Bedroom slideout would not extend -- SOLVED

[bobnelms]

Hi all,

I'd like to share an experience in hopes that others might avoid it. I have a 37 foot Keystone Cougar 5th wheel with 3 slide outs -- one of which is the bedroom. This past week, after getting home from a short trip, I attempted to extend all the slides. 2 of them worked just fine. The 3rd, the bedroom slide, only made a ratcheting sound when I tried to extend.

After phone calls to Lippert, and a close look at the slideout mechanism, I found that the slideout had been jammed (bound) so that the "jackscrew" mechanism could not work.

Here's the fuller story:

A week prior to the incident we discovered that mice had been in the RV -- droppings in many places. We thought we had plugged all the holes coming onto the RV, but I had never looked under the bed to see if there were holes there (and most of the droppings were in the bedroom).

So I moved the mattress, the HARDEST PART OF THIS WHOLE ORDEAL because it was so heavy and stiff and cumbersome. I ended up having to suspend it -- placing one end on the bedroom dresser and the other end on top of the slide out.

I unscrewed the plywood and discovered that's where the slide mechanism resided -- but that there we no holes or even mouse droppings under the bed.

So I replaced the wood and dropped the mattress back into place.

Little did I know, however, that THE ENTIRE BEDFRAME had come LOOSE from its feeble attachment to the outer wall -- and that when I reassembled the bed and dropped the mattress I MOVED the entire frame askew.

When we went on the camping trip and extended the bedroom slide, there was no problem. But when I retracted the bedroom slide, since the whole frame was askew the mattress and frame hit the dresser in the final inches of retraction -- binding the slide mechanism.

In talking to my wife, the bed frame had been loose for quite a while -- but I must have made it worse when I was looking for mice.

To repair, I lifted the mattress again and removed the plywood and loosened the jackscrew bolts where they attach to the slideout (to remove the binding).

I also secured the bedframe to the slideout floor with several pieces of hardware so that this would never happen again.

It's a TRAVESTY how things are attached in these RV's!!!!!!

[BookPaul74]

Mine did not bind but I’ll check to see if it’s tight. I cut the corners because some how it’s hit the doors on the cabinets. It’s was 6 years old when I purchased it and there was no damage but I noticed it on the trip from Nebraska to Arizona.

[bobnelms]

Make sure that your bed frame has not come loose.... that was my biggest learning AND the most important fix --- anchoring the bed frame to the floor of the slide out.

[terrymullett]

Thanks so much for this post @bobnelms, it took me straight to the fix we needed.

[bobnelms]

So glad I could help

[Scaught]

I have the same issues, I remediated some mold under the bed and now our sled won’t go out either and I notice some fiberglass cracks at the bottom corner. What did you loosen to get it to not bind anymore.

[bobnelms]

Not sure what you mean by fiberglass cracking, but if you have the same slideout mechanism as mine then loosen each jackscrew that attaches the slideout mechanism to the slideout and then knick the bedframe with your knee until it comes free. Hope that helps