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Old 01-20-2009, 09:56 AM   #10
Bill
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John -

Although you don't say, you must have a TM of about 2002 vintage or earlier. The "soft slideout floor" was discussed in great detail back then. I invented a fix for it, which turned out to be way too complicated. Denny_A followed up with a much simpler approach that was just as effective. An Advanced Search should turn up the thread - I'll see if I can find it and post a link.

It should solve your floor-flex problem immediately.

Bill
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[EDIT] OK, I can't find the original thread that covers it. A bunch of early threads were lost in board's software conversion in 2001 or 2002, and this may have been part of the loss. I've found two follow-up threads, but they are not particularly helpful. So let me outline the process.

Does the slider in your unit have a rectangular cutout or cubbyhole that goes over the propane tanks when the slider is extended? If so, your job is pretty easy.
Remove the propane tanks, just to get yourself a bit of working room. Also remove the post that supports the propane regulator.
With the slider pushed all the way in, you can see the front edge of the TM's main floor, just inside the cubbyhole. Get yourself a square block of wood, maybe 2 inches square, thickness to be determined (because I can't remember it), but about 1 to 1-1/2 inches.
Right at the front edge of the main floor, centered left-to-right, cut away a square of carpet the same size as the block. When you have exposed solid flooring, screw the block down in the cutaway area.
Attach a slab of some slippery plastic (polyethtylene?) to the top face of the block.
That's all there is to it. If the block is the right thickness, the floor of the slider will glide across it as you pull the slider out. When the slider is all the way out, the soft edge of the slider floor will rest on this block, which provides excellent support but can't be seen from inside the TM.
As to the thickness of the block? Best approach is to make it thick enough that it ALMOST touches the underside of the slider floor. Maybe a sixteenth of an inch of gap. You don't want it actually to touch the underside of the floor, because it will drag as the slider is pulled out.

If your TM does not have the cubbyhole in front, the procedure to accomplish the same thing is a bit more involved, but not much harder. As you do the following, it helps to remember that the slider is nothing but a rigid four-sided box. The four sides are the floor, the two slider ends, and the front of the slider (where the handle is attached). We will manipulate this box.

Get yourself a pile of short lengths of 2x4 or 2x6 boards. Two or three feet long is great.
Pull the slider all the way out. Now carefully pull it out a little further - you'll have to help the roller wheels (at each end of the slider floor) over the "stop blocks" that are screwed to the main floor. These stop blocks normally prevent the slider from coming out too far. Today, you are going to purposely pull it out a bit too far.
Once the slider is over the stop blocks, STOP moving it! If you pull it any further, it will drop off the main floor and down onto the frame and the propane tanks. Before it does so, arrange some piles of boards, on the frame or on the ground, so that when it happens, the slider moves smoothly onto these boards.
Once the piles of boards are in place, pull the slider a bit farther out of the frame, just an inch or so. In order to pull it this far, you may have to disengage the support arms that swing out under the front edge of the slider. It is easy. Just lift the front edge and pull the pins (they look like bolts with no nuts on the threaded portion.)
Once the slider is completely out of the body of the TM, go inside. Working from inside the TM, you can install the polyethylene-covered block discussed above.

Hope this helps.
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