Toy hauler Reno! Again. Input welcomed/needed

[DoughBallin14]

Alright so this is to continue off of my previous post a couple weeks ago.

I picked up a 2007 forest river sandpiper sport 40spts. Triple axle, 12 foot garage, 2 240w solar panels with inverter, 260 hr onan 5500 gold. Feel like i got a great price and plenty of room for improvement and value if i ever needed to sell it.

Roof was resealed about 3 years ago and looks decent but might seal it again after the main things i want to address first.

Hoping to update consistently and try my best to avoid an rv shop for anything i find.

I am very handy and have most tools needed in carpentry and basic fab, Fingers crossed it works out. So far couldn't see or find and soft spots or dark water stained wood when looking inside the outside access cabinets and such.

 

[DoughBallin14]

Alright! Step one was the slide out issue for the one dinette slide that stops halfway as it goes out. In my other thread before buying i had mentioned it had an issue and some comment on possible issue. So here is an update on that. This will halt all my improvements and projects until i can get it figured out.

The system has 3 slides, one bedroom with the ram and track under the bed and 2 opposing slides in the kitchen. All slides need wiper seals as they are dried and cracked or pulled out of their mounting screws. Not sure what style seals yet

1- Its a lippert hydraulic system with one switch to send them in and out. Through frame rack an pinion with single hydraulic ram per slide.

Standard up/down, side to side, and in n out adjustments.

Dinette slide is the issue slide.
Attached pictures show the issue. From inside as i send the slide out you can see in the attached pics that the right side has a gap of about 1 1/4 inch gap from the frame cutout and the roof too of the slide room.
On the left side when room is in there is about 1/4 inch and as it goes halfway out it jams the roof of slide room to the top of the framed opening causing it to stop.
I adjusted the slide all the way down using the outside adjuster nuts and it made almost zero difference for clearance.

Can anyone think of the cause for the the opening to either shrink on the one side? The floor of the slide looks to be resting on the kitchen floor so i dont believe anything is stuck under it to cause it to be lifted up.

I am so far ruling out a wall sag or rotted post there as i cant find and buckling or cracks on the walls near there or on the outside.

Also attached is a link for adjusting this style slide if others need it

 

[rivermobster]

Looks like it's missing a locating pin?

 

[DoughBallin14]

Looks like it's missing a locating pin?

Ah ya i got that carriage bolt and nut i was replacing it during some adjustments. Just not in this picture i posted.

 

[rivermobster]

Ah ya i got that carriage bolt and nut i was replacing it during some adjustments. Just not in this picture i posted.

Get some lube on that stuff. I like the red synthetic grease personality.

Did it make any difference having everything back in place and lubed?

 

[CLdrinker]

God I hate slides. Nothing but a pain in the freakin ass.
Either leaking or not going in and out constantly. But the wife won’t buy an RV without them.

Good luck!

 

[DoughBallin14]

Get some lube on that stuff. I like the red synthetic grease personality.

Did it make any difference having everything back in place and lubed?

I went to town with my tri-flow teflon spray lube and my maxima blue grease and all that moves is definitely smoother.
No adjustments helped. I will rip up some flooring this weekend and take measurements. I am kinda leaning towards some floor rot that might have swollen and lifted that side of the slide causing the gap to close.
Previous owner had adjusted the slide a couple times over the past 2-3 years he told me last night. Thats why i am leaning to some swollen wood now on the slide floor and possibly the main floor.

 

[CLdrinker]

Hopefully it’s not a bent frame

 

[DoughBallin14]

God I hate slides. Nothing but a pain in the freakin ass.
Either leaking or not going in and out constantly. But the wife won’t buy an RV without them.

Good luck!

Agreed i could do without the slides but that argument i will never win

Thanks. Ill see what we get into. I do have the ability to take the slide all the way out and onto a dolly to repair the opening if i needed. After i find a way to get it to come out all the way without damaging anything more

 

[rivermobster]

Agreed i could do without the slides but that argument i will never win

Thanks. Ill see what we get into. I do have the ability to take the slide all the way out and onto a dolly to repair the opening if i needed. After i find a way to get it to come out all the way without damaging anything more

Damm...

You have a garage big enough to do all that work in??

Can I rent it from you when you're done?

 

[DoughBallin14]

Damm...

You have a garage big enough to do all that work in??

Can I rent it from you when you're done?

