Bedroom slide issue

[DanGlo52]

Good afternoon folks. We have encountered a weird issue in our 2004 Winnebago Vectra 40 AD. when the bedroom slide comes in, the foot of the bed rises 3 to 6 inches while it is coming in and settles down once in.

I raised the mattress and plywood and activated the slide to see what is going on. The whole aluminum frame that supports the plywood rises.....what in the dickens is happening here? The centre support with two bolts through it appears to be broken...the 2 bolts appear to be snapped off.I found a nylon piece that I believe belongs on the top of the two bolts. the two bolts sit comfortably in the two holes in the centre rail. I can't figure it out and Winnebago said they need a tech to check it out to know what is going on. Has anyone had this happen top them? Any info is much appreciated. I think that I have uploaded images to help clarify.

[Morich]

I have no idea but there may be some info online tolet you look at the parts/plans for the slide?

About page 185 on this site?

https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...4/4wks40ad.pdf

Perhaps this item?

[Wayne M]

My 2008 had a similar problem. The problem was that Winnebago made the aluminum rails to small for the neoprene slider to stay on. One would slip off and play havoc with the system.

In 2010 we were in Coburg, OR and traveled to Guaranty RV in Junction City, OR, They contacted Winnebago and it was determined that Winnebago new about the problem. The fix was to install wider aluminum (angle iron) rails,. The original rail was only 1 inch and he newere were 1-1/2 inc, We never had another problem with the bedroom slide,

When the "bed box" failed it caused other damage. I pulled the support frame off of the plywood floor. Attached to that support was the grey water drains anchor from the galley. We operated that way for several days. Water softened the plywood. Needed to add longer lag bolts to dig deeper into the wood. It was a mess,

Good Luck.

p.s., I don't think you will fix it by yourself. Some welding of aluminum is needed to attach all corners of the rail.

[DanGlo52]

gentlemen, thank you very much for your help. I think that I will try to tear it apart a little more to understand exactly what all is happening here. if all else fails, I will have to make a trip to Winnebago. I find that too many other techs fake knowledge where Winnebago will "Git 'er done". By the way, my temp fix is have someone sit on the foot end of the bed as the slide goes either in or out. it is temporary, but effective so far. Thanks again guys!

[doorguy]

DanGlo52, plz advise when you get it repaired and tell us how it went.

[Party Barge]

DanGlo52,

I have had the same issue in my 06 Horizon kd 2 times, once around 20011-12 and again a couple of months ago.
My bolts broke of just where the threads meet and looks from fatigue. I replaceD the bolts with grade 8 bolts from ACE and might have added a washer. I think all of the parts were just laying near the point of the break.
I did not have any other damage because I looked at it as soon as the end of bed came up.
The ends of the old bolts came out quite easily, with help of a sharp pick.
This last time a bought a set of two extra bolts and left them under the bed for next time.
I was surprised the grade 8 bolts broke, so the force of the ram pushing them back and forth must be pretty strong. I looked at the stops, but since the slide seals well in both in and out positions. I has been 10+ years since I first replaced them.
I installed the bolts so there was some clearance and greased the ram and area around the plastic parts
I ran the slide in and out with the bed up to see there was no excessive play or binding.
When looking for the replacement bolts take the old bolt plus the end screwed into the bottom support to get the best measurement. I don't think the bolt bottoms out so you have some to adjust.

Rab

[DanGlo52]

Bob, Thank you very much for your response. I am still trying to investigate this issue further, but my parts seem to be all out of place, do you have any photos of your slide where the broken bolts are? Can you indicate where you found the bolt ends? did they have nuts, or screwed straight into the bottom ? Any further info is very much appreciated.

[Party Barge]

ROBERT BUCHANAN <[email protected]>
Attachments
9:03 AM (1 hour ago)
to Winnebago

DanGlo52,

Here are 3 photos, I had to look back to 2011 to find them. The one showing the bolt ends is a little out of focus.

I used a pick and small screwdriver to unscrew the bolt ends out of the base plate.

I may be jumping ahead. If you have not found the ram slide, I think I ran the room out so I could lift the bed. under the bed there is a raised area about 6 inchs wide in the center. It has a thin plywood cover which you have to remove to do the repair.

Hope this helps

3
Attachments
Having an issue getting the photos up, can you send me an email and I will attach.

[DanGlo52]

ok, so here is my fix. Bob's pictures sure helped me out. I could not find the attachment for the bolts on the inner rail (black). There was a fine dust coating and the bolts were sheered off perfectly even with the top of the black rail. I thought that there must be nuts indie the rail somewhere and that these would cause me problems if left to "float" around. anyway, I found the bolt ends still in the black rail and removed those with an "easy out" a drill bit purposed to remove broken bolts or screws that were badly damaged at the head. (I should have taken a picture of that but I did not. Image 0887 shows the broken bolts and their ends, image 0886 shoes where I found them in the inner rail (black).
My bed plywood was also gouged by the bolts over some period of time; the plywood is somewhat thin and lazy. but, I also found a piece of nylon that appears to be a slider of some sort. so, I measured the distance from the aluminum base bottom to the plywood at the sides and also in the middle at the repaired slide support. I found that if I put that piece of nylon on top of my bolts, I get just about the right height to match the sides. so I did that and placed a small bolt in the centre hole to float into the slide hole. but the nylon is truly attached only with double sided tape as shown with image 0888. I did notice that the tension on the new bolts increased as the bedroom was retracted, so I adjusted them to be snug but not tight. they become tight when fully retracted. I sure hope this helps others. (Thanks again Bob and others who helped me) oh yeah, I sprayed everything with white lithium grease and left a spare set of bolts under the bed for future use (in case).