I built these drawers into a closet about 8 years ago. I used Accuride easy close full extension drawer slides and they've worked fine until last week.
One drawer pulls out 1.75 inches, then stops. It feels like the left slide sticks. It could be that a screw has loosened and is blocking the mechanism, but it doesn't feel like that - there is no play in the freeze point - it just stops and there is no wiggle. I can pull as hard as I like and it doesn't move. It could be that the easy close mechanism isn't releasing, but I also doubt that - I hear a click that I think is the release mechanism opening, and I've pulled on the drawer so hard that I'm sure I would have broken the little plastic cam on the easy close release.
I can access the drawer from above or below, but short of trying to find a way to cut the screws that attach the slide to the side of the drawer, I cannot think of any non-destructive solution.
I don't think I would use side mount slides again - there is no way to access them if there is problem. Bottom mount might be better.
Anyone else know of a solution? My plan is to keep on wiggling the drawer and hopefully some day it will come loose and I can remove it to fix it.
Might be a screw that has backed out or another piece of crud that is locking up the mechanism. I have vaguely similar slides on the drawers under my lathe and a couple of times a year I have to blow out the slides with compressed air. Easy to do in the shop. Maybe not so easy unless you have a small compressor or portable air tank or a long hose.
I had the exact same problem. Mine was the left side too! Mine was a deep drawer, and on the bottom, so absolutely no way to get to the lower backside screw. And the hell of it is, the screw is inside the slide housing!
After trying everything—four times—as you have, I did the unthinkable. Total destruction. Sawed and drilled until I got the whole thing out in pieces. Sure enough the screw had backed out. (if you measure the catchment on one of the other drawers, you’ll see that 1-3/4” is the exact location where the wheel hits the screw.). Then I made another drawer. Which is probably what you’ll end up doing—but even at that, you’ve got to get the existing drawer out!!
From your photos, I suggest a 2-stage process:
Stage 1: take a catspaw, and try to prize 1/16”of daylight between the back end of the slide and the runner it is screwed into; then work a hacksaw blade or better, multitool with metal-cutting saw blade, into the daylight between slide and runner, and cut the screw. Then try it—now this probably won’t work because the cut screw is still laying cattywampus in the channel, and has no place to go. But try it because you may get lucky. Failing that, go to stage 2....
Stage 2: With the catspaw, try to prize 1/16” daylight between the runner and the cabinet wall—the length of the runner; if you get that far, work a multitool with metal-cutting saw blade into the daylight area, and cut through every single screw holding the runner to the cabinet wall. Then work the whole shebang—drawer+runner+accuride—out of there. You may save the drawer.
It’s really an insane problem—like inanimate objects are out to get us.
Even if you can't pry the slide away from the board it is fastened to, I would still use a multitool and cut the screws mounting the slide to the board. You will destroy the board but that can be replaced.
use your phone and take pictures of the areas where the screws are. You should be able to tell from the one below about where they are. See if you can tell if it a wall side or the draw side. I would then take a little thin piece of metal and try and slide it in-between the screw head and the hole it is stuck into. This should allow you to pull it out and fix it.
Wonder if the screw has completely backed out and is loose in the slide if you could use compressed air to blow it toward the front far enough to extract the slide?
Thing is, it can’t back fully out, cause the slide channel is only like 1/4” wide. And there is just enough screw left in the wood (prior to cutting it) that you can’t just blast it out of there by yanking the drawer against it—of course, you try that a lot and maybe Steve can break it loose from the runner, but I couldn’t budge mine. The best hope is that it’s a 5/8” screw and you can get it around the corner, but mine was 3/4”. That little screw has thunk up the most fiendish thing to do—I hope Steve is able to get the drawer loose without too much surgery.
Just an update. I had already tried most of the non-destructive ideas that were suggested except for the compressed air with no luck. I don't feel like being destructive, so I'll keep on wiggling the drawer every day and hopefully one day entropy will be on my side and it'll come free.
Consider carefully determining where the fasteners are on the drawer and drill them out from inside the drawer. This would allow removal and rebuilding at least without ruining the carcass.
Also, are you sure you are considering the tabs that allow sliding the drawer slides out? on many of these, one side requires pushing a tab upwards, and on the other side it requires pushing a tab downwards. Just a thought.
So you didn't have much thread bite. I would consider getting under there with a multi tool and cutting the bottom out which might give you access to the problem screw. Maybe a little plug cutter would remove it along with some wood around it. If this allows you to open the drawer, making a new bottom to slide in from the back wouldn't be too hard.
On the other hand, an easy mistake to make with these type slides if your not accustom to using them, is to try to slide the drawer in with the middle of the three slide lengths shoved back in, with the circulating bearings toward the back. You can get the inside drawer part started in right in front, but rather than the bearings lining up with the track, one side can get jammed by going in beside the bearings rather than onto them. It would require a lot of pressure to push it all the way in, but is even harder to pull it back out. I try to make a practice of pulling that middle part out most of the way, and making sure the bearings are all the way to the front of it. If the bearings are right behind that little plastic guide, it will take care of the rest.
Also, if or when the drawers get large, I've found the best way to insert them, is to lift the drawer with the hands diagonally from corner to corner for balance. Then one hand, usually my left on the back corner so I can feel the slide that I'm trying to hit. Once that side is done, I can then move that hand over to support the weight while pulling the other slide out and onto the drawer track.
Thanks Wiley. I suspect you're correct. A 1.25" long screw holding the slide to the wall has probably backed out 1/4" and is blocking the mechanism. No amount of jiggling with get that screw out of the way.
