Bed Failure, Queen, 287BHBE, are there others?

cjack99 · 05-14-2015, 01:11 PM

Just brought the trailer back from the dealer, second time, same issue.

The problem?

The ultra thin (1/4"?) bed mattress support plywood pulls free from the hinge at the front, (hinge allows the bed to be lifted for access to the bed box storage area). This is aggravated because the hinge appears to be too thin, width wise, to allow for proper securing of the hinge to the plywood.

On this trailer it almost appears to be either a complete design flaw, or I just got lucky when they ran out of plywood during build.

Support for the bed plywood is applied by the bed box at the foot of the bed, and the hinge at the front, nothing for the sides, as the plywood is cut too narrow to allow it to rest on the 2 1x1's that are attached at the side on each side. This results in 2 very unhappy occupants on a regular basis. Also, since the hinge is attached lower than the height of the bed frame, the bed mattress slopes down at the head end, it does not sit level.

Does everybody with a front bedroom Jayco have this wacky bed frame get up? And how many times does your hinge tear free of the plywood and leave you floating on air?

Thanks
cactus

33 RLDS · 05-14-2015, 01:37 PM

The only problem I had was squeaking that seemed to be from the plywood rubbing on the center support. Some self sticking foam weather stripping at point of contact solved that issue. That and many staples pulling up out of the plywood almost ripping my foam mattress as I pulled it around to find the squeak. Pulled them out and replaced them with screws. Just some more quality Amish craftsmanship..

spoon059 · 05-14-2015, 03:01 PM

The bed on my trailer is poor at best. Its about 1/2 inch plywood with three 2x2 strips glued to the bottom side for support. There is nothing supporting the 2x2 strips. I just built 2 small walls out of 2x4 and placed one under our shoulder area and one under out upper leg area to support the 2x2's which support the bed. The bed is now very supported and doesn't sag under our weight.

wags999 · 05-14-2015, 03:32 PM

Just looked at our bed. They use the 3/8" ply same as on roof. Ours is 58" wide, (mattress is 60" ) so it does sit on the frame below. Hinge is more than adequate to handle my 275 lbs and my wifes 150 lbs. We have slept in ours about 30 days since we picked it up first of April, without an issue. If dealer won't put the proper width plywood in, I would replace the plywood myself and be done with your issue.

Bookemdanno · 05-14-2015, 03:39 PM

I have the same trailer as you...The right side of the hinge at the head of the bead was coming away from the wall on ours. I got the hinge back attached and put the air shocks or "rods" and installed them to help with raising the bed. We also purchased a mattress pad from Costco (which helped tremendously with our comfort!). I haven't had a problem since. Don't know if I helped you or not, but I thought I'd throw it out there. I think the air rods take some of the stress off of the hinge.

Dan

oldmanAZ · 05-14-2015, 03:40 PM

First, welcome to the forum.

Our bed design sounds similar, but there is partial support on the sides. As I recall, the bed sides are supported from the foot of the bed up to approximately my waist area. There is no side support from the head of the bed down to approximately my waist. Also, the screws at front have not pulled out and with the refrigerator level, the bed is level.

I do plan to make a wall dividing the pass-through storage from the under bed storage. When I do that, I will check the head of the bed more carefully for the problems you are encountering.

ttavasc · 05-14-2015, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cjack99

The ultra thin (1/4"?) bed mattress support plywood pulls free from the hinge at the front, (hinge allows the bed to be lifted for access to the bed box storage area). This is aggravated because the hinge appears to be too thin, width wise, to allow for proper securing of the hinge to the plywood.

I just finished fixing the same problem with our short queen walk-around. The thin hinges at the head didn't provide enough support for when the bed was lifted. I replaced the 2 strip hinges with 3 - 3" entry hinges I picked up from Lowes which allowed me to get a couple of screws for each hinge between 1" and 3" out from the edge of the plywood.

cjack99 · 05-15-2015, 11:36 AM

Thanks for the replies! One post confirmed my thoughts, I got shafted on plywood width. And thanks for the confirmation on the hinges. My next move is to replace the plywood with something a bit more robust, and wider, and add new hinges. My overall thoughts are, this is something Jayco should not be proud of. Wonder if anybody from Jayco ever reads this forum....

RUSSELL5000 · 05-15-2015, 12:07 PM

I had a similar problem, although not as extreme as you.

