Glide Rail has been changed.
I have successfully changed the glide bar on my slide-out from plastic/aluminum to the factory carpet covered aluminum extrusion.
I have a 2001 36 ft. Journey with one large slide-out.
After a while of not receiving any favorable responses, I proceeded down a trial and error path that ended up being successful. This was a one man task and took about three hours. Below is my process:
1.) Fully extend the slide out.
2.) Measure the height of the support beam from top to bottom. You want this so you can reset the floor to it original position.
3.) Jack both ends of the slide out up about two inches. I used bottle jacks and 2 X 4's. short 2 X 4 under the slide-out and longer 2 X 4 from the bottle jack to the short 2 X 4.
4.) Once jacked up, I placed some 1 X 3's under the corners of the slide-out on the interior floor to act as safety stops, in case a jack would get knocked over.
5.) Remove two locking screws on each support beam adjuster using two 7/16 box wrenches.
6.) Raise support beam using a 9/16 box wrench until it becomes loose/detached.
7.) Tip support beam onto the top of the storage compartments.
8.) Remove original plastic/aluminum slide. Remove screws on ends of plastic slide. Remove plastic. Remove screws in aluminum plate and remove the plate.
9.) Install the new glide strip, centered in place of the original glide bar. I had two order two for the length and cut one to fit. I reused self tapping shooter screws from the original glide bar.
10.) Reinstall support bar and locking screws (do not tighten locking screws yet) in reverse order of disassembly. set at original dimensions.
11.)Lower slide, remove supports and bottle jacks.
12.) Adjust support bar to desired height (you want your floor in the slide-out to be level with the fixed floor)
13.) Tighten locking screws.
.14) Complete.
Some of the screws near the fuel tank fill were a little difficult to get at, but I was able to put a Philips bit into a 1/4" socket onto a pneumatic socket wrench and get the old out and new in. Removing the support beam was much easier than I expected.
I make no guarantees about this procedure and you need to be your own judge on safety, but this is what worked for me and I would not think twice about doing it again.
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