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Originally Posted by ihsolutions
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To make a long story short, I found out that the foam strips were missing from the slideout stops on two of the three slides, permitting water to enter quite easily. Tomorow, I have a trip to the RV store to pick up new foam strips and a ton of other stuff I need. I'm not willing to trust the adhesive backing to the foam strips, so if there is a better way I'm all ears. I'm thinking self-tapping screws with big washers, hollowed out into the foam so as not to make contact with the aluminum bar that it would hit when sliding in.
In short, I love the trailer, just not the headaches (so far) and miss the simplicity of my T-2570 that was a maintenance dream. Three slideouts creates tons of living area, but tons of maintenance and potential problems. I will have to learn to live with that trade-off.
Tomorrow we are doing bunches of maintenance and hopefully waxing. If so, I will post pics when finished.
Jeff
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Hi Jeff
First congrats on getting you new coach!!!
I also feel for you and your travels. When we acquired our T310SR it was 500 miles away and a once only trip. I knew I would not return with my camper to that dealer to do much of anything. But I knew that when we bought it and that specific floor plan and camper was what we where after. There are only 3, T310SR’s that I know made. There may be more, but there are not many.
Which is now just like your new 5’er. There are not many of your floor plan out there. You may have one of only a few if that. So if you love your floor plan like we do ours, anything else on the coach is fixable. We too wresteeld with slide or no slide, but after having one, the small amount of maintenane is not much compared to the gain of having one.
I know what you mean about going from the smaller camper to the larger camper. While I did not have such a large jump as you, it was still an adjustment. In our case we had (still do on the camper….) a T2499 towed with a K2500 Suburban and even rear wheel steering no less. GM called it Quadrasteer, and it was sliced bread for towing. Could put that camper just about anywhere. Then the new camper came and soon a new TV. Well the learning curve started all over….. Now again I have mastered how to put it where I want it, just have to be a little more selective. Just keep this in mind, drive at least 8 feet past the campsite, then start backing up…. It helps....
We just came back from 4 days camping over the 4th, truly enjoying our camper and confirming once again we made the right choice. In fact I can’t get DW to even want to go back to camping in the smaller camper…..
This past fall I had to replace 2 axles and redo the entire axle alignment. The axle manf messed up and built 2 axles wrong from day one then compounded by the frame manf who welded the spring hangers on out of location Sunline just assembled the system to wrong made components. The end result was the setup was burning up tires at an alarming rate…. Fortunately for the money side of things I have a shop at the house where I can do all my own repairs and only have to buy parts or materials. Sunline built everything on top of the frame and I know I have something sound to start with.
Hang in there, there will be a learning curve going from the smaller camper to the larger one, but after a few months and being out with it several times you will settle into being as comfortable as you where with the little camper and then some.
As far as repairs, if you are hands on, then the rest will come and we here on Sunline Club can help at least be a sounding board. We even have camper reconstruction artists... Both VCRT and Frank have even created moon roofs..... (campers open to the outside world....) while doing repairs and then put them back together.
Which leads me to your rubber seals. They where missing????? Well, if they are not there your right, odds are they where missed from day one. If Sunline was still here I’m sure they would help as I’m sure they would of helped me with my axles in some capacity at least. So now to the SOC support group…
You mentioned using screws all around, heads up on that. Here is something to think thru. On mine Sunline did use 4 screws in the entire slide seal for the outside. And they looked like there where strategically located. One in each corner. Top left and right and lower left and right at the ends. I’m “assuming” they where there to hold location until the adhesive cured.
However there are issues with that even. See here. Mine are wearing into the outer alum flange from road vibration. The heads wore thru the rubber long ago at the screw heads. Fortunately I only have 4 of them to deal with.
Here is the rear lower one. The screw head. Put in on an angle, must have been when the slide was not yet installed.
And the alum flange that mates with it.
Now a worse one. Top front corner
And the alum flange. This one has the most aggressive wear.
I’m going to have to do something about that long term, but have not yet decided what just yet. Since my adhesive has already set, I might just try and take those top 2 screws out and squirt Dicor in the screw holes to seal that hole. Almost any metal head between the camper side frame and the outer slide flange will I’m sure over time wear thru.
In my case my side uses prop rods inside between the interior wall and the slide interior flange when the slide is in while traveling down the road. This keeps the top of that big slide from wiggling and tipping out while traveling. See here
Does yours have prop rods? Mine is a 2004 model and in 2005 they seemed to not use the prop rods any more. I know PTHutch here on the forum does not have them on his and I looked under his couch and really could not see if his slide drive system was made any different. And it really was not in the Lippert slide drive from a quick look anyway. The slide itself is a little different but the slide drive and roller rails looked the same, yet his has no prop rods.
Reason for talking about the prop rods is on mine that extra holding strength on the top will hold the slide against the camper better and as such the screw heads can work on those seals more and the alum slide flange. I still prop rods add value but it is something that mine has that others do not.
If your post was about 2 plus weeks sooner, I could of looked at the Buttonwood M & G for you as there many Sunlines with slides there and how they fastened the seals. And if they had any screw head wear.
I also noticed this on mine in the top corners Sunline used caulk around the seal and the camper in the corner. Assuming to better help seal it. See here
Another question, does yours have the seals on the inside which seal the slide to the camper when it is extended out? It is really odd Sunline missed your seals but anything is possible as you have it.
Hope this helps and let us know how you make out.
John
I'm looking forward to pics of your new rig. 
Dan 
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