Sagging Slide out in my Safari Cheetah

[1nolaguy]

Today, while sitting inside because of the cold weather here in Florida my wife noticed what looks like sunlight leaking in above the right side of the kitchen slide and shining on the ceiling. On close inspection it appears the end of the slide closest to the back of the coach is about an inch lower than the front end allowing light (and weather) to come in below the slide gasket. The slide moves in and out OK but I now realize the top edge of the bay door below the slide on the back side now makes slight contact. I do not know if this is an adjustment issue or if something else is amiss. I did not notice this prior to having the RV towed several months ago because of an engine issue. Has anyone else experienced this or something similar? If so, did you discover the cause and hopefully the fix?

[Steve Maurer]

Hi, i have 2005 Cheetah 345 SKT with same misalignment problem. Solved it with adhesive weatherstrip placed on inside flange of slide out. It is sandwiched between the slide out and wall of coach sealing it. Used  1” wide and cut multiple legnths to seal gap when closed. Works good and have had coach in 10 degree weather with no problems.

[Gary 05 AMB DST]

Loel, Does your paint on the outside of the slide match the pattern on the body when the slide is closed? If not, the slide is moving up or down for some reason. If it matches, that is how it came from the factory.

Gary 05 AMB DST

[1nolaguy]

UPDATE: Today, I crawled under the slides and took some pics. Perhaps this is best help for the gathering at Lazydays Tampa but I am curious so thought I should add this here. It appears that some bolts have fallen out or are missing. Considering the rust I would not think this is recent. These look to be 3/8 or 5/16 x 1". Any input on purpose or replacing these would be appreciated. Also, the Dealer of the 2 opposing 13ft slides on our Cheetah appear to have similar but different mechanisms. The deeper slide (Driver side) mech. Each have 2 vertical screws about 3" long, presumably for vertical adjustment. The shallower slide does not have these. In our case this is the slide that is out of square in the whole.

Any thoughts?

[1nolaguy]

Additional photos

[Frank Bergamo]

Loel,

that looks like an accident waiting to happen! I would get some new bolts and get busy installing and tightening them up. Good luck with your project!

 

[1nolaguy]

Frank, I guess this is why you should regularly do a detailed inspection. After buying and installing the horizontal 3/8"x1" bolts I realized these are not actually attached to anything. Not sure what purpose the serve other than possibly during install or removal. Oh well, they now all have shiny new ss bolts. On the other hand I did realize the vertical 3.5" bolts are for adjustment of the slide pitch horizontally. Most of these were not under pressure (tight against the flat plate of the slide). I snugged them all up and one is missing so I will be replacing that, just in case. Note: turning the vertical screw tight against the plate and then 3/4 of a turn was enough to raise the slide on that side so that I'd would not catch on the basement door say more. It was not enough to level the slide but I want to wait until I am in a better , more level site before making additional adjustments.