Slide floor (particle board) replacement?

[Crackel]

Hello everyone, I’ve got a 2023 Sprinter limited 3570lft with a rotten slide floor because of two screw holes under the slide that weren’t sealed up. This is the 5th manufacture defect that I’ve had to deal with and I’m ready to explode, the thing is only two years old for Christs sake. Who do they have manufacturing these things? The workmanship in general is awful.

Anyways, rant is over and I need to replace this floor. It’s sagging like crazy and nasty.

My questions are, how is this constructed, how do I take it apart and replace it?

We’re staying in this to build our house so taking it to a shop is out of the question.

Thanks in advance.

 

[JRTJH]

Sorry about your floor. Water intrusion usually isn't considered a warranty issue. It's usually considered "user maintenance/user responsibility"...

That said, with your 2023 trailer, you are still under the structural 3 year warranty. That more or less, puts you between a rock and a hard place if you're living in the trailer and can't take it to a dealership. Why is this so? Some, maybe many issues that happen on the assembly line are considered a "manufacturer's responsibility" and Keystone will repair those issues using the warranty. Without a dealership being involved to report the condition and their "expected cause assessment" then Keystone won't even consider any repair. It ALL has to start with the dealership.... Even then, depending on what the dealer finds and what he documents, that report will, for the most part, determine how Keystone considers a warranty repair...

All that considered, the "hard place" comes into play when you start ripping things apart to repair them yourself. As soon as you tear out the first structural component, you void the warranty and neither Keystone nor the dealership will work to "fix what you took apart".... (call it the "rock")

So, if you are concerned that it's a "manufacturing issue" then you either have to follow the Keystone rules for warranty reporting and hope the report is in your favor or you just do the repair with the knowledge that no matter the cause, you are footing the entire cost for any repairs. (call this the "hard place")...

Now as for "owner repairs, there are a few threads on this forum that discuss a slide floor repair. A couple of them are fairly detailed and photos of the process.... While it "might be possible" to repair the entire slide floor with the slide installed in the trailer, the most effective and best way to repair it is to remove the slide (not a task for the average trailer owner) and to lay the slide on its side so the entire structure is accessible to do the work.

Have you even discussed this problem with the dealer's service MANAGER and the dealership OWNER/MANAGER ??? I'd skip the service writer who is instructed on how to proceed with NORMAL work orders, not with SPECIALIZED problems that have "manager/owner involvement"... If you get them involved, you might get some specialized consideration as long as they understand your situation and the trailer's condition. It may be worthwhile to talk to management at the dealership....

 

[Crackel]

Sorry about your floor. Water intrusion usually isn't considered a warranty issue. It's usually considered "user maintenance/user responsibility"...

That said, with your 2023 trailer, you are still under the structural 3 year warranty. That more or less, puts you between a rock and a hard place if you're living in the trailer and can't take it to a dealership. Why is this so? Some, maybe many issues that happen on the assembly line are considered a "manufacturer's responsibility" and Keystone will repair those issues using the warranty. Without a dealership being involved to report the condition and their "expected cause assessment" then Keystone won't even consider any repair. It ALL has to start with the dealership.... Even then, depending on what the dealer finds and what he documents, that report will, for the most part, determine how Keystone considers a warranty repair...

All that considered, the "hard place" comes into play when you start ripping things apart to repair them yourself. As soon as you tear out the first structural component, you void the warranty and neither Keystone nor the dealership will work to "fix what you took apart".... (call it the "rock")

So, if you are concerned that it's a "manufacturing issue" then you either have to follow the Keystone rules for warranty reporting and hope the report is in your favor or you just do the repair with the knowledge that no matter the cause, you are footing the entire cost for any repairs. (call this the "hard place")...

Now as for "owner repairs, there are a few threads on this forum that discuss a slide floor repair. A couple of them are fairly detailed and photos of the process.... While it "might be possible" to repair the entire slide floor with the slide installed in the trailer, the most effective and best way to repair it is to remove the slide (not a task for the average trailer owner) and to lay the slide on its side so the entire structure is accessible to do the work.

Have you even discussed this problem with the dealer's service MANAGER and the dealership OWNER/MANAGER ??? I'd skip the service writer who is instructed on how to proceed with NORMAL work orders, not with SPECIALIZED problems that have "manager/owner involvement"... If you get them involved, you might get some specialized consideration as long as they understand your situation and the trailer's condition. It may be worthwhile to talk to management at the dealership....

This is an incredible amount of information and I appreciate your reply! I will call the dealership and speak with them on this and hopefully get a solution to this disaster haha. Thank you very much!

 

[chuckster57]

The floor is attached to the walls from the bottom side. To do it properly, the slide needs to removed and laid on its back.

Not an easy task, I have done 3.

 

[GBR]

Go to Love Your RV and Boat where you will find where Ray had to cut out a portion of his slide floor like you require. There is very good detail and he did not remove his slide as well. Just a thought. Good luck.