Haha man i wish!! Once the socal weather dries up again and warms a bit ill be able to do anything outside. My buddy has a 2 acre lot down the street from my house where i store the trailer and he keeps his transfer truck. All compacted gravel with gantry lifts and dolly tables. Large blocks and pallet stacks etc haha. I would like to avoid that kind of work but we will see

 

[DoughBallin14]

Quick update:
Alright got home early today and grabbed the trailer and started emptying out all the storage crud he had and then started to remove some carpet and linoleum from the problem corner outside the slide and so far we got water issues. Definitely some festering rot lovely.
I am assuming this is probably running along the length from this corner pictured to the left down through the garage toward the back of the rig. Most like causing a sag of the whole exterior on this side. Ill demo some more and see what gets uncovered.

 

[DoughBallin14]

Alright got the carpet up on the slide and not as bad as i was thinking! Two corners have some wet spot. My guess is from the recent rains we had. Now gotta find that leak as well.

 

[DoughBallin14]

Well looks like sub floor gave out and now its all visible. Driver side with the main slide wall is sagging because sub floor is gone.

Here are some pics of the gapping and the dead give away in the garage.

On another note i was able to open the slide all the way by doing the old weekend warrior frame gusset SOP. Put bottle jack and rear stabilizer down tight and then raise front landing gear and basically relax the frame. By letting the center where the wheels are drop the load. Basicaly by creating a banana shape it lifted the side wall and created the space needed between the corner and header of the slide.

 

[DoughBallin14]

Yep boys we got a problem haha! This is slide all the way out

 

[DoughBallin14]

mission #1
-Take slide out, out of trailer and out of the way.
-jack up multiple spots of that wall from the outside like the picture which is pushing up on the aluminum extrusion piece that surrounds the slide out opening.
- cut out the bad subfloor in big sections.
- most likely add 3/16 or 1/4 aluminum angle and span them across the traingle out rigger that come off the ibeam of the frame. They are roughly spaced 4-5 feet apart.
- replace all seals with new from steelerubber.com while its out and will check the floor and re seal the edges and everything of the slide room
- then slide her in and get it all adjusted and bobs your uncle.


I think the problem and source of this issue stems from the last tire splashing the underside while driving on wet roads and such for 15 years, It launches right at that area with most rot. I could not find any rips or holes or repairs on the roof. So thats my idea there. With the jack placed where it is i can lift the side was over an inch with ease which is crazy!

Looked at the same spot on the passenger side and there is a small spot of spongy wood on the underside on the exact spot.

Stay tuned my friends.

 

[rivermobster]

Holy moly.

 

[DoughBallin14]

Holy moly.

Definitely surprising to me! Wasnt thinking it was thats bad but hey here we are. Get it done right and the family will use it for years. Definitely going to be some beer and friends to get er done

 

[Ducksquasher]

Definitely surprising to me! Wasnt thinking it was thats bad but hey here we are. Get it done right and the family will use it for years. Definitely going to be some beer and friends to get er done

Sorry pal

 

[DoughBallin14]

Sorry pal

All good appreciate it!
I mean kind of expected these days on 10-15 year old rigs for cheap. If i had RDP inmate money i would cash buy something way newer haha.

Just glad i have the resources, friends, and enough carpentry / mechanics background to be able to tackle most things i come across.

Starting to feel like this could turn into a thread like Kaotyks bus build or Hydroskeamin s amazing stresseliminator restoration thread. Although mine wont be as detailed and awesome as theirs.

 

[CLdrinker]

Oh man. That sucks.

 

[DoughBallin14]

Here we are finally in the meat and potatoes of the repairs. I am home and on call a couple days so i have plenty of time to get into this, but of course we have socal rain this week on and off. Should at least have the slide back in and safe by the time the rain comes tomorrow.

So here we go. I took the slide out and slid it back while having it supported with bottle jacks just for extra support and safety.

As you can see i de-skinned the outside diamond plate and was able to reveal the side walls and the rotted wall. Of course the diamond plate was barely hiding the exposed walls. The fiberglass siding ends at the the seam where the diamond plate starts

Today i got the rotted 2x3 and 3/4 ply strip shim they had that supported the vertical studs of the wall.
I upgraded with 2x4 and sealed all the new wood. The pressure treated stuff from lowes near me was horrible and twisted like rigatoni noodles haha.
Also grabbed some 23/32 exterior cdx and sealed it as well ready for patching back the flooring pieces i cut back to expose areas for new framing.
In the third picture you can see that that slide support has nothing support it. When i got it apart it looks like the factory measured the length wrong and the added a little scab piece of wood to hold the edge. Which failed miserably. No surprise we all know how these are all stapled together.

