# Rear Slide Problem



## WildRed

We purchased this camper back in July. This model has 2 slides. It has one on the side and a rear slide. We have loved having the trailer and have used it a considerable amount. This weekend was our first "Fall" camping trip to which we have been looking forward. The campsite was backwards from the ones we have used previously, so we spent most of the time on the side of the camper opposite of awning and doors.

While I was sitting at the picnic table, on the side of camper opposite the doors, I noticed that something looked odd. On the outside, the seam on the back corner at which the side panel and rear panel meet was separated. I had washed our camper last week and felt certain that I would have noticed it if it had been like that. Sure enough, when the rear slide is pushed in, the separation disappears. This, along with being on the side of the camper we are rarely on, is why I didn't notice it. It appears that the weight of the rear slide is causing the rear panel, on that side, to pull away.

Has anyone else had this issue, if so, can you give me an idea as to how costly it will be to repair or if there is something I can do?

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions. I am newbie when it comes to camper camping, so you may have to talk to me like I am 2 years old.


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## Tangooutback

A few pictures would greatly help us to have better idea.


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## duggy

I'm assuming by the model year of your trailer, your rear slide has the tracks to support it. I don't have any personal experience with this system, but I understand that the track is adjustable. I'm wondering if the track is too low at the outer end, which allows the slide to tilt and put excessive pressure on the wall. If that's the situation, once the track is properly adjusted, then you can do what's needed to repair the corner of the trailer.

Doug


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## thefulminator

Please add some pictures. If this is on your rear slide, I may have had a similar problem.


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## gzaleski

duggy said:


> I'm assuming by the model year of your trailer, your rear slide has the tracks to support it. I don't have any personal experience with this system, but I understand that the track is adjustable. I'm wondering if the track is too low at the outer end, which allows the slide to tilt and put excessive pressure on the wall. If that's the situation, once the track is properly adjusted, then you can do what's needed to repair the corner of the trailer.
> 
> Doug


Also, the slde supports are designated for right and left sides. Typically only on side is marked with an R on the silver part on one side. If they were set up in the propers position (sides) if you mount them on the wrong side the slide won't be level and may cause separation?

glen...


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## WildRed

I don't know why I didn't take pictures of it when I noticed it. Tomorrow, I will try to pull the slide and take a pic to post.

I had no idea that there was a R and L side rails. These are the little things that I tend to learn the hard way.


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## crunchman12002

WildRed said:


> I don't know why I didn't take pictures of it when I noticed it. Tomorrow, I will try to pull the slide and take a pic to post.
> 
> I had no idea that there was a R and L side rails. These are the little things that I tend to learn the hard way.


WildRed,
Have a look at this thread. I bought my 2005 25RSS used last year. I had a similar issue with mine regarding the frame seperation at the rear slide. The fix is not all that bad to do yourself if you are mildly handy. See my pictures on the above link.
It sounds like you have a frame issue there. Gilligan did a horrible job with the welder on mine.
crunchman


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## MCKlugh

I had the exact same issue on my 2009 28rsds. I took it to the dealer & contacted Keystone at the same time. The initial response was Keystone would pay for all the parts & half the labor because the unit was no longer under factory warranty. Half the labor came to over $1,000, so we (the dealer, myself, & Keystone) discussed the issue again with a copy of a thread from this site. In the end, Keystone admitted to having a problem with the weld breaking in the corners & the lack of support caused the stress fracture. In the end, the rear panel was pulled off, the brackets reinforced, & a new rear panel installed. Be nice & be consistent; you'll catch a whole lot more flies with honey than vinegar.


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## WildRed

Well, I didn't get home in time this evening to take pics of my problem. Hopefully, tomorrow will yield a bit more daylight for me after I get home.

It sounds like this general issue is somewhat common. I think I may be getting off a bit easier than some because from what I can tell, my fiberglass is not actually broken or fractured. It looks like it has pulled away at the corner just below the bottom of the slide, however, the problem sounds like the same as the others.

Thank you for all of the information. It gives me more confidence that I am not the only one that has experience this.


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## thefulminator

The right side slide support should have an "R" stamped on the zinc coated bracket that connects to the upper latch on the trailer. Mine is pretty visible but I have seen them where you could barely see it. I used a p-touch label maker and labeled the supports left and right for easy identification.

The issue I had was where the back panel and bottom panel of the slide out come together. Where the two panels meet there is a metal angle that wraps around the bottom panel and is attached with screws every few inches. After a couple trips, on one corner, I noticed that one of the screw heads had popped off. After examining further it looked like a second head was cracked but hadn't come off yet.

