Slide room issues

[dashonthedash]

Just wondering if any of you have had similar issues with your slide rooms. This past Memorial Day weekend, while on a camping trip. I suddenly noticed something sticking out from under the living room sofa. Upon investigating, I discovered that the black rubber seal on the underside of the living room slide had torn off and become trapped under the carpeting. Half of the seal had come off, half was still attached. From the carpet pieces on the rubber, it appears to have been glued to the edge of the carpeting. I have no idea what caused it to come loose but, while attempting to extricate the unattached portion of the seal from its entanglement underneath the slide, I noticed a couple of grooves in the panel on the outside bottom of the slide. It had actually cut a slit in one place, what looked like thin insulation was showing. From the location of the grooves, they appeared to have been made by the roller wheel on that side, or the brackets of the roller wheel, and it was the same side as the seal that had detached itself. My dealer said they had never seen anything like it, and they took pictures of both the detached seal and the grooves to send to Forest River. I have no idea whether the two problems are related, but we are awaiting more info from Forest River before proceeding. Because of the grooving, I don't want to use the slide room until we can figure out what is happening and if it is repairable. FYI, I have a 2011 280DS. Any ideas?

[cfsoistman]

Thankfully we haven't had any issue like that. It sounds like it may have to go back to FR to see it firsthand. From what I've read they usually are able to fix just about anything. So sorry to hear you've had this problem, best of luck. Let us know what they plan to do.

[alparmer]

I remember reading about something similar and it ended up being the "sweaper seal". It's supposed to keep junk from getting in there.

[dashonthedash]

My dealer finally did get in touch with FR. Apparently, they have a new part that attaches to the roller wheel that can prevent the damage to the slide room bottom. My dealer, however, said that they must remove the slide room to repair it properly. I have heard, however, that you shouldn't remove the slide room unless it is absolutely necessary. Several people have managed to replace the sweeper seal without removing the slide room, but the additional repairs to the slide room may require the removal. I am currently trying to contact FR Service to confirm this. Anyone out there from FR who can help on this question?

[mark0224]

Originally Posted by dashonthedash

Just wondering if any of you have had similar issues with your slide rooms. This past Memorial Day weekend, while on a camping trip. I suddenly noticed something sticking out from under the living room sofa. Upon investigating, I discovered that the black rubber seal on the underside of the living room slide had torn off and become trapped under the carpeting. Half of the seal had come off, half was still attached. From the carpet pieces on the rubber, it appears to have been glued to the edge of the carpeting. I have no idea what caused it to come loose but, while attempting to extricate the unattached portion of the seal from its entanglement underneath the slide, I noticed a couple of grooves in the panel on the outside bottom of the slide. It had actually cut a slit in one place, what looked like thin insulation was showing. From the location of the grooves, they appeared to have been made by the roller wheel on that side, or the brackets of the roller wheel, and it was the same side as the seal that had detached itself. My dealer said they had never seen anything like it, and they took pictures of both the detached seal and the grooves to send to Forest River. I have no idea whether the two problems are related, but we are awaiting more info from Forest River before proceeding. Because of the grooving, I don't want to use the slide room until we can figure out what is happening and if it is repairable. FYI, I have a 2011 280DS. Any ideas?

Had similar happen a week ago couldnt find what caused the black plastic to dislodge but got mine to go back in place by sliding a 1/4" piece of wood from the inside under the slide. It pushed the black plastic and the seal back out ,took some time but got it back where it belonged. Then found the whole thing was just stapled in place on both the inside and outside. Outside was stapled through a piece of metal and the fiberglass and staples were very short. I think its just lousy construction. I used small screws and washers on outside and restapled inside with larger staples. Has held so far but I have only moved the slide in and out a couple of times.