Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill
This is great news. Replacing that wood would have been very difficult.
Your explanation is clear, but I have no idea what it means. Larryjb may have some ideas - he is pretty good at this stuff.
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Wow, Bill, you're giving me shoes that are at least 2 sizes too big for me!
But, from Jodi's pictures and descriptions, I see this so far:
1) The floor wood framing has separated from the rest of the floor, and also from the side wall, at the torsion bar mount.
2) The inside surface is topped with plywood which is why you don't see the drop from inside.
3) The white material you see could be Styrofoam or aluminum sheeting. Being a 2003, the wall is constructed from 1" aluminum perimeter frame with Styrofoam. All this is sandwiched between two thin sheets of aluminum. I believe what you may be seeing is the exterior thin aluminum sheet. The screws should be going through the 1" aluminum tubing, then into the wood floor structure.
I would be curious to hear what Dick had to do for his repair. I'm not sure if my suggestions would be reasonable or not, but this is what I'm thinking:
1) Pull the slide out from the box (Bill is the expert here!)
2) Support the upper shell securely. Because the repair would likely take a few days, I'd support the shell from the inside of the trailer where it is less likely to be knocked out of place.
3) Separate the lift arm from the torsion bar, and see about removing the torsion bar. If your torsion bars are weak and near the end of their adjustment, this would be a great time to replace.
4) Mark the torsion bar bracket position on the floor bottom AND at the side wall, then remove.
5) Peel back the aluminum skin in the location where the wood floor structure has separated. At this point, you'd have to analyse why the wood separated from the rest of the floor.
6) Remove the lower wall trim, then remove the screws where the floor separated from the wall.
Repair of the floor:
7) Jack the wood framing back into position. Use Gorilla Glue wherever you can (ie. wood frame to Styrofoam, wood frame to plywood floor.)
8) From the inside, remove the aluminum track at the bottom edge. Drill and insert 2" #10 screws to hold the wood framing back onto the plywood floor anywhere the frame separated from the floor. This cannot be the main structural support, but will help with clamping the wood framing to the wood floor.
I'd also look into seeing if I could bolt the wood framing to the rest of the floor. This will be a challenge because the aluminum strip has to sit flush on the floor for the slide. I'm not sure what can be done to reinforce this.
9) Use more Gorilla Glue to reattach the lower aluminum skin back to the Styrofoam and wood framing. Staple to hold.
10) Reassemble. All screws that pulled out will have to be inserted into new positions so they will hold.
All this might be hogwash, but it may get you thinking.
Good luck! (I hope this doesn't happen to me!!!!)