I replaced the couple of weak sister hinges with a stouter, full length piano hinge.

I took eight 1" x 2" pine boards and glued/screwed to the bottom of the plywood.

My platform was fine. Now the base (the plywood sheet) is strong and lifts easily.

Tdevito72 · 05-18-2015, 06:14 PM

We have a26 bhs the bed supports pulled away from the plywood and broke plus the supports weren't even done properly ...dealer fixed it no problems so far

Dirkdaddy · 05-18-2015, 10:57 PM

My 27bh the bed plywood is 2 parts, with seam going from L to R. The outer edges was unsupported where the two parts met and when weight on it, the two parts would move independently and squeak. After a couple trips I have glued and screwed wood to the underside. I feel like the plywood bed support sags, I'm going to reinforce it mine didn't have any of the cross supports like is mentioned. I'm 180 and wife about 150, not overloading it. How the factory thought the design was adequate...I have no idea.

paul · 05-21-2015, 11:27 AM

my new 2015 also is 1/4 inch plywood. Im afraid to sleep on it. I will have to beef it up.

oldmanAZ · 05-21-2015, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul

my new 2015 also is 1/4 inch plywood. Im afraid to sleep on it. I will have to beef it up.

Welcome to the forum.

jillntim · 06-02-2015, 12:50 PM

We bought our 28bhbe in March and it is going back to the dealer for the 2nd time in the next week or so for that exact, same problem. 1/4" plywood???? Are they kidding me? With 2x2 supports going length wise of the board, but not connected to anything????

We just picked it up from being fixed last Thursday to take out this last weekend. Broke again (seems to be when my husband leans on his elbow to scoot himself up past the edge of the cabinets and the pressure point splits the plywood which then pulls the plywood from the 2x2s breaking them). We have told them they better beef this up or we will continue to keep bringing it in.

I do like the idea of beefing up the brackets like someone mentioned.... I will pick some of those up to install after the next dealer fix (I am hoping they will put on at least 3/8" plywood as I don't have a table saw to cut and I am in Phoenix and it is 112 outside now - I don't want to work out there in the trailer this time of year!!!!). I also want to build a 2x4 brace to go across the under side of the bed at the "mid" corners for the under storage as it just seems like that is a natural spot to have support under there. (I hope that makes sense).

I will tell you, 2 trips ago we slept on the sofa sleeper waiting to get it in to the dealer... it is not comfortable. I am impressed with the mattress Jayco uses, it only needed a thin mattress pad that I actually put under the mattress to make it quite comfortable.... at least until it breaks.

ALJO · 06-02-2015, 02:07 PM

All mfg's expect the customer to finish their units to their needs. The beds are designed for barbie dolls not for the average (me) and heavy weights.
I have 7/16 or 1/2 rough ply wood from the factory and had to put a stud under the center. Was thinking if I'm in a happy mood (most of the time) I would fall through......lol.
Rough plywood and a "so so" mattress bottom are not happy campers either. So I put a good bed underlay over the plywood.

rick danger · 06-02-2015, 02:16 PM

I was thinking of opening up the panel at the foot of the bed and make the access from there.. That would eliminate the hinge problem , and since I got rid of the stock matress and put in a 15" one, I wouldnt have to lift it. The pistons dont hold it up. Just aid a little in lifting it. Then cases of water (what I usually store there) could be slid out instead of lifted

ttavasc · 06-02-2015, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jillntim

I do like the idea of beefing up the brackets like someone mentioned.... I will pick some of those up to install after the next dealer fix (I am hoping they will put on at least 3/8" plywood as I don't have a table saw to cut and I am in Phoenix and it is 112 outside now - I don't want to work out there in the trailer this time of year!!!!). I also want to build a 2x4 brace to go across the under side of the bed at the "mid" corners for the under storage as it just seems like that is a natural spot to have support under there. (I hope that makes sense).

It looks like the bed size and orientation are the same as my smaller 195RB - here is a link to a post that shows the new hinges I installed at the head along with some additional 2 x 2 support to keep the add-on gas struts from pulling it away from the front wall when closed. We've tested here at the house and it seems much better for our situation....

http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f3...tml#post303990

Good luck with the heat! Our youngest daughter lives in Phoenix - we don't let the heat keep us away but it will certainly wilt you in a short minute for sure....

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