a 1 ft on a single rail if it side mounted, His 10000 is the same size as my QD 12500 even uses the same size engine mine just weighs 20 lbs more.If he does have the QD the cooling draws from the bottom where the radiator is mounted flat and they don't like a lot of changes.The fuel filter is a real pain to change on a QD mounted in side the QD housing  

[peterbylt]

My generator came equipped with the mount I have, it looks like it was home made out of angle iron and steel rollers, whoever built it did a very good job.

I have a Powertech 20KW and it is on the heaver side, right around 900 lbs and this mount handles it perfectly.

It will extend out almost the complete length of the generator, making maintenance very easy.

I have included a few pictures that show the mount.

These pictures are from back when I was installing it and trying to figure out the flexible exhaust pipe and how to get the starter cables, power cables and fuel lines to work with the mount, a number of things had to be relocated. 

Peter

[epretot]

Well...you all have given me something to think about.

@ peterbylt thanks for the pics.

[windtrader]

I've considered this long ago but once the bus is fully solar powered, i am pulling the genny out and replacing with a small portable for days long gray days to charge house bank.
What I had come up with was using skateboard sealed bearings. They are bulletproof. Steel c channel to provide the outside, upper, and lower support. On the inside, use box or angle and drill and bolt in a line of the roller bearings.

This would not canteliever but it really simple, strong, and cheap and easy to build. What I had thought for canteliever if needed was to support externally with a fold down bracket to take the weight off the extended section. It could be hinged along the front bottom and work like a "tailgate" but would flip 180 degrees. It could have something to adjust height for uneeven ground.

[luvrbus]

I've considered this long ago but once the bus is fully solar powered, i am pulling the genny out and replacing with a small portable for days long gray days to charge house bank.
What I had come up with was using skateboard sealed bearings. They are bulletproof. Steel c channel to provide the outside, upper, and lower support. On the inside, use box or angle and drill and bolt in a line of the roller bearings.



This would not canteliever but it really simple, strong, and cheap and easy to build. What I had thought for canteliever if needed was to support externally with a fold down bracket to take the weight off the extended section. It could be hinged along the front bottom and work like a "tailgate" but would flip 180 degrees. It could have something to adjust height for uneeven ground.

You need to watch the small portables. I had a little Honda 2000 that would not run a battery charger I had, 1800 w and 15 amps is not much 

[dtcerrato]

You need to watch the small portables. I had a little Honda 2000 that would run a battery charger I had 1800 w and 15 amps is not much

Same reason the Magnum Inverter has a robust 125 amp charger.

[windtrader]

You need to watch the small portables. I had a little Honda 2000 that would not run a battery charger I had, 1800 w and 15 amps is not much

When you have a solid lithium house bank in place, you don't need much of a generator to keep them up. The generator is not used to run any appliances, all power use is from the house bank.
Here is a typical scenario to show how portable is used.
Bus runs 24/7 on inverter
Bus lithium battery bank - 10kWSolar generator 10x 350w (3000/hr. 15kW/day)

Daily power use
Minumum draw - 3500kW (lighting, Starlink internet, refer, stove, charge phone computer, etc.)Mini split when used draws 700w

Systen has no trouble keeping up on loss of solar of a day or two. When batteries are drawn down and solar can not keep up and it looks like more gray days ahead, then the generator is used to charge up the battery bank.

A 2000 watt generator, running for a couple hours can recharge the total daily draw down. The battery bank takes up any excess need for current, not the generator, so a quite small unit does the job. 

I do not camp where it is hot and cloudy so never need AC in those settings. If you do, then you need to calc if it works for those in that situation.
Hope that helps.