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Old 12-25-2012, 07:27 PM   #1
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Jayco Eagle slide room

We just got a 2001 285 BH fifth wheel. It is our first RV. Pardon me if my terminologies aren't spot on but hopefully they will be understandable. The trailer was delivered to our property Saturday by the previous owner and then we removed his fifth wheel and all ither towing components from his truck for subsequent re-installation on my truck.

The trailer has a Power Gear slide room that's around 12' in length and slides out the wall by 3' leaving a flat floor. It needs a new slide gasket. The metal gripper teeth in the old gasket are rusted away. The room is also off-center in the the hole in the wall. I assumed I would find an adjuster underneath that would allow for compensation... but I'm not finding what I need.

When the slide is extended, there is less than a finger width of clear space between the aft end slide room siding and the wall flashing where the gasket attaches. On the front end of the room, there is a three-finger area of clear space between the slide room siding and the house wall gasket attachment flashing.

My initial assumption was this off-center condition could be fixed by adjusting the extension of the front rail vs. the rear rail. Upon measuring, I find there is only 3/16" of difference between the extension of the front wall vs. the real wall. I haven't goofed with it yet but I don't think making this slight correction will do much for centering the room The floor of the room is also out of adjustment being too low at the outer end but again, I'm not visualizing a correction here making much of a difference in centering.

I do think I know what some of the the problem is but I'm unable to figure the proper technique for adjusting in this third axis. The room is swept back (like the wing of a fighter jet) as compared to being square to the house walls. Indeed, when you examine the rails and the frame pockets the rails run through, the aft faces of the rails are hard up against the pockets in the frame while there is clear space in between the forward faces of the rail and the frame pockets.

It appears the entire room on rails needs to swing forward. I don't think this will provide enough clear space at the rear to allow for re installation of a new gasket but it should be a good start. I'm hoping the combinations of adjustments will relocate the room to the center where it belongs so I can get that critical gasket installed as quickly as possible. Although I don't quite understand why, it does not leak at this time, even with thwe bad gasket loose and flopping everywhere.

I guess my questions are
1) can someone tell me the best way to move this room and it's rails forward? Only thing I can think of so far is rig up a way to jack it forward or try to work it forward with crowbars in the frame pockets.
2) anyone know the cause of something like this? I can't find anything bent or damaged. The room does extend and retract just fine and there's no mismatch of gears and rail teeth. It's like the room drifted south on a mysterious current.

Thank you for reading and any insight you can offer about this situation.

Wil
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Old 12-26-2012, 07:09 AM   #2
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Questions that come to mind are: Was the previous owner forthcoming with any info on the slide? Are you going to keep it on a fixed site or tow it?

I would not break out the crow bar yet, do some research and discussion with others first. I have no ideas on it but to go slow.
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Old 12-26-2012, 09:42 AM   #3
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How about a conversation with Jayco by phone, including the serial # of the unit, describing the problem. They just might be able to give you the info you need to correct it.
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Old 12-26-2012, 08:40 PM   #4
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The previous owner was very forthcoming about everything he knew that was wrong with it. He didn't know anything about the clearance issues. We do plan to tow it and I will call Jayco to see what they say but I want to learn more about the system and the situation before I do.

I started trying to straighten this slide room today. The trailer hadn't been pulled in quite some time and was parked nose high, probably for years. The guy also had his truck set up to tow it nose very high. I'm thinking if the slide was extended and retracted numerous times in this nose high attitude, maybe that's what made the room drift rearward. I kneeled it down in the nose and cycled it a few times. This helped a little bit but only moved the rails a fuzz off the aft end of the frame pockets.

I adjusted the room height per the Power Gear instructions. The room was way off. Setting this level helped a little more but didn't move the rails any more in the pockets. Now the inner rail extension error is down to 1/8". Fixing this may help a little more but at this point, I believe I may have it straight enough for proper gasket installation

