# Outback 210Rs Rear Slide Problems



## moonshot

After a little less than a year of use the rails (or guides) that support the rear bedroom slide began to crack. When towing, the bed hangs from these ceiling mounted channels. If you hit any kind of dips or bumps in the road the rails have to take the suspended load of the bed. The cheesy sheet metal rails will begin cracking at the end. If left alone the bed will begin falling over time.

I called Keystone to try and get some new parts to fix it myself. They sent me to the dealer where the trailer spent the next two months...... I decided to make sure it would not happen again so I bought a scissor jack from Harbor freight (just like the ones to stabilize the trailer) and bolted a stout aluminum 60" long "L" to the wood stop on the bottom of the bed to stiffen and provide support for the scissor.

So every time I tow, I place the scissor jack on the foor (with a 12" square piece of carpeted plywood on the floor) and jack the bed up just enough to take the load off the rails when the trailer bounces. This will happen, not if.

Do yourself a favor and do this immediately to save the hassle of dealing with Keystone.


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## thefulminator

Although the tracks cracking has not been all that common, there has been enough concern that a lot of the members with rear slide outs have built their own rear slide supports. There are various styles made from wood or pvc pipe. Keystone says that when the slide is in, that no more than 50 lbs should be on the bed. The rear slide supports mostly get used for when towing with stuff on the bed.

Something else you can do to help out the track is to install radius fillers or fender washers on the screws in the track. I plan on doing this once I pull the 21RS out of storage for the year. The first few screws on the forward end are the ones that need the fillers/washers. They help distribute the load over a larger area of the track. Just be sure that your fillers/washers are not so thick as to interfere with the trolleys.










Here are some pictures of the rear slide support I built.


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## CamperAndy

Although the support is a good idea the problem you are seeing is not a failure but a symptom of the real problem. The slide is supported completely by the rear wall when in and locked. If you are geting excessive bounce in the bed, you need to inspect the rear wall on the outside for tail tail signs of cracks. The rear wall frame of the trailer may have cracked and this allowed the bed to sag and thus crack or damage the ceiling guides. These guide are only to guild the bed when it is slid in and out and should carry no load when the bed is stowed and the two rear latches are locked.


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## mike

I have had both problems. The reason I believe is my kids. As many times as I say do not go onto the bed when it is in, I occassionaly find someone climbing in to get something. Two years ago One of my older daughters friends was in it and the slide pulled out from the rail. i found that there is a plastic fastner that attaches a bolt to the slide. It was a cheap fix and the parts were about 6 dollars for each slide. i bought a few extras as I can see the plastic wearing over time. We were on the tail end of a trip and had to brace the slide to get it home because no one had that part.


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## muttbike

I had both rails crack from the ends. When I got the replacements, they were about a foot longer than the originals. I left them full length to help eliminate the cracking problem. I also added some nickle sized washers on each screw.

I also use a support under the bed when traveling now.

JR


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## bbwb

Here is what mine looks like. I too built a support out of PVC pipe to help with the load when the bunk is in.










bbwb


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## marker

Here is my take after a couple of years towing and using the bed while Walmarting.

Firstly I use an inside support, which I posted sometime ago. Here is a link to the some pics of the support. Some of the others who made supports are nicer, but this is what I came up with. Now the caution. While I don't think I ever had an issue with using the bed with the support, my last trip - not using the bed - I had an issue which I noticed by accident while unloading. One of the roller slide supports came away from the slide retainer. I am not sure if the plastic retainer got moved or not, but I remember cranking up the home made slide support quite hard as an extra precaution for the trip. In doing this I think I made a mistake and took too much pressure off of the Outback support system. My recommendation is NOT to take too much pressure off the Outback support system so the peg and retainers will not separate.

In order to get it back together I had to take the 2 bracket/retainer bolts off, reattach the peg to the retainer and then bolt it back together again.

My link

In summary I have two recommendations:-


Make sure the plastic retainer is in the proper location

Don't take too much weight off the Outback support system

gary


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## Troy n Deb

These tracks are the same exact piece of aluminum that is used in a household pocket door. I think the idea myself is sketchy but I also use a support under the bed while not in use. I have noticed that i check the screws from time to time as they work a bit loose from vibration when traveling. Washers sound like agood idea.


