Bed Support Issue?

[Civil_War_Buff]

While setting up this past weekend, I was pulling the rear bed out, and it came out about 1/2 way then stopped!! I looked to see if anything was in the way, and saw nothing, so I  pushed the bed back in to try again!!  Once more 1/2 way and stop! So, then I looked underneath the bed to find that the right hand glide bolt was out of the channel, and a long scrape (equal to 1/2 the bed length) was caused by the bolt.  I pushed the bed back in and guided the bolt back into the channel.  I will discuss this with the dealer when we pass by next month, but has anyone else had this happen? What would allow for the bolt to come out of the channel? Is there any way to keep this from happening again?  I am going to push for a new bed platform as I see no way to repair the scape as it is.....hope that there will not be any issue with this :-/, I will let you know what they say at the dealership.


Larry

Once, when I climbed on the front bed and forgot to lock it in, I fell through (I guess that was the fire escape feature).  This bent the tracks and I just took off part of the track and re inserted the bolt for the bed.  While my tracks are a little bent to this day, I've never had any actual damage to the platform, and what little damage may have occurred (if I look really carefully) probably won't compromise the integrity of the support.

Getting it checked out is a really good idea, and if you can get the dealer to replace it, it would help you peace of mind about the bed.

[BobWilson]

Larry,

Have you had any further revelation as to why the bed support came out of the channel?  Have you received a response from the factory yet?

As far as the scrape on the underside of the bed support, that is probably not a big issue since you don't normally see it unless you want to bend down and look up under there.  But you don't want the support to come out again.  Do you pull the bed in from inside the TM or do you do it from the outside?

I haven't taken delivery of my 2720SD yet.
Bob W.

Larry, possibly whomever pushed the bed in last time may have lifted the outer edge of the bed enough so that it pulled the bed out.  Of course you don't wish to have this problem each time you are ready to camp.

If you need directions (from the factory) on how to reassemble it, I can email them to you.

Hal

[Civil_War_Buff]

I spoke with John at Dinuba regarding this and showed it to him. He felt that the teflon channel strip wasn't long enough and offered to replace them for me. We talked about options for making sure that it didn't happen again and decided that I would take a tube of clear silicone caulk and "fill" the end of the channel. John agreed that if I tried this and was not satisfied, he would then replace the channel strips. I pumped a good sized blob of the material in the end, and let it set up...a test of the solutions seems to have solved the problem for now. He gave me a set of strips just in case I decided that I wanted to replace them instead, but it seems to be working OK so far. I think that the glide bolt came out after we went over a fairly bumpy road and the bounce may have popped it out..that's one theory anyhow, and I still don't believe that it should have come out under those circumstances anyhow. But, I will live with it for a while.....still have almost 5 months of warranty left, so I can decide at my leisure. Not to mention that he knew that it was an issue while under warranty, so I doubt whether he would balk at replacing them if I decided to have him do that.

I normally pull the beds from outside, and I will just do a quick visual in the future before I pull them out.

Thanks for asking for an update, I had meant to post this earlier, but as like with all other things of aging...I forgot.


Larry

[Civil_War_Buff]

I forgot to update a little more on this issue. I spoke to Jimmy Davis at TrailManor about this, and he pointed out that the "fix" I did was not even addressing the area in question. I mentioned that I had driven over some rough road, and he reminded me that the bolt would be at the other extreme of the travel in the tow position, and not at the end of the channel as it is in the open position. I went out and looked this past weekend..he was right, where the bolt stops after the bed was pushed in was all pulled and deformed, which allowed the bolt to come out of the track.....I will ask the dealership to in fact replace the tracks and that should fix the immediate issue.....I will still take a look before opening as matter of course anyhow.

I did not like the design of the TM bed support in that it only has those Teflon guides holding the "slide" bolt in place. It is just too easy for the bolt to come out of the slide by hitting a big bump in the road. I fixed this problem by taking off the Teflon slides and backing them on top with 1/8 inch x one inch aluminum stock from the hardware store. I also adding a stainless washer to the top of the bolt assembly to give support to the Teflon washer there as well as added a few more screws to the Teflon (now aluminum-backed) guides. Now the beds are fully supported and glide very easily. The mod has no effect on the "emergency escape" use of the beds from inside. Total cost to do both beds was about $25 and it took me about three hours to complete.

Darryl:

Got any pictures of how you did the mod?

Ed

[Civil_War_Buff]

[quote author=efelker link=board=1;threadid=150;start=msg14179#msg14179 date=1086917392]
Darryl:

Got any pictures of how you did the mod?

Ed
[/quote]

Darryl:

Ditto what Ed said?

Larry

[tucsoncarol]

Pictures, please, please, please!