 

[Alley Cat]

Two screws didn't cause this. Inadequate or lack of chalking did. Without knowing how or what drives the slide (what's under the slide?) it is hard to say how to replace it Use a waterproof plywood if you attempt to DIY it. In my case they were cable driven so I blocked the slide up from the inside removed the trim and screws. I took the original piece out measured and cut a piece to replace it out of 3/4" fir plywood then reassembled it.

 

[Mikelff]

Hello everyone, I’ve got a 2023 Sprinter limited 3570lft with a rotten slide floor because of two screw holes under the slide that weren’t sealed up. This is the 5th manufacture defect that I’ve had to deal with and I’m ready to explode, the thing is only two years old for Christs sake. Who do they have manufacturing these things? The workmanship in general is awful.

Anyways, rant is over and I need to replace this floor. It’s sagging like crazy and nasty.

My questions are, how is this constructed, how do I take it apart and replace it?

We’re staying in this to build our house so taking it to a shop is out of the question.

Thanks in advance. View attachment 740403View attachment 740404View attachment 740405

Hello everyone, I’ve got a 2023 Sprinter limited 3570lft with a rotten slide floor because of two screw holes under the slide that weren’t sealed up. This is the 5th manufacture defect that I’ve had to deal with and I’m ready to explode, the thing is only two years old for Christs sake. Who do they have manufacturing these things? The workmanship in general is awful.

Anyways, rant is over and I need to replace this floor. It’s sagging like crazy and nasty.

My questions are, how is this constructed, how do I take it apart and replace it?

We’re staying in this to build our house so taking it to a shop is out of the question.

Thanks in advance. View attachment 740403View attachment 740404View attachment 740405

I just completed a repair from a similar issue, and in the same place on my slide. Fortunately, my floor is a solid plywood sheet, not particle board . You can try to go through your dealer first to see if you have any recourse. I would start there. If you want to try the repair yourself, it’s a big job and you will need some help. Your first mistake was how you cut your carpet. You should have gone along the edge of the wall. Your floor is likely attached from the bottom with screws into the aluminum frame. On my slide, they used deck screws that went through top and bottom of the frame square aluminum tubing (2 1/2” screws). I did not replace the entire floor. I cut out the damaged portion and replaced that portion of the floor. You need to make sure you cut out all the damaged wood. My repair was only about 2’x2’ square. Yours looks quite a bit larger. It may be too large to just replace the damaged portion. My dealer quoted me around $1500.00 +or - to replace the floor. This was my large slide. From the looks of your damage, I doubt it was just two screws. You need to inspect the roof and all the joints and trim on that side of the slide. Water leaks can be hard to track down so inspect carefully and look for possible entry points. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[Ccsluke]

Hello everyone, I’ve got a 2023 Sprinter limited 3570lft with a rotten slide floor because of two screw holes under the slide that weren’t sealed up. This is the 5th manufacture defect that I’ve had to deal with and I’m ready to explode, the thing is only two years old for Christs sake. Who do they have manufacturing these things? The workmanship in general is awful.

Anyways, rant is over and I need to replace this floor. It’s sagging like crazy and nasty.

My questions are, how is this constructed, how do I take it apart and replace it?

We’re staying in this to build our house so taking it to a shop is out of the question.

Thanks in advance. View attachment 740403View attachment 740404View attachment 740405

I just replaced the living room slide-out floor in my impact toy hauler a couple of months ago. Mine has the cable slides. After I slid it fully out, I removed the front trim pieces and jacked up the slide about a half inch, placed jacks on the outside and shims on the inside. Then I was able to unscrew the floor from the bottom and and slide the entire floor, insulation, & carpet inside and removed it in one piece. The Dealer wanted $1300 just for a new sheet of 1inch thick OSB. My solution was taking two 4’ X 9’ X 1/2” thick sheets of OSB and laminating them together by using contact cement on both sheets and sandwiching them between 5 runs of 2x4x10’ and screwing the 2x4’s together using 4” deck screws about 8” apart on both sides. Next day when I removed the 2x4’s and cut the laminated OSB (now 4’x9’x1” thick) I could not tell where the seam was. Once cut to size, I put two coats of waterproof sealer (the kind like you use on backer board for tile showers) and when dry, I wrapped with the black woven membrane and re-attached the carpet and insulation that I had removed from the original floor, then I re-installed the complete floor in reverse order. Looks better than factory and should last longer also. Materials for this job was less than $150 and took about 8 hours to complete over three days. Contact glue and sealer needed to cure overnight.

 

[LadyCPA]

I would at least try to get Keystone to cover this. As they said a couple of screws shouldn't allow for this much water. It's a huge project to change out, and won't help if there were other manufacturer issues during the build that still need corrected. Yes, you are living in it, but try to find someone to bunk with, and ask dealer to help with an expedited repair.