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## moonshot

50 pounds on the cantilevered bed when it is in? BS.

Push the bed in so the bed is an inch from bottoming on flange (outside). Try to pick the bed up. Going to be about 200 plus pounds. That weight is hanging on the rails or supported by the outside flange. Both of which offer no mechanical advantage.

The solution is to do what I did and use the scissor jack to just take some of the weight off (not all) and prevent the bed from bouncing. This does not mean you can sleep on it when stowed of put a bunch of luggage on it. It just shares the load much more efficiently.


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## CamperAndy

moonshot said:


> 50 pounds on the cantilevered bed when it is in? BS.
> 
> Push the bed in so the bed is an inch from bottoming on flange (outside). Try to pick the bed up. Going to be about 200 plus pounds. That weight is hanging on the rails or supported by the outside flange. Both of which offer no mechanical advantage.
> 
> The solution is to do what I did and use the scissor jack to just take some of the weight off (not all) and prevent the bed from bouncing. This does not mean you can sleep on it when stowed of put a bunch of luggage on it. It just shares the load much more efficiently.


Sorry moonshot but the weight limit is based on dead weight in addition to the weight of the bed box and not inclusive of it. Your way of interpreting the limit would like being told a pickup has a 1000 pound load limit and you trying to pick up the back of the truck to see how much it weighed first.

As for the back wall locks those provide all the support needed when stowed. If you want to try to see what I mean, slide the bed in and measure the height of the front of the bed to the floor. Close the rear locks and you should see the front of the bed lift as much as an inch on some trailers but typically about 1/2". This all depends on how the guides are adjusted on the top of the bed. BTW the front guides should not be making contact with the rails when the rear locks are set. If your bed does not lift, then inspect your rear wall for cracks as you most likely have rear wall frame failure.

As for the internal support many people have built them for the express purpose of being able to use the bed (sleeping or storage of items) when in the stowed position. You just need to take two issues into consideration for the design of the support. First the strong back at the top should be almost as wide as the bed, second the base should be large to minimize point loading on the floor.


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## moonshot

What? The bed has a set of bearings that ride along the rail in constant contact caused by gravity. If your propostition were correct then the bearings would lift off the rail and be suspended with the entire weight of the bed supported by the back flange and clamps (a poor stance a long way away from the end of the bed) This does not happen, the bearings stay in contact with the rails the whole time. So two things are happening, the ceiling is either flexing (a bad thing), or the bed frame is so soft it is not stiff enough to support itself. Either way the bearings are taking load and causing the rail to split or the screws to pull out.

Supporting the front allows the back flange, clamps, and rails to share some of the load and gets the load out of the back wall and driven into the floor where it can be dispersed easily. I agree that over cranking the front is just as bad as not supporting it. It takes some feel to get the thing nuetral. Ideally the front support would have a spring and damper equal to the weight of the cantileverd bed so that the clamps did nothing but keep the bed locked.

If you feel you dont need it then dont use it. But given the build quality of what I am seeing for the type of stuff that I use it for this thing needs all the help it can get.

Do not use the stowed bed to sleep on or store things on.


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## CamperAndy

Sorry you don't agree with my assessment of the design but looking at the lite weight inside guides rails and the cheesy little plastic wheels these would not support a live load, even by Gilligans standard.

Again if your wheels stay in contact with the guide I would again suggest you inspect your back wall.

This is what a rear frame failure looks like. Rear frame failure

On the newer trailers with electric rear slide then you may not get as much lift but you will still get some once the rear flange of the bed makes contact with the rear wall.


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## Big Daddy 999

muttbike said:


> I had both rails crack from the ends. When I got the replacements, they were about a foot longer than the originals. I left them full length to help eliminate the cracking problem. I also added some nickle sized washers on each screw.
> 
> I also use a support under the bed when traveling now.
> 
> JR


I have exactly same problem - and a question to you since you have experience installing new rails. I don't know what framework there is in the ceiling that holds the rail screws. Did you find you could put screws at any point along the rail including the extended portion and get a good "bite" into something. Also, any things to watch for when installing new rails... Thanks - will appreciate any help you can give !!!


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