Slideout Rollers; Weigh and Lean

Question

2011 Phoenix Cruiser 2551I'm installing my new wood flooring and I'm envisioning a nightmare; the rollers and the weight on them.My question is, is there a way to re-balance the slideout? (That's assuming it wasn't this heavy when new. I'm second owner. I've posted this to Cruiser's forum as well.)The rollers indented the previous flooring over time and I'm finding it hard to believe its not going to do so even more with this new flooring.I extended the slide out so I could remove the existing carpet. When I removed the rollers the slide out leaned IN at the top. Yes, with the slideout outside the rig the top leaned in and the weight is significant. It's no wonder they imprinted the original flooring.The refrigerator is the only thing of weight inside the slide out and I find it hard to believe that is the sole cause. Even more so when the refer is outside the rig when the slide out is out. When out I would think the slideout would be trying to topple out of the rig, not inside!Of more concern is there is a 'push' on a roller and the surface it's on before the roller will start to turn. The more weight there is on a roller the more force is required to start the roll. With floating flooring that could be a big problem if it just starts scrunching up the flooring.I'll find out the outcome when I'm done with the floor but if any of you have any experience or thoughts on this let me know please.

gjac · Answer

i have metal strips under my rollers.

thrutraffic · Answer

Gjac wrote:i have metal strips under my rollers.I've been thinking this would be the outcome but I'd really like to avoid having to hire a CNC shop. I was thinking of having a couple of machined stainless steel strips made.I agree this is a viable and maybe even a better solution but if this weight problem didn't exist when the coach was new, why does it exist now?

gjac · Answer

ThruTraffic wrote:Gjac wrote:i have metal strips under my rollers.I've been thinking this would be the outcome but I'd really like to avoid having to hire a CNC shop. I was thinking of having a couple of machined stainless steel strips made.I agree this is a viable and maybe even a better solution but if this weight problem didn't exist when the coach was new, why does it exist now? I have not seen yours and mine is much older, and over time the rollers put a lot of pressure on that floor, the weight of the some of the slide is transferred from the slide to the floor through the 2 in or less dia of the roller, and it is a very small contact area which creates a lot of psi. On mine the rollers sunk the floor in about .125 of an in. which actually stopped the slide from retracting all the way. There was also a pot in the controller that I adjusted to help it retract. Also look at the slide does it retract even from side to side? You may need to adjust the slide to come in evenly. You don't need a CNC shop to fix this. .030 steel strips will do if you have grooves in the floor.

cummins2014 · Answer

ThruTraffic wrote:2011 Phoenix Cruiser 2551I'm installing my new wood flooring and I'm envisioning a nightmare; the rollers and the weight on them.My question is, is there a way to re-balance the slideout? (That's assuming it wasn't this heavy when new. I'm second owner. I've posted this to Cruiser's forum as well.)The rollers indented the previous flooring over time and I'm finding it hard to believe its not going to do so even more with this new flooring.I extended the slide out so I could remove the existing carpet. When I removed the rollers the slide out leaned IN at the top. Yes, with the slideout outside the rig the top leaned in and the weight is significant. It's no wonder they imprinted the original flooring.The refrigerator is the only thing of weight inside the slide out and I find it hard to believe that is the sole cause. Even more so when the refer is outside the rig when the slide out is out. When out I would think the slideout would be trying to topple out of the rig, not inside!Of more concern is there is a 'push' on a roller and the surface it's on before the roller will start to turn. The more weight there is on a roller the more force is required to start the roll. With floating flooring that could be a big problem if it just starts scrunching up the flooring.I'll find out the outcome when I'm done with the floor but if any of you have any experience or thoughts on this let me know please.We have three plastic runners , that we place on the floor to let the slide run up on them, to keep from messing up the linoleum , its pretty cheap thin  stuff. so far so good. We are going to do the same replace with some laminate flooring , and will use those runners for that also. Although that laminate is a lot tougher stuff then the linoleum. The runners are actually made for the slides, and can be bought, they came with ours . We bought the fifth wheel from a friend , and the linoleum got messed up when new ,and had to be replaced ,and they started using those runners. The problem was fixed that caused the damage ,but they used them anyway, so we continued using them . Without measuring them , they are approximately 6" x 36" possibly 1/8-3/16" thick . They work well.

cummins2014 · Answer

Those plastic runners are made by Lippert # L134993 . Called Lippert Slide-Out slicker. Amazon sells them ,as well as Walmart

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Slideout Rollers; Weigh and Lean

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