Replacing the slide rollers on 99 Diplomat

[Dick Roberts]

I knew I needed new rollers on my slide so I've been reading all the posts I could find on the subject.. With so many different configurations on different models, I just kept putting it off. A slight (OK, a large) miscalculation on my part necessitated an urgent repair of the slide and the rollers. Other posters talked about a roller on the front, inside the wheel well, through an access panel of some sort. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the fender was hinged. I have never seen any discussion about this awesome feature on the RV. Six screws hold the bottom to the coach body. Remove them, the fender swings up out of the way.

BTW, all four fenders are hinged and swing up out of the way to access things like air bags and shocks. Who knew?

That front roller was the hardest to replace, I can't imagine trying to change it while laying on my back underneath the coach. As you can see from the pic, one bracket had pulled loose and was hanging by one solid screw. Removed the roller and reattached the bracket and installed the new roller. Not an easy job for a 70 year old man, but nobody told me RV life was easy, they just said it was interesting. 🙂

Went inside the RV to remove the roller under the stove next. Removed the bottom two drawers, and the bottom drawer runner, to give myself some working room. R&R'd that roller, no issues.

On to the roller under the sink. Again, pretty straight forward, move pots and pans, remove black plastic cover, R&R roller.

The main issue I have with this repair, the rollers are on the floor. Someone put the dang floor way down low, and us old timers sometimes have a hard time getting down there, much less back up again.

On the bright side, my slide now sits squarely in the hole in the wall and the gaskets are tight against the wall. Haven't tested it yet today, it's raining all day. Tomorrow I expect it to be smooth and quiet. BTW, rollers came from RV Elite Parts out of Grand Rapids MI.

[Ivan K]

Lucky you with the hinged fenders, no such luck for me.

[Dick Roberts]

So that is not a standard item on all Monaco's? Hmmm, might explain why I never saw any posts about it. I even mentioned it to an Allison mech who serviced my tranny and installed 8 new airbags. He said " naw, I'll lay on my back underneath and do it the hard way". I should have insisted, might have saved me several hours labor.

[96 EVO]

31 minutes ago, Ivan K said:

Lucky you with the hinged fenders, no such luck for me.

Nor me!

[timaz996]

I guess my rollers have been replaced because mine are the white ones. I have cleaned mine and I vacuum the floor before running the slides in. Thank you for the post. I will have to look and see if my fenders are hinged. It's blowing 40 plus today in Quartzsite so not today. 

I checked and my fenders are not hinged.

 

Edited March 3 by timaz996

[Dick Roberts]

I’m glad mine are, it’s going to make searching for air and hydraulic leaks much easier. 

[Bill7773]

On 3/3/2024 at 9:46 AM, Dick Roberts said:

So that is not a standard item on all Monaco's? Hmmm, might explain why I never saw any posts about it. I even mentioned it to an Allison mech who serviced my tranny and installed 8 new airbags. He said " naw, I'll lay on my back underneath and do it the hard way". I should have insisted, might have saved me several hours labor.

I was going to say, looked Iike you had new air bags. LOL

Edited June 7 by Bill7773

[Bill7773]

Dick,

I hear ya, 74 and not quite as flexible I I use to be. LOL  My issue the Awnig blew open in some high wind and had to get on roof and roll it back up and tie it off until got home.  Once home I straightened it out, rolled awning in an out several times and thought things were ok, wrong!!  Tried running slide out and only couch side went fine but heavy end kictichen side hung up and slide will only open at angle and stop. PITA$$  your post was helpful looking at rollers.

Thanks,

Bill

Edited June 7 by Bill7773

[Viper04]

I have a 2000 Dynasty single axle PBQ Ralph Lauren edition 

with a single slide on the drivers side. I am in edinboro

/Columbus  Indiana area. Does anyone have a suggestion for a mobile service or a service center that is fair and can do a slide adjustment or roller replacement. I also need a inner and outer shower skylight 

plexiglass replacement either smoke or bronze  exterior and a clear interior piece, any sources will be appreciated on both issues. 
 

Tim

pulling a 2023 Ram Platinum 

edition pickup. 

[diplomat don]

My 2001 Diplomat had hinged fenders. Undo 2 #8 machine screws, fold the fender up, prop with a stick and viola, airbags. Made the change much easier but 2005 HR Imperial not so lucky. And yes sure sucks getting old and less flexible. Don

[RVerBob]

10 hours ago, Viper04 said:

I have a 2000 Dynasty single axle PBQ Ralph Lauren edition 

with a single slide on the drivers side. I am in edinboro

/Columbus  Indiana area. Does anyone have a suggestion for a mobile service or a service center that is fair and can do a slide adjustment or roller replacement. I also need a inner and outer shower skylight 

plexiglass replacement either smoke or bronze  exterior and a clear interior piece, any sources will be appreciated on both issues. 
 

Tim

pulling a 2023 Ram Platinum 

edition pickup. 

Call S&H Camp Grounds, about an hour from your location, Greenfield IN. They may be able to help

[Kevin K]

Hello, New here and I really appreciate this post Dick. I have a 99 Diplomat 38A I've owned for over 14 years and have always had trouble with the slide going in and out. I found the problem after the fact that the very left end roller under the drawers had come completely loose from the bracket on one side, lost half its coating and destroyed the tile floor. This in turn destroyed the motor also when the roller jammed on a piece of the broken tile. I have replaced the motor already. I'm now looking as to where to get the correct Trantorque couplings for the slide out shaft if anyone knows the part number and where to get one.

Question for anyone that may know:  There are 5 rollers all together and 3 are under the counter space and 2 under the jackknife couch behind the front fender. One is above the fuel inlet hose and the other above the left front tire. And yes my front fender is hinged thank god. The 2 I took out under the couch were steel with no coating. So does anyone know if those two rollers are supposed to be coated also? I have never found any pieces of old coating that may have came off of those two rollers and nor do they seem to have ever had any on them.

Also have questions about adjusting the rollers. Been a while but I believe I have read in another forum years ago that to adjust the rollers bring the slide in to about the 1/2 way point but do it on level ground with the airbags deflated. Set the rollers evenly and equally until they just touch enough that you can still spin them, not freely but with a small amount of pressure on them. After that adjust accordingly turning the bolts equally 1/2 turn at a time. This was years ago and I cannot find my reference to this so can someone correct me if I'm wrong here?      

Edited June 12 by Kevin K
Added adjusting rollers