Slide out roof hole…dealer or no dealer?

txloser

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Pulling into Grizzly in West Yellowstone, we got a site with low trees first. Being an RV resort I didn’t think to look closely and they rubbed on the roof. Got a new site and after setup, went up to check that area. No damage I could see. However, while up there I found this…. Kitchen slide roof front outermost corner. I’m thinking on bad roads through Colorado my slide was bouncing or rubbing on something. I through an Eternabond patch on there right after I got setup. I’ve got a feeling the dealer will tell me to pound sand, but I checked it pre-trip, and it wasn’t there. Haven’t camped near trees till today.

What say you?
 

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Well, the first thing I'd do is get that covered, keep out the water. I think I would use Dicor non-leveling sealant rather than Eternabond, because, while I agree that the dealer will most likely not do anything, the trailer is new enough, it can't hurt to have it checked. And it will be easier to check it out by removing the Dicor, rather than trying to remove Eternabond. JMO of course.
 
Well, the first thing I'd do is get that covered, keep out the water. I think I would use Dicor non-leveling sealant rather than Eternabond, because, while I agree that the dealer will most likely not do anything, the trailer is new enough, it can't hurt to have it checked. And it will be easier to check it out by removing the Dicor, rather than trying to remove Eternabond. JMO of course.

I had already thrown some Eternabond on there after I got setup since that’s what I had with me. The roads have been pretty bad so some impacts there, and on a few occasions there were some off camber areas I had to pull into, which I’m thinking caused some flexing of things. My theory is that could cause it rub in that corner if it’s tight up there. We’ll see. I’ve got 1500 miles of towing left on this trip so I’ll keep checking it for signs of rubbing as I go. If there’s rubbing, I’ll take it in.

I’m thinking the 8000lb springs and 120psi are a bit much for a 310GK. My fridge is a disaster each day with rearranged stuff and dislodged stuff. One of my evening routines is re-gluing my broken fridge door shelves because something hits them from the main body of the fridge.
 
What is the actual weight on the wheels/axles? You might try adjusting the air pressure in the tires based on your actual weight. I had "G" rated tires on our previous triple axle, but ran them around 90 psi instead of 110 psi because I was only carrying about 2,500 lbs. on each wheel. They never ran too hot, and never had an issue in the six years they were on there.
 
What is the actual weight on the wheels/axles? You might try adjusting the air pressure in the tires based on your actual weight. I had "G" rated tires on our previous triple axle, but ran them around 90 psi instead of 110 psi because I was only carrying about 2,500 lbs. on each wheel. They never ran too hot, and never had an issue in the six years they were on there.

I don’t know the weight on each tire but from some math I’d say with 11k on the rear axles I’m I’d probably adjust based on 2900/tire to make it even and allow for another 300lbs on road side. I can’t find a load chart specific to these H rated Coopers.
 
Regarding sealing strategy for that tear that size— Eternabond will be the best solution. I have had similar issues in that area and found that a smaller patch may rip off after a few slide extend/retract cycles so keep an eye on it. In the case where the normal slide/wall friction tears it off, I had to use a longer patch that extends about 1/2 way the depth of the slide to avoid locating a seam on the slide/wall friction zone. I have also tried Dicor in that area but it didn't survive the friction of the slide’s normal in/out cycles.

Regarding the increased capacity springs/higher load capacity tires—you are already doing the right thing to be aware of things moving around in the rig it’s likely a symptom of a bigger problem (Ie, too much suspension, too high tire pressure, ineffective equalizer, etc). After installing higher load range tires on a previous rig, I ignored the obvious symptoms you mentioned above and ultimately had frame problems that had to be repaired by removing the outer wall.

As mentioned above, a great first step is to use the inflation tables to match tire pressure to the actual weight of the wheel. Escapees offers a Smartweigh service that would help in this situation. Alternately you can get a CAT scale weight on just that axle.

https://escapees.com/smartweigh/

No affiliation — just BTDT
 
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I looked at that tear a lot closer, and it does look like something is dragging along where the tear is. It looks like it's enough to wrinkle the tape also. I didn't think about that being the roof on the slide, I think Eternabond is the right choice, but there may be a need to go with a long piece so whatever is dragging won't roll the eternabond up and really screw things up.

Here's a load range chart for Cooper tires that includes your size I believe: https://www.coopertrucktires.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-CooperTruckTires-Library/default/dw47e8ebce/pdf/resources-tools-and-downloads/Load-inflation-table.pdf
 
At first glance, it looks like an adjustment issue. Would still take it to dealer, or have an RV tech look at it and see if the slide needs adjusted.
 
I looked at that tear a lot closer, and it does look like something is dragging along where the tear is. It looks like it's enough to wrinkle the tape also. I didn't think about that being the roof on the slide, I think Eternabond is the right choice, but there may be a need to go with a long piece so whatever is dragging won't roll the eternabond up and really screw things up.

Here's a load range chart for Cooper tires that includes your size I believe: https://www.coopertrucktires.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-CooperTruckTires-Library/default/dw47e8ebce/pdf/resources-tools-and-downloads/Load-inflation-table.pdf

I agree, after really looking at the "lower" portion of the tear, it absolutely looks Worn from Rubbing.
 

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