Failed Slide Out Roller

[luisimo]

Hi!

I have a 2022 Winnebago View 24J and over the 4th of July holiday trip we experienced the fear of being stuck away from home as the side slide out will NOT retract.

After frantically seeking a mobile service that will come to our site, we got someone that came over and noticed that one of the four rollers got out of place, wedging the slide and not allowing it to close. His solution, remove the roller. Yay!

Now that I am back home, and I look at the roller, (Lippert J-38) I see there is nothing wrong with it, just the screws securing it gave out and a portion of the floor got 'messed up'. Called the dealer and they don't have availability until THREE months from now... There goes our summer... while I wait for the dealer, is it anything I could do myself? Short of removing the slide as the back screws are unreachable without removing the slide

Feedback and guidance will be greatly appreciated, need the RV before the next holiday (Labor Day Weekend).

[bigb]

I had this happen to the Lipper Power Gear Above Floor slide my dining slide on my Via and while they are not accessible from outside, they are (barely) accessible from inside. In my case I had to remove the couch then the metal cover underneath which exposed the two tracks and the four rollers. It is very difficult to work in there and it took me several hours and I had to make 2 tools. The roller itself it held in place by the small flange nut but you cannot tighten it down because the bearing will just keep turning in the track. I first made a small tool to hold the bearing against the inside rail of the track so I could start the flange nut (which is a 1/4-20). On the back side of the bearing there is an allen socket hole which you have to hold with an allen wrench in order to tighten the nut with a wrench, but it is impossible to fit an allen wrench down in there without modifying it so I heated it and bent it so it would work. I actually had to re-bend it a couple times so I could fit it behind the other 3 bearings so I could make sure they were tight too, one was very loose.
All this time I had to finagle the slide back and forth in small increments, and I even had to unbolt the carriage assembly from the slide itself making the slide tilt way over and needed assistance putting it back together.
So it is doable, just takes time and perseverance.
The pics below show where the rollers go, and you can see how difficult it is to get an allen wrench in behind them, and the other pics are a roller and my home made tools.
BTW my roller had fallen out prior to me buying the rig and I didn't know, I though it was normal for the slide to tip around while putting in in or out and I would help guide it with my hands. I found the roller and nut one day when I removed the motor cover underneath to see how to hand crank it if it ever got stuck and they fell out on the ground.

I don't know if yours will be the same but if so hope this helps.

[bigb]

Here's a pic from the underside of the slide, if you have this track in the center of your slide then it is the same as mine

[Blue Sky]

There are some informative threads on the https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/ site that deal with repairs for that specific problem. The repair itself is simple. Access to the slide mechanism and limited space to work are what make the job complicated. If you're handy, you can do it.

[luisimo]

Thank you Bigb for the feedback, need to take a couple pictures of my set up this weekend.