Expandable support

[Mcrowe]

We were looking at a 2007 Shamrock 23 RS with the slide out or expandable bed on the end. Do these normally have extra support under them or are they just supported by the rails they slide out on? May be a dumb question, but just curious and thanks

[bikendan]

first, this post should be in the Expandable/Hybrid section or the Tech/Repair section, to get good responses.

second, no need for extra supports. in fact, you'll probably void the warranty from FR, who recommends NOT to use any type of supports under any of their slideouts.

older slideouts were not engineered as well as they are now.
so there's a lot of old wives tales still around about slideouts needing some kind of supports.

[herk7769]

Thread moved.

[Labzy]

Originally Posted by Mcrowe

We were looking at a 2007 Shamrock 23 RS with the slide out or expandable bed on the end. Do these normally have extra support under them or are they just supported by the rails they slide out on? May be a dumb question, but just curious and thanks

Hi=]
I was looking at that kind of hard slide before also.
One concern I saw (probably from a forum) was it being un-supported when slid in, causing unwanted movement while towing, and damaging the frame/seal around it.
That is all I remember, so you might want to search that.

Good-luck &

[bikendan]

Labzy, not sure what you are referring to.

the rear slideout is engineered the same way all slideouts are engineered in all types of RVs.

there's virtually no issues with modern slideouts, needing supports of any kind, opened or while closing.
yes, you'll find some that were installed incorrectly or the motor goes out or there's an alignment issue.
but not in regards to needing some outside supports on any kind.

[Labzy]

That's not what I meant.

All was informing Mcrowe of, was the fact that I have seen comments somewhere, with regards to issues with the bed slide.
I believe the complaint was that the frame got bent.
This was thought to be caused by it not being supported while being towed.

I am no expert at any of this, and don't claim to be.
I was just passing along a little tid-bit that I read, as he seems to have questions with the slide.
This is just another aspect of it he might want to look into.

It would seem reasonable to me that almost any component in a trailer could have it's issues.
These have a range between 'the very common', to 'the not so common', perhaps the bed slide is one of the latter.

[sherdep]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Labzy, not sure what you are referring to.

the rear slideout is engineered the same way all slideouts are engineered in all types of RVs.

there's virtually no issues with modern slideouts, needing supports of any kind, opened or while closing.
yes, you'll find some that were installed incorrectly or the motor goes out or there's an alignment issue.
but not in regards to needing some outside supports on any kind.

I have to disagree with the virtually no issues with modern slideouts

I have seen first hand some Delamination on slideouts due to im-proper sealing along the bottom edge of the slide - I know this cause my parents slide out (not a Forest River product though) is seperating along the bottom edge of the long slide. They are in the process of getting it repaired and the dealer also found the Poly Blocks the slide - slides on are damaged as well - they think the Motor home hit a deep hard bump and tweaked the slide out (it must have happened before my parents bought it if that was the case though since they bought a used 2008 - 10 months ago)

I have also seen a handful of threads about the seal leaking which I think is the biggest issue with slide outs - have to watch the seal or you will have some sort of a leak.

I think what Labzy might be talking about is when a rear slide out is in the out or open position you see two bars that usually attach to the rear bumper and attach to the bottom of the slide. I am not sure if they are used for support or used to keep the slide from moving or for stability.

I have personally never owned a slide out but at times when I have a full camper I wished I had some sort of a side slide to give more room to walk around.

[bikendan]

i said that there were virtually no issues with slideouts and them needing separate supports.
i said there there are other issues with slideouts and gave examples.

my point is that the vast majority of RV's have at least one slideout, now and i can't remember seeing any newer ones with supports.
i do know that the manufacturers recommend NOT to use them.
there may be still a handful of RVs that do have supports supplied by the manufacturer.

[shabbona north]

I support both my bump outs, it helps to the trailer from shaking so much.
Is this doing more harm than good?

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by shabbona north

I support both my bump outs, it helps to the trailer from shaking so much.
Is this doing more harm than good?

not sure exactly what a "bump out" is, i'm used to the terms slideouts and tipouts. but from what i've read about slideouts, from the manufacturers, Yes.
that is probably not the case for older trailers, though, when slideouts were a relatively new feature. the technology wasn't as good then, as it is now.