I took the outback back to the dealer and they replaced the damaged screws. A couple trips later, the same thing started to happen again. I started to look over the slide out for any obvious problems. The first thing I found was that on the inside of the trailer where the seals on the slide out meet the interior wall, the gaps were different. One side had a pretty even gap top to bottom while the other was about 3/4" larger at the top than bottom. I got out my tape measure and started measuring the outside of the slide out. Using a little trigonometry, as I figured, it was out of square. I then started measuring from the bottom rear corners of the slide out back to the corners of the bumper. The dimensions didn't match. I concluded that the slide out supports had never been properly adjusted by the dealer before I took delivery. I had never changed the adjustment myself because I thought they had done it.

I took the trailer back to the dealer again. They readjusted the slide out supports and added more screws to the metal angle. That was two years ago and no more problems since. When I talked to one of the salesmen they didn't even know that the slide out supports are marked and should always be installed on the correct side.


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## bbwb

According to my dealer...he said that if the slide was installed properly the Left/Right supports do not matter. I assume (yeah I know how the word breaks down) that he checked this before giving it to me.

bbwb


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## WildRed

Ok, I finally got a free evening to hook up my camper and move it the 8" further from the house in order to pull out the slide. I looked, but couldn't find, any indication of one rail being Right or Left. I adjusted the bottom of the rails so as to lift the end in hopes to relieve some of the pressure on the camper body. My fear is that I keep adjusting blindly and do more damage than good. My other fear is that I take to a dealership and they charge me $150 and tell me that I should have just adjusted more.



Attached are some pics to help explain.

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3


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## CamperAndy

You will need to take off the corner rubber trim from the bottom to the top on the outside and look for loose or broken screws to start with. The bad news is you could have broken welds in the rear wall and to access that you will need to remove parts of the interior paneling, it sounds harder then it is but start on the outside.

My guess is you have stripped screws, do not make anymore adjustments until you confirm the screws are in good condition.


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## thefulminator

This isn't like the problem I had. Mine was on the rear wall of the slide out itself.


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## WildRed

Thanks, Andy.

To remove the corner strip, is it as simple as breaking the caulk and pulling it off? Subsequently, is reattaching as simple as putting it back in place and recaulking?

Sorry to be asking simpleton questions, this is my first camper, and I have a wife and two kids to answer to if I get in over my head and they don't get to go camping the week of Thanksgiving.

It doesn't sound terribly intensive if it is as simple replacing a few screws. If it is more than this, I guess it will go to the shop. When we bought it, we were told that it still had approx. 36 months of warranty. I am going to call today to find out what all the warranty covers.

Thanks, everyone.


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## K. Smith

Your unit is a 27RSDS right? Did you buy your camper from Mayflower? If so, they are an Outback dealer, so they _should_ know the full workings of that rear slide and how to fix that. Regardless, whether your dealer covers it under their in-house used camper warranty will be a good revelation on the quality of their customer service.

I believe CamperAndy is right (as he typically is, I've found) and I have never needed to look at the frame at that place on my 27RSDS (thank goodness), but I would be upset if I found it screwed together there and not at the very least tack-welded. I mean, there's a LOT of weight in that slide out and they use screws to hold up its supporting wall?

Kevin


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## CamperAndy

WildRed said:


> Thanks, Andy.
> 
> To remove the corner strip, is it as simple as breaking the caulk and pulling it off? Subsequently, is reattaching as simple as putting it back in place and recaulking?
> 
> Sorry to be asking simpleton questions, this is my first camper, and I have a wife and two kids to answer to if I get in over my head and they don't get to go camping the week of Thanksgiving.
> 
> It doesn't sound terribly intensive if it is as simple replacing a few screws. If it is more than this, I guess it will go to the shop. When we bought it, we were told that it still had approx. 36 months of warranty. I am going to call today to find out what all the warranty covers.
> 
> Thanks, everyone.


Start at the top or bottom and look for a single screw that goes into the plastic cover. Remove this screw.

If it is cold you will want to use a hair dryer or similar heat source to soften the plastic and start pulling it loose. It just slips into the aluminum corner channel.

Once the plastic has been pulled up or down enough to expose the area in question you can start checking the screws that are driven through the back wall edge and into the side wall.

You will most likely find they are stripped, if so then you can just replace with the next size bigger screw. If they are broken then you will have to place new screws next to the broken ones. Make sure they are long enough to all the way through the last stud in the side wall.


