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Old 05-12-2019, 04:21 AM   #1
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Seneca Rear Slide Issues

My 2012 Seneca has been having issues with the rear slide for quite some time now. The rig has 60,000 miles on it so I am figuring out I might see problem before others do be cause ours actually gets used LOL.

Initially the gears started popping (which means they are slipping past the gear teeth on the track) This throws the upper to lower timing out of whack. Some of the teeth on the track were missing from this happening so we replaced the track and gears. We thought this was the end of it. Nope!

Now we are figuring out there are two serious issues at play here.

1- The bottom of the slide is soft. We are figurung the floor is rotting. Its sealed by some black coating, but you cant start a screw in it and the white roller tracks are mashing into it.

2- The metal framing on the coach that the rollers under the slide are bolted to is collapsing. Thats right, the framing of the wall itself is mashing in from the weight of the slide.

These two factors are causing a binding of the slide movement in and out. This caused the gear and track issues.

This is an obvious manufacturing defect in that Jayco did not make the side walls beefy enough to handle the load of the slide out itself. The collapsing of the tube wall made the slide not seal properly and deteriorated the floor over time.

If you own a seneca extend the rear slide out. Look down the rollers underneath. If the metal is collapsing, the area around where the roller is bolted down will be mashed in slightly. This will get worse over time with use.

I'm calling Jayco this week. If they are not willing to correct this issue, Im getting my lawyer involved. I have literally already shelled out thousands of dollars on this slide out.

Alan Ward
Johnson City TN
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Old 05-12-2019, 06:37 AM   #2
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I cannot speak for your specific model year, however I was just up at the factory for service and received a tour. The rear bedroom slide is made differently than the others. It actually come as a whole one piece unit with the mechanism. My understanding of this would be that the mechanism and frame are all supporting the slide against the wall. The mechanism/frame combination was labeled with a Lipert Components (LCI) sticker.
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Old 05-12-2019, 06:48 AM   #3
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The aluminum tracks only move the slide in and out, they are not load bearing. 100% of the weight is on the frame rollers.
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Old 05-12-2019, 12:34 PM   #4
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The aluminum tracks only move the slide in and out, they are not load bearing. 100% of the weight is on the frame rollers.
Yes, I saw that as well, but those rollers and the frame they attach to are one unit.
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Old 05-12-2019, 12:58 PM   #5
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On my Seneca, the rollers on the bottom attach to the RV wall panel and are not part of the slide unit. I know the side frames and tracks are a unit.
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Old 05-12-2019, 01:07 PM   #6
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Here is a photo.
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Old 05-12-2019, 05:50 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by Clayduster71 View Post

1- The bottom of the slide is soft. We are figuring the floor is rotting. Its sealed by some black coating, but you cant start a screw in it and the white roller tracks are mashing into it.
I remember there being an issue, specifically with the FS units, where water could intrude between the outside wall and the lower trim on the big slide. It would then seep in and saturate the floor. Jayco recommending carefully monitoring those seams to keep the water out. I don't have an FS but I have had to reseal the same seams on my three slides about once a year to keep them watertight. It seems they all flex enough to open the seams when the slides close up completely against the outside walls, then relax as you open the slide(s).
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Old 05-12-2019, 07:03 PM   #8
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Rob your memory is exactly correct and there is even a YouTube video on that situation on an FS. I, as you did, extrapolated that the problem could be with any slide even if water intrusion goes unnoticed. All that being said, I brought this issue up with Jayco service two weeks ago and they assured me that it was actually the butyl seal beneath the picture frames that prevents leaking. I didn’t bother to argue, I just added another tube of sealant to my amazon cart!

What is the best way to remove the old sealant and reapply new without damaging paint.

Clayduster if the problem originated when still under warranty this could be something you could go back on as unresolved especially when they stipulate it is their underlying butyl which “should” prevent leaks.
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Old 05-12-2019, 07:20 PM   #9
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What is the best way to remove the old sealant and reapply new without damaging paint.
I gave up worrying about the paint, I just very carefully used a single-edge razor blade and cut out the old sealant bead. Then I used Geocel ProFlexRV clear sealant to reseal. Seems to hold up well.
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Old 05-13-2019, 05:42 AM   #10
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I'm not as worried about the floor as I am the wall frame collapsing. You can see the dip in the wall where the roller is bolted. We installed 1/16" metal over the plastic track to counteract the sinking of the wall and roller as you can see in photo.
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Old 05-13-2019, 08:09 AM   #11
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You wouldn’t think that slide frame sits on anything wood but rather the metal that makes up the wall. That would be a major concern. As for the slide floor, that is most likely made of wood with that plastic roller pad. If that has had water intrusion (and regardless of what Jayco says, sealing that picture frame is critical) it may be rotten and lost its structural integrity. You could see the same leak occurring on the sidewalls of that slide which would degrade the integrity if the wall and thereby prevent consistent contact of the gears.