I found a little rotten wood in the floor at the back of the slide room today too. I don't think it's too bad and can probably be saved with a good wood consolidater.
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Old 12-27-2012, 12:23 PM   #5
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There is a very good product on the market called Kwik Poly, which is used to restore damaged or rotted wood. It is a two-part solution that can be mixed and flowed into cavities, and when cured, can be drilled, sawed, sanded, painted, etc. You can also add things like sawdust to make it into a paste. I use it when restoring old cars that have wood structure under the outer sheet metal that can't easily be removed and replaced. Final strength is structural. Available from Eastwood Products in Pennsylvania, among others. Might be something you could use to fix your floor wood.
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Old 12-27-2012, 12:33 PM   #6
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Oops - I checked on Eastwood's site, and apparently they do not list Kwik Poly anymore, for some reason. You can get it directly from the manufacturer: Kwik Poly LLC, 300 St Cecelia Ct., Old Monroe, MO 63369. Phone 636-665-5665. Email dale@kwikpolyllc.com You can also look up instructions and info on their website, www.kwikpolyllc.com
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Old 12-27-2012, 01:40 PM   #7
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Thanks Bill. I didn't know about that one. I'll read up on it. It looks good. and seems a lot more reasonable in cost than Abatron Liquid Wood.
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Old 12-27-2012, 04:57 PM   #8
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I ordered a quart of the Kwik Poly.
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Old 12-27-2012, 05:32 PM   #9
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Wil,
It's possible the slide room mechanism may have been mis-aligned during installation at the factory; and the original owners didn't notice this.
I'm not sure how your slide mechanism is installed, but would it be possible to move the mounting points over a bit?
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Old 12-27-2012, 07:08 PM   #10
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Mike,

I suppose builder misalignment is possible which is a scary thought.

The outer rails for the slide room are frame crossmembers that are securely welded to the frame. The inner rails run in these and extend out through pockets in the frame. The pockets are also welded to the frame. I can't find any way to make an adjustment in this axis other than brute force the room and its rails forward within the pockets.
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Old 12-29-2012, 09:38 AM   #11
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I'm waiting for info from Jayco but will not be disappointed if I don't hear anything for a while due to the holidays. In the meantime, I'm still trying to figure things out on my own.

I located the following info that seems to indicate an off-center room may be normal for a Jayco 285. See the part about using a prybar or screwdriver to insert a gasket. Does this sound reasonable or realistic? Does a new gasket have enough grip to stay in place and not be rolled out of a low clearance location?

---------------------------

http://en.allexperts.com/q/RV-Repair...l-slideout.htm

AllExperts RV Repair/Gasket seal on slideout

Expert: Shawn - 5/1/2006

Question
I own a 1999 Jayco 285 with a double slideout. The seal on the slideout needs to be replaced. Is this something that I could do myself or should I leave it for the RV dealer? It looks to me that I should be able to do this at home. Am I fooling myself?

Thank-You
Rick

Answer
Rick it is easy to do yourself, get a new bulb seal from a dealer and it should take you about an hour. Just start at the bottom and pull it off all the way around the slide. You will see the steel clips that hold it to the slide flange have all rusted. Lay out the new seal up and over slide, start tucking the slide seal over the slide flange at the bottom just push it in the groove. Now sometimes the slde room itself and the slide flange are very tight so a prybar or big flat head screwdriver will help to tuck the seal in where your fingers don't fit. Now continue this all the way up till you reach the corner and use a utility knife to cut a slit in the wiper part of the seal to allow it to go around the corner. Continue this till you go all the way around the slide then cut off the excess. A bead of caulking or silicone all the way around the seal where it meets the flange to stop water from entering will extend the life of the seal

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Old 01-12-2013, 10:16 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tinlizzie23 View Post
There is a very good product on the market called Kwik Poly, which is used to restore damaged or rotted wood. It is a two-part solution that can be mixed and flowed into cavities, and when cured, can be drilled, sawed, sanded, painted, etc. You can also add things like sawdust to make it into a paste. I use it when restoring old cars that have wood structure under the outer sheet metal that can't easily be removed and replaced. Final strength is structural. Available from Eastwood Products in Pennsylvania, among others. Might be something you could use to fix your floor wood.
Bill, I gotta say, this Kwik Poly is some amazing stuff. The damaged portion of my slide room floor is better than new. I drilled the covering and let it dry out completely before pouring it full. Now it's solid as a rock. I had some damaged framing too. Some I replaced. Some I restored with Kwik Poly. I used a large syringe with a 16 gauge needle to inject the studs and harden them from the inside out.
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Old 01-18-2013, 06:55 PM   #13
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I figured out how to center the slide room inside the hole in the wall. Just needed a chain and a come-along and a 1 ton truck.
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Old 01-19-2013, 04:50 PM   #14
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Glad the Kwik-Poly worked out for you. It really is a great product. Also glad that you figured out your slide centering problem. Sometimes brute force is the only solution.
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