Full Wall Slide out Sagrs

[racoleman]

My problem has now occurred twice, so I am hoping/expecting that others with a 32 foot Adventurer or Suncruiser, with a full wall slide out, have experienced the same problem.  My problem is that the two adjustment bolts that hold the bracket for the roller on the middle slide out ram have broken.   These bolt are not accessible without removing the slide out and some of the flooring.  

The first time they broke I was told that they did so because we did not use the slide out lock while traveling.   This was true because during the walk through, when we took delivery of the unit, I specifically asked what was the slide out lock for and was told that it is there “to keep kids from playing with the slide outs”.  So, since it had now become “our fault” we ponied up several thousand dollars and had the bolts replaced.   

But I was then concerned that the real problem was that it was not adjusted correctly.  So after the repair I took it to a different repair shop (Winnebago certified) and asked them to check the alignment.  For $140 they told me that it was “dead on”.  17 months later the bolts have snapped again.  So I am pretty sure it’s a design flaw, but Winnebago will not admit it.

So this time I want to repair it myself.  My idea is to get the bracket in the right position and then weld a plate between the roller bracket and the bracket that holds the heads of the broken bolts.   This can all be done without removing the slide.  Of course the down side is that, after that, no more adjustment is possible.  My thinking is that it should not have to be adjusted again and even if it did, I can incur the expense of removing the slide out then.

The one hitch in the plan is Winnebago will not tell me how to adjust the roller brackets.  The only provide information on how to make adjustments at the end of the rams where the slide out connects.  I can move the middle bracket to be in the same plane as the two end brackets, but that presumes that both of the end brackets are in the correct location.  There is a much longer story that strongly suggests that these bolt broke when the unit was driven from the factory to the dealer, so I have reason to suspect the end brackets are not in the correct location.

Has anybody experienced the same problem?  Any suggestions?

 

PS

It is very hard to detect this problem.  Its first symptom is that the slide out is too low to open the outside compartments, However when the slide is out and you inspect the bolts they are jammed so close that the break cannot be seen.  If you take it to the dealer they can make adjustments to the outside of the end rams so that the compartments will open.  But the problem, will reappear.  I found the problem only after I decided to make the adjustment myself and noticed that the dealer had snapped off the head of one of the bolts that attached the slide out to ram.  I decided to try to remove that bolt so it can be replaced.  So I cribbed the slide out, and imaging my surprised when the ram that was supposed to be support the slide out fell down after I removed that last bolt holding it to the slide out.  Yes the slide out was holding up the ram that was supposed to be supporting the slide out.  The two broken bolts were then easy to spot.

 So if any of you have experienced not being able to open your outside compartments and you think it got fixed you may want to have those bolts examined.

[kaypsmith]

Assuming that everything is square and plumb, if this is not true, almost any fix will be hard to achieve. The slide rails should be square to the floor edge, then each of the three slide rails should be perfectly parallel with each other, this point is critical on both the slide, and the floor of the coach. To achieve this two people will need to work together in checking the distances from rail one to rail two, then from rail one to rail three. These distances are critical! Also what grade is the bolts that are being used? While replacing the bolts, the ones that will be carrying the heaviest load could be upgraded to grade 8 if they are not already that. The heaviest load will be the ones that are the furthermost ones inside the coach. Don't know your particular unit, but this is a fix that can be applied to almost any slide rail assembly. Good luck with your repair, especially if you are doing it yourself.

[dickandlois]

racoleman,

Who built the slide out mechanism used and do you have any model number on the system?

Rich. 

[racoleman]

The operator manual says Power Gear FLS/RPE DigiSync, no model number.  I have emailed them but no response.

 I am fairiy comfortable with placing the bracket in the same plane as the outer two.  The main issue is I want to weld it in place, rather than go through the tremendous expense of replacing the bolts (removing the slide).  I am primarily worried about what happens if I remove the ability to adjust the middle bracket.  Do the rollers noticeably wear?   If so can I just replace them rather than adjust the bracket?  Do new rollers very in size so much that adjustment is needed after replacement?l 

[dickandlois]

2 hours ago, racoleman said:

The operator manual says Power Gear FLS/RPE DigiSync, no model number.  I have emailed them but no response.

 I am fairiy comfortable with placing the bracket in the same plane as the outer two.  The main issue is I want to weld it in place, rather than go through the tremendous expense of replacing the bolts (removing the slide).  I am primarily worried about what happens if I remove the ability to adjust the middle bracket.  Do the rollers noticeably wear?   If so can I just replace them rather than adjust the bracket?  Do new rollers very in size so much that adjustment is needed after replacement?l 

See if this information matches you slide.

https://www.lci1.com/assets/content/support/manuals/pg-82-S0347.pdf

Rich.

[racoleman]

Thanks DickandLois.  But I already found that pdf.  It is not exactly what I have.  And though it has a drawing of height adjustment on a single ram.  I am looking for the adjustment from ram to ram.  Additionally the drawing measures form the bottom of the slide out floor.  Because of the broke bots my Side out floor sages over 5/8".    

[dickandlois]

1 minute ago, racoleman said:

Thanks DickandLois.  But I already found that pdf.  It is not exactly what I have.  And though it has a drawing of height adjustment on a single ram.  I am looking for the adjustment from ram to ram.  Additionally the drawing measures form the bottom of the slide out floor.  Because of the broke bots my Side out floor sages over 5/8".    

OK, Let me look around my files and see what else I might have !

Rich.

[dickandlois]

47 minutes ago, DickandLois said:

OK, Let me look around my files and see what else I might have !

Rich.

RA Coleman, This link might be helpful in regards to the floor height, but I have not found any drawings that give the center to center points.

https://www.lci1.com/assets/content/support/manuals/pg-82-S0379.pdf

Having said that I know there is a file that has some pictures and some reference information to setting the slide rail gear strip in the proper location to relative to the round drive gears. I can keep looking if that might help.

If your system has this stile of mechanical drive, the key is to have the gear rail centered under each of the round drive gears (as close as possible) over the entire running distance of the slide. You might build a 3 X 4 X 5 right angle triangle to keep the rails square to slide wall mounting point. 

Rich.

[racoleman]

Thanks again DickandLois.

Interestingly or or more confusing depending on ones frame of mind this PDF you sent says the difference beteeen A and B should be the floor thickness plus 1/4"  while the first one said the difference should be 1/8".  I wonder which one I have.

I got a response back from Power Gear  (Lippert Components).  Not helpful:   "The only adjustments that we can advise to on that system are on the head assemblies, where the rams connect to the room.  Also we cannot advise on making any modifications to the system."