If you have any legal recourse, we will all be interested as this may make this entire industry more accountable for their work. During my tour, they admitted pride in completing a Seneca in 9 hours of work and the employees are paid based on production.
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Old 07-03-2019, 04:29 AM   #12
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UPDATE on rear slide.

The whole flooring on the rear slide is rotten. Evidently that butyl tape doesnt keep the water out and the guy on the YouTube video is correct. When I say rotten, I mean so rotten it is literally a pile of black wet powder. This has been the root cause of most of our problems. The black waterproof membrane actually KEEPS the water in there as well so it never has a chance to dry out.

We are in the process of removing the slide right now. I will post up some photos.

Alan

If you own a 39FS, you BETTER check your slide floor
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Old 07-03-2019, 04:52 AM   #13
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Here are the pics

Here are the photos. Again, if you have the FS model with the rear bunks, you had BETTER seal the edge trim. The butyl tape seals the picture frame to the black membrane on the bottom. This still allows the water to shoot right under the membrane and STAY there. If you don't believe it will totally screw up your slide, check out these photos.
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floor1.jpg   floor2.jpg   floor3.jpg   floor4.jpg  
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Old 07-03-2019, 04:59 AM   #14
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This slide has obviously been leaking since the day it left the factory. According to Jayco, the slide is still assembled in the same manner too (just like the guy said above) I have LITERALLY spent thousands of dollars on this slide already. We just had to order a completely new schwintech system that set me back another grand a week ago because of this crap. What has Jayco done for me? NOTHING, and they'll do the same for you as well. The last 8 of my VIN Jayco (if you read this stuff and actually care) is CHBJ6831. What a POS this thing is! Alan Ward 423-948-0911
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Old 07-03-2019, 07:30 AM   #15
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This slide has obviously been leaking since the day it left the factory. According to Jayco, the slide is still assembled in the same manner too (just like the guy said above) I have LITERALLY spent thousands of dollars on this slide already. We just had to order a completely new schwintech system that set me back another grand a week ago because of this crap. What has Jayco done for me? NOTHING, and they'll do the same for you as well. The last 8 of my VIN Jayco (if you read this stuff and actually care) is CHBJ6831. What a POS this thing is! Alan Ward 423-948-0911

I am so sorry this happened to you. I own a 2019 37RB and the first thing I did was caulk, caulk and caulk!! From extensive research and a whole lot of caulking, I can tell you that Sikaflex 1a is the best caulking to use. I have read from numerous experts that you only have to caulk it once!


Here is a link from Amazon, where I get mine.

https://amzn.to/324bHLv
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Old 07-10-2019, 04:29 AM   #16
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We have the slide out and in the shop. The whole floor is a metal frame, the voids filled with styrofoam and then a thin 3/16 luan top and bottom. The slide rollers are bearing on styrofoam! No wonder the thing failed. We are going to weld in aluminum tubing actually UNDER the rollers and plate the bottom with 3/16 aluminum sheeting. What a POS...they couldn't cheap it out anymore than they did. All it needed was framing where the rollers weight bares and caulking on the outside trim frame that leaks. - Alan Ward
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Old 07-10-2019, 05:02 AM   #17
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Just when you think they can not do less, you are surprised. What is the even the point of roller if it resting on a thin piece of plywood and Styrofoam. That is a very large slide with significant flex potential in the floor.

As painful as this is thanks for sharing the photos. The engineering details help the rest of understand how the thing is constructed and we can be proactive.

Best wishes on the repairs.
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Old 07-10-2019, 05:23 AM   #18
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Just when you think they can not do less, you are surprised. What is the even the point of roller if it resting on a thin piece of plywood and Styrofoam. That is a very large slide with significant flex potential in the floor.

As painful as this is thanks for sharing the photos. The engineering details help the rest of understand how the thing is constructed and we can be proactive.

Best wishes on the repairs.
Lucky for me I have the capability to fix it myself. I guarantee you the dealer would want 10k to fix this. It shouldn't have to be done to begin with if Jayco would have done it right when they built it. Their customer service says they still make these the same way.
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Old 07-10-2019, 06:25 AM   #19
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Lucky for me I have the capability to fix it myself. I guarantee you the dealer would want 10k to fix this. It shouldn't have to be done to begin with if Jayco would have done it right when they built it. Their customer service says they still make these the same way.
I commend you on your talent and ability to fix it yourself, to make it better! I am all about doing the same on my rig. I look at its deficiencies and make my improvements. I have already made many improvements!! KUDOS to you!!
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Old 07-10-2019, 03:44 PM   #20
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i think i am going out to check my sides after dinner. i go look around after each rain. i found a couple drops on the floor one time from that picture frame mounding it just had a hairline crack in the caulk
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