Tomorrow i will get the backing and more bracing put on where i cut open the floor and get the plywood locked in and set the slider tray and get the side out put on and get the wiper seals replace

 

[NicPaus]

Looking good. You send any pictures to the seller?

 

[rivermobster]

Looking good. You send any pictures to the seller?

Do you think there is Any chance the seller doesn't know about this?

I'd be willing to bet, he knows.

 

[DoughBallin14]

Do you think there is Any chance the seller doesn't know about this?

I'd be willing to bet, he knows.

Oh ya i have sent him a few during the discoveries. The guy was a but airhead ish when i talked to him originally.

He said that is crazy and that he has had to adjust the slide out a few times over the years to get it to open.

Definitely not a guy that wants to give me some money back though lol

 

[DoughBallin14]

This guy also claimed to me that he added the renogy 400watt solar system because the batteries wouldnt last the night with the furnace fan running so he would run the generator a lot.

Well looked into that and he had 2 old 2017 dated tiny 12v group 24 interstates that advertised 81AH when i looked them up. So 162 total.

So took measurements of the battery tray cabinet and i can fit 2 12v group 31s from crown rated at 110ah a piece. Combined 220ah should help out more.

I dont have the height to run 2 gc2 6 volt golf carts batteries. In case anyone was going to mention that.

 

[TimeBandit]

Most people don't want to see what lies beneath the surface of a mass produced RV

Good job building it back better!

 

[DoughBallin14]

Today’s festivities are all done as far as the slide being back in order! End of the story is slide move in and out freely and is pretty much adjusted to the right spot. Major success and only a few hundred bucks in material.

My floor patch spots are small but in the garage after a few other spots found near the wall edges i will work on re decking the garage completely one day.

So we got the side wall on the exterior all sealed and I had some 1-1/2 inch steel angle metal and figured ah why not span that across the 3 support outrigger and will help support the entire 2x4 we replaced. Sealed that up with some rubber undercoat cans i had. Also added simpson straps to the vertical studs to hold more together. Also added 1/4 inch exterior sheet plywood sealed for the diamond plate piece.
Now before the factory had the sill beam, studs and insulation exposed completely behind the diamond plate.
Everything was put back together using exterior decking spax brand screws which i have used for years and like their lag products. Should hold way better then the staples the factory uses to put these rigs together.

 

[DoughBallin14]

Most people don't want to see what lies beneath the surface of a mass produced RV

Good job building it back better!

Thanks for the support. It is kinda crazy to see who they are built. Definitely only expected to last a few years haha. Staples everything and stripped low grade screws.

 

[boatnam2]

Nice work!

 

[DoughBallin14]

So next struggle is finding a new wiper seal for all the slides. So far struck out with steele rubber and ap products. They both say its a weird profile and no something they have seen normally.

Basically its a 4 inch by 1/4 inch tapered to 1/8 inch strip of epdm rubber that is sandwiched between the fiberglass siding and the aluminum insert trim extrusion.

When the slide is closed is has a seal the goes around the outer edge of the flange that seals against this odd wiper.. the edge seal is a single bulb on the side the just hammers on which i found by both suppliers.
Looks like the picture attached. Just black instead of white

 

[DoughBallin14]

Ok ok holidays are over and finally back to some trailer updates! I am sure you all were wondering.

So after the rebuild of the driver side wall sag and rotted sill beam etc.
I just had this feeling i needed to look at the same spot on the passenger side also i semi notice a dip as i walked out the garage side door. Soooo take a look! I would say this side is worse as far as size of water intrusion. more wood to replace but its not as separated and blown out like the previous side. If you look close in one pic now you can see how it crowns near the wall and just dives off towards the wall.
Now after this i will be re sheating the whole garage subfloor and adding in blocking and more supports to tie in the 2x3 floor beams. Definitely want full t and g sheets now instead of patches.

Oh and i am re sealing my roof with the help of an rv repair friend tomorrow so i will update that as well.

 

[Ducksquasher]

Sorry pal...you are doing an amazing job with it though!

 

[yz450mm]

I had a 2005 Tahoe transport fifth wheel toy hauler that had the wall sag problem, the factory took it back and jacked the walls up and added more Z Outriggers on each side.

