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Old 11-29-2009, 07:24 AM   #1
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Slide Lock/Transit bar

Last night I finally got the wallboard removed, from around the 299SR's slide frame. Along the top, is three pieces of 3/8" OSB glued together and 2x6's on either side.

I was looking around the www.pplmotorhomes.com site this morning and found their "Slide lock" The positioning of these, are along where Sunline used the 2x6 framing and would seem to me, to be a much better place for them.



I will get pictures of the framing around the slide, but it does not look like it would be very strong. However, putting the slide lock along the 2x6 does look like a better position for them. Also, these type of bars have rubber feet on them. I used to have the cargo bar version for my pickup and they worked great. They would not need to be pulled into place, so there would be little, if any damage to the wallboard.

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Old 11-29-2009, 05:58 PM   #2
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Gary - again, please forgive a newbie. WHY do you/we need a slide lock? Hmmm? We have a 264SR.

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Old 11-29-2009, 06:03 PM   #3
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Gary

Will be interested in what is behind the wall board. I have tried to install mine like that pic in the PPL photo on the sides and they fall out "all" the time. Until I moved to the top would they ever stay in. There is no mention in my manual on where the right place is suppose to be. Just that my 2004 states they must be used.

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Old 11-29-2009, 06:26 PM   #4
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Alice: The slide lock, or transit bars are used to help keep the slide secured in the "In" position while traveling down the road. There are only four bolts, that hold the entire slide and they are located on the bottom wall, beneath