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## WildRed

You are correct, it is a 2006 27RSDS. I didn't purchase it at Mayflower, however, the previous owner did purchase it new there. I have heard good pretty good things about their service, it just pains me to pay the service fees if it is something that I should be able to do. It seems like the minimum charge is right around $100 to take a look at it.

Andy, you make it sound easy enough that I should be able to handle this type of repair with out a problem. Since the camper has an aluminum frame, what type of screws would I need to use. It seems like I have read that if you use the wrong type of screw on an aluminum frame, that they react and cause corrosion over time.

You guys are awesome with all of this information.

Thanks


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## CamperAndy

WildRed said:


> Andy, you make it sound easy enough that I should be able to handle this type of repair with out a problem. Since the camper has an aluminum frame, what type of screws would I need to use. It seems like I have read that if you use the wrong type of screw on an aluminum frame, that they react and cause corrosion over time.
> 
> You guys are awesome with all of this information.
> 
> Thanks


It would be best to use stainless steel or brass as bimetallic corrosion can be an issue especially if it gets wet. If it stays dry then you should be fine with most anything.


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## WildRed

Andy, I believe your reputation precedes you. It looks like you may well have been correct in your troubleshooting. I followed your instructions and removed the trim on the corner. Under the trim in the problem area, I found two of the screws with obvious signs of corrosion (pictured) and one completely missing. When attempting to remove one of the screws all it would do was spin. I did finally get it out. The second screw still seemed to be holding, however was in obvious deterioration.

Tommorow, my plan is to go to the hw store and pick up 3 larger replacement screws. I obviously need slightly larger screws in diameter, but what about length? My hesitation is that the longer screw could come in contact with something that will not react well with being pierced by a sharp metal object.

K. Smith, it appears that you may well be a bit upset. While I can't believe these screws are the only contact points for the support wall, it does appear that they must support a lot of the weight of that rear slide and whatever additional weight of the people sleeping there.

Pic


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## CamperAndy

Longer is better. There should be nothing behind there but side wall. The corner stud will be a 1" box aluminum. What is the spacing on your screws? More would be better also.

Check the top of the side trim and make sure it is sealed. You want to prevent as much as possible the migration of water down inside the trim.


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## WildRed

I went to the hw store and purchased some new screws. The factory screws appeared to be #10 1.5". I bought #12 2" stainless steel. I replaced the two corroded screws and put a screw in a hole that was missing a screw. The new screws seemed to go in tight and felt as if they were holding. I pulled out the slide to see if the "repair" had worked....the gap was still there.









Without having knowledge of the construction of campers, I am somewhat at a loss. The only thing I can formulate in my mind is that MAYBE a longer screw is needed to reach farther back to something that is solid. If a certain part of the brace is what is being pulled out, and my screws are only connecting to that brace, they aren't doing me any good. So that leads to the question, has my frame strength been compromised? Is it time to take it to the dealer? Or am I so far offbeat that I am missing the obvious solution? PLEEEASE tell me that I am offbeat.


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## CamperAndy

If the screws are tight then the failure I would suspect is the side wall frame stud or possibly the rear wall corner stud.

With the slide in but not locked, have the braces mounted. Now have a friend (larger is better for this) hang off the end of the brace, don't swing, just apply a gradually increasing force. While this is being done look closely at the the area in question and see if you can see the initial movement or hear any scraping sounds. Look also for parts that do not move. You will want your friend to load and unload the weight on the brace several times to help isolate the failure. Repair will be expensive at the dealer but if we can isolate the failure point I should be able to give a reasonable suggestion to the best home repair.

Wish I were closer to help you.


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## WildRed

It's beautiful here this time of year for camping. I can wait on you.


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## WildRed

So, last night I had a friend pull on the end of the rail while I watched the problem area. It took very little pressure on the end of the rail to create the gap. The picture is of the gap with what I would consider to be light pressure relative to the weight of the silde.

Toward the top of the gap you will see a piece of aluminum. This is what moves when pressure is applied. It slides front to back with pressure.

I'm beginning to get a very sick feeling that this fix is about to get very expensive.


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## CamperAndy

I wish I could say it will be easy but I can't say from the picture.

You seem handy so lets go to the next level on this and see if you can get a better picture or some more information.

First you will want to support the slide from the inside of the trailer near the back wall. This is just a precaution for the next step. You will need to remove the entire corner trim, remove all screws from it, pull the trim away then reinstall several screws at the top and bottom of the back wall with large flat washers to hold the wall in place.