They didn't even fight it, they realized they had f***** up by having too little support for the walls and roof.

Ok ok holidays are over and finally back to some trailer updates! I am sure you all were wondering.

So after the rebuild of the driver side wall sag and rotted sill beam etc.
I just had this feeling i needed to look at the same spot on the passenger side also i semi notice a dip as i walked out the garage side door. Soooo take a look! I would say this side is worse as far as size of water intrusion. more wood to replace but its not as separated and blown out like the previous side. If you look close in one pic now you can see how it crowns near the wall and just dives off towards the wall.
Now after this i will be re sheating the whole garage subfloor and adding in blocking and more supports to tie in the 2x3 floor beams. Definitely want full t and g sheets now instead of patches.

Oh and i am re sealing my roof with the help of an rv repair friend tomorrow so i will update that as well.

View attachment 1186812 View attachment 1186813 View attachment 1186814 View attachment 1186815 View attachment 1186816 View attachment 1186817 View attachment 1186818

 

[DoughBallin14]

Sorry pal...you are doing an amazing job with it though!

Ah no worries just glad honestly that the access to these areas is pretty good without having to cut and patch wall sheets or fiberglass that i can find or match anymore.

 

[DoughBallin14]

I had a 2005 Tahoe transport fifth wheel toy hauler that had the wall sag problem, the factory took it back and jacked the walls up and added more Z Outriggers on each side.

They didn't even fight it, they realized they had f***** up by having too little support for the walls and roof.

Nice i am sure that happened a lot. I am surprised with this frame that there is actually a good amount of triangle out riggers from the i beam that go almost all the way to the outside edge of the walls. I would say average space ,where there isnt a slide out, is about 12 - 18 inches.

One thing i dont get is why in the garage did the run the 2x3 support studs for the plywood decking front to back parallel with the beams of the frame of the trailer.
I my self would have ran them perpendicular across the 2 i beams from side wall to side wall about 12 inches apart then sheeted the decking. These studs are honestly floating in some spots in the center of the trailer.

 

[DoughBallin14]

Little update on the repairs. Should wrap it up minus sheeting the garage floor. Way more solid feeling now!
Also should finish the roof coating tomorrow. Had to replace 3 dome roof vent caps also while i was up there.

 

[rivermobster]

Thanks for the pics.

 

[Ladsm]

My biggest nightmare when I see trailers for sale. When I sold my toyhauler they kept low balling me and I explained that mine was all aluminum framed and no wood was stapled holding it together. Great job rebuilding it.

 

[King295]

Man, you are deep into this thing but I'll bet you enjoy the hell out of it once its done. I've got a 5th wheel that I bought practically new with two slides and I still cringe every time I open the things. I bet you won't have that problem knowing you got them done right. Thanks for taking us along on this project.

 

[DoughBallin14]

No problem guys glad to share the journey!
I would definitely love the aluminum framed coaches, their value holds strong for sure if you know.. she is definitely more solid now and i think i am just finished with the structural stuff now. Definitely the saving grace in the project is being able to remove the diamond plate and just having full access to the main areas needed.

 

[DoughBallin14]

Todays update was a long day for sure. Got a few more pieces of decking to cut out of the garage and then i can finish sheeting it again. I added horizontal blocking to tie everything in and stop the floor shifting. Plus more areas to screw down the plywood.

Also the roof re seal is done and should be good just in time for the rain. Didnt get many pictures but its done and coated with an Elastomeric coating. Link below. My friend swears by this stuff for the epdm rubber membrane roofs. He also had a background in commercial roofing.

https://www.apoc.com/products/roof-...performance-elastomeric-roof-coating-apoc-248

 

[DoughBallin14]

Pics of the day.
Roof before and after.
Bracing/blocking for garage floor.
Boxed in the entry step and door area. Crazy before is was just the exterior sill stud and the plywood in this area. And the 3 step unit attached and hung from the underside of that one stud. She is sturdy now.
Garage deck plywood in the works.

 

[DoughBallin14]

Ah man i forgot to show you guys my own user error on my beater truck!! So i always knew the ladder on the front cap of the trailer was close to my cab on the driver side. I usually pay good attention to it until i adjusted the gooseneck height and i always planned on trimming down the ladder to suck it in closer to the cap.

Well it got the best of me and one step just kissed the corner of my back glass and pop there it went

That was last weekend putting it into storage. Got the window replaced quick and a good price thanks to all star auto glass in Temecula.
Safelite was a laughing joke when i called them. Which was expected.

