Slide Skirt Support Modification

[slow]

The skirt mounted to the slide has been a persistent issue for me on long trips. The portion that extends down between the axles constantly flaps as we travel. At each gas stop, I have had to retighten the lower sheet metal screw that attaches the skirt to the support bracket. While on a 7,000 miles last fall, a crack developed in the skirt near the mounting screw. So I drilled a "stop hole" at the end of the crack and replaced the flexible support from the factory with a stiffer support and added a second screw below the original.

This spring I went further with a more robust skirt support using machine screws and nylock nuts:



Hopefully this resolves the issues I have been having.

[440justin]

Thanks for sharing, the fender flopping around has bugged me too.

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[michael_h]

that's a nice brace system

I braced mine up too, during our trip to the Arizona this month I noticed when the big trucks pasted me the skirting did a lot of dancing from the suction, I added a stiffer support bar from home depot and a second support bar forward where the aluminum and the plastic meets, I also used SS fender washers with SS bolts and nylock nuts also. I had to also stiffen up the door side too.

I now need to paint the washers and bolts black to partly blend in, and if I ever have to replace the skirts, I'll make adjustments to the new ones so to prevent Keystone's lack of engineering in this area

[Dave W]

Might be a bit of overkill but for sure your fenders wont flap. Amazing is how puny the supplied 'brace' (any brand!!)is expected to keep those very light pieces still

[slow]

Originally Posted by Dave W

Might be a bit of overkill but for sure your fenders wont flap. ...............

Hopefully!

BTW: I forgot to mention that I tapped the aluminum pieces and used rubber washers (large diameter tapered faucet washers) under the screw heads so as not to over load the plastic skirt when tightening the machine screws. The locknuts are acting as jam nuts and not compressing the washer/skirt.

[concours]

nice work I like overkill, it looks like you used 1/8th by 1.5 aluminum? I see another project happening

[slow]

Phase 2 - Slide Skirt Forward of Axle

The support between the axles worked well, so I did a similar set up forward of the front axle. A little more work since the bottom of the skirt is at an angle and no access to the outside of the tube under the slide. Also I needed an extra piece to anchor the "outside" aluminum straps to the "outside" of the slide tube. I used a 1 x 3/4 inch aluminum channel.



The two skirt supports under the slide:




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[slow]

Phase 3 - Curb Side Skirt Support

I added. 1 x 2 aluminum angle to provide additional support to the plastic skirt between the axles on the curb side.



I left the factory installed vertical support (hard to see since it is black), but trimmed it just below the original mounting screw to allow the use of the 3/16" thick horizontal plate to add a couple of additional screws to each side.





That completes the skirt support project.


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[dcg9381]

looks great! Thanks for the photos.

[Ductape]

Your brackets are really nice. Are you a machinist by trade ?

[slow]

Originally Posted by Ductape

................. Are you a machinist by trade ?

As a product engineer many moons ago, I did a lot of prototyping and learned a lot from very skilled trades people that I worked with. I just pretend to still be an engineer / prototyper in my garage now that I am in operations and do not get to work directly on products.

[GMH]

Originally Posted by slow

Nice work! I love your anti theft system also!

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by GMH

Nice work! I love your anti theft system also!

Curious! What is this suppose to be doing & why?

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

Curious! What is this suppose to be doing & why?

My thoughts to. Looked at that and thought "that's an odd way to store a cable and a quick link".

[slow]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

Curious! What is this suppose to be doing & why?

I park on a 5 degree slope on a residential street with many young children. The cables and link are a safety measure in case someone hits the trailer off the wheel chocks.

[testwest]

Wow, you did the engineering for me. Now I have to scrounge some leftover aluminum and rubber washers from the shop.

Question: are there 3 vertical strips or one wide strip cut partway down?

[slow]

Originally Posted by testwest

...........
Question: are there 3 vertical strips or one wide strip cut partway down?

I used three vertical strips joined at the bottom with a horizontal strip.On the support for the plastic skirt, the vertical strips are tapped for an 8-32 screw at each mounting hole. The screw threads into the vertical strips and I only tighten it enough to lightly load the plastic skirt with the rubber washer. I then used a nylock nut on the backside to prevent the screw from loosening and to "clamp" the vertical strips to the horizontal strip. That way the horizontal and vertical strips are anchored securely to each other to limit deflection, without overloading the rubber washer and plastic skirt.

[theallde]

Originally Posted by slow

The skirt mounted to the slide has been a persistent issue for me on long trips. The portion that extends down between the axles constantly flaps as we travel. At each gas stop, I have had to retighten the lower sheet metal screw that attaches the skirt to the support bracket. While on a 7,000 miles last fall, a crack developed in the skirt near the mounting screw. So I drilled a "stop hole" at the end of the crack and replaced the flexible support from the factory with a stiffer support and added a second screw below the original.

This spring I went further with a more robust skirt support using machine screws and nylock nuts:



Hopefully this resolves the issues I have been having.

How are the top braces secured? Great example and thanks.

[slow]

Originally Posted by theallde

How are the top braces secured? ............

Between Axles:
I removed the plastic skirting and by doing so, the street side of the 1" x 1 1/2" horizontal aluminum tube mounted to the underside of the slide was exposed. I positioned the vertical braces so that they occupied a "cavity" between plastic skirt's mounting holes. The braces were attached to the horizontal tube using ~3/4" long truss head metal screws I picked up at HD.

If you prefer not to remove the plastic skirt, you can attach the braces to the horizontal tube between the axles the same way as I did forward of the axle.

Forward of the Axle:
Since aluminum skirting material prevents access to the horizontal aluminum tube under the street side of the slide, I attached the 1" x 3/4" aluminum channel to the underside of the horizontal tube and then attached the braces to the channel. See phase 2 (post #15) for the picture.

BTW: In both cases I installed an extra 2 1/2" long screw from the underside of the horizontal slide aluminum tube up into the slide wall to ensure the horizontal slide tube was anchored well to the underside of the slide.

[theallde]

Thank you .... Don