Repeat the steps with your friend to see if you can expose the failure point. Use only as much pressure as you need to expose the failure.

If you are concerned about doing the above or do not feel capable then try using some 3" screws on the corner trim, above and below the area where the wall moves, these replace the factory screws used on the corner trim. They need to have threads over most of its length.


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## WildRed

While I like to think of myself as being somewhat handy, I tend to have to pay someone to fix my mess ups along with whatever I was trying to fix to begin with. I elected to take the easier of your suggestions. I got some 3" screws and washers. I replaced 4 of the factory screws with these. When putting them in, I could definitely feel 3 of the 4 of them grab onto something else at about the 2.5" point. After installation, it was time to test. I pulled the slide...it seemed to hold.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. While I am encouraged that the screws seem to be holding, my concern is that this would mean that these screws are the only thing supporting that corner. Am I only temporarly masking a bigger issue? If so, could my temporary fix cause a bigger problem if it fails down the road?

Andy, your knowledge was a huge help.

Our next purchase for the camper may be a set of slide support jacks to help relieve some of weight pressure on that back wall. Do you (or anyone else) have any experience with this type of support? I've read some mixed reviews on them. My wife said to "ask my friend in ID".


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## CamperAndy

Well screws only are not an issue for holding everything together. Your spacing looks to be about every 6", just add the 3" screws every 2" and you will be as strong as new.

As for the slide support, it would help but you will need to get or build something that would provide support but would also allow the everything to move a little. So you would need a support with a heavy spring or something like a gas shock. If it is too ridge I think it would cause the whole thing to work in such a way that it would stress some other component of the slide structure that would not be happy.


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## WildRed

I always find it interesting when I am working on something that someone else owned, what did they really know. After solving my problem on one side of the wall, I decided to reinforce the other side in the same manner. When I removed the corner trim I found something interesting.










Apparently, the previous owners were well aware of this very problem, just on the other side. Also, I don't think they had a CamperAndy giving them advice as they seemingly used 2.5" sheetrock screws for their repair.










I quickly took them out and replaced them with the same 3" #12 stainless screws.










After a bit of caulking, I believe my repair is holding and now complete.

In all of this, I came to the conclusion that my rails were in need of adjusting, also. The end of my rails were loose and not the same length. I adjust them out until the inside trim was the same distance at all 4 corners. I did this because I am not 100% sure what the best method is. While I think that I am much closer than I was to having the rails right, I am open to suggestions as to be sure that I have the rails right. Below is a pic from inside the camper where there is a plate and a clamp, of sorts. I can only assume that this is used to secure the inside of the slide to the rear wall, but the slide will not open to the point that it is flush because of the gaskets. Am I missing something?










You guys are fantastic and I have learned more than I thought I would ever need to. Then again, this is my first camper. I now know to tell the other newbies, get ready to ask questions and learn all you can.

Aaron


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## Obee 1

I just found this site yesterday my 21rs did this same thing this weekend I thought someone had taken pictures of my camper but thanks to everyone I will try the same fix.


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## WildRed

Hi Obee 1,

I don't know what your reaction was to yours, but I about passed out. CamperAndy was huge help and the fixes seem to be holding. I can handle $6 in screws vs $100's in frame repair at a dealer.

I hope your fix is as easy as mine seemed to be.

Aaron


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## Obee 1

My reaction was this can't be not another problem it has been one thing after another with this camper.My wife threw up her hands and said trade it I don't give up that easy it has became a fight to see which will win me or camper.(right now the camper is winning) again thanks to everybody.


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## RVdogs

I just wanted to throw out a big thank you to Andy for sharing his knowledge and in a way that us not-so-handy-men could understand.







I was reading this thread just for additional future info and learned so much I feel I'm ready to deal with anything...almost.


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## Obee 1

Well I finished putting the 3 inch screws in this weekend everything looks good now hope it last.Wildred thanks for the pictures they were a huge help and camperAndy your suggestions worked perfect.I hope no one else gets this problem but after looking at how this was put together everyone with a rear slide maybe should do this as a preventative measure because this is designed to fail.Thanks again.


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## D1Boz

I want to Thank CamperAndy for the information and WildRed for the post and his information too!!! Ours was doing the same thing and I went to post on here about it and saw this thread. I replaced the screws with the #12 3" stainless screws and it held great. I pulled the slide out and no gap and even had my mom hang from the back of the rail with no gap. LOL I replaced almost all of them on the left side and when I get time, I'll finish the 2 at the top and do the other side also. Thanks a lot guys!!!


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