Now i adjusted the gooseneck up and used my 4” offset ball from bw and cut the ladder down now i got plenty of room.

 

[Bowtiepower00]

Nice work! Sucks about the tow rig.

If you haven’t, I would definitely recommend some roof vent covers like this:

These will keep the sun from ruining your current vents, so they don’t rip off in the middle of a cross country trip, ask me how I know!

 

[DoughBallin14]

Nice work! Sucks about the tow rig.

If you haven’t, I would definitely recommend some roof vent covers like this:
View attachment 1187514
These will keep the sun from ruining your current vents, so they don’t rip off in the middle of a cross country trip, ask me how I know!

Haha agreed those are on the list i was going to ask around about some of the styles and colors white vs black etc. how have these been for you?

I need to replace the three vent caps as well. Which i have 2 black ones left over from the other trailer i did 2 years ago. These old ones are very brittle and are missing the little seals.

Glad it wasnt on the new truck and this truck was just a plain window. No slider or heat.

 

[Bowtiepower00]

Haha agreed those are on the list i was going to ask around about some of the styles and colors white vs black etc. how have these been for you?

I need to replace the three vent caps as well. Which i have 2 black ones left over from the other trailer i did 2 years ago. These old ones are very brittle and are missing the little seals.

Glad it wasnt on the new truck and this truck was just a plain window. No slider or heat.

I have used the “max air” brand in both white and black, the black blocks out a little more light. I’d go with whatever matches your roof. They do block your ability to fully open your vents, but you can still open them 3-4 inches or so. I usually keep my bathroom vent open with fan running whenever we’re using the trailer.

They make bigger, fancier ones that allow you to open vents further, but the basic ones are always in stock and usually pretty cheap.

 

[SoCalDave]

Yep boys we got a problem haha! This is slide all the way out

I'd be willing to wager that there have been more "destroyed floors in travel trailers" from wet/damaged wheel wells than from any other "my entire floor is soft and molded" complaints. That Darco (cheap polyethylene tarp type materiel) used on the bottom of some trailers (my 2018 included) was the worst thing a manufacturer could have used. I was doing some research after I had noticed a large section was damaged/missing on my trailer from the previous owners blowout. Man if I had taken it out on the road like that and caught a good rain storm my floor would have absorbed all that moister into the foam filling and it all starts from there. I went back and installed 1/4" Starboard material under all the exposed areas where the Darco material had been applied (basically frame out to sides) and then sealed all the joints with black silicon. If nothing else at least seal it with some automotive undercoating or truck bed liner type spray.
It appears you got the brunt of it fixed properly. Hope thing go a little smoother for ya going forward.

 

[DoughBallin14]

I'd be willing to wager that there have been more "destroyed floors in travel trailers" from wet/damaged wheel wells than from any other "my entire floor is soft and molded" complaints. That Darco (cheap polyethylene tarp type materiel) used on the bottom of some trailers (my 2018 included) was the worst thing a manufacturer could have used. I was doing some research after I had noticed a large section was damaged/missing on my trailer from the previous owners blowout. Man if I had taken it out on the road like that and caught a good rain storm my floor would have absorbed all that moister into the foam filling and it all starts from there. I went back and installed 1/4" Starboard material under all the exposed areas where the Darco material had been applied (basically frame out to sides) and then sealed all the joints with black silicon. If nothing else at least seal it with some automotive undercoating or truck bed liner type spray.
It appears you got the brunt of it fixed properly. Hope thing go a little smoother for ya going forward.

1000% agree that this design of “waterproofing “ is horrible and definitely just enough to get them past most warranty periods..

I was thinking of bed spray or flex seal spray haha something to waterproof better that material. I could possible get our fab guy at work to make me a fender out of sheet aluminum or steel maybe. He already is going to be in there fixing a small cracked shackle weld i found.

 

[DoughBallin14]

I have used the “max air” brand in both white and black, the black blocks out a little more light. I’d go with whatever matches your roof. They do block your ability to fully open your vents, but you can still open them 3-4 inches or so. I usually keep my bathroom vent open with fan running whenever we’re using the trailer.

They make bigger, fancier ones that allow you to open vents further, but the basic ones are always in stock and usually pretty cheap.

Thanks for the input i was thinking the basic maxx air ones but maybe doing one of the max air cover ones with the built in fantastic fan one for the garage area or just add a fan one and put a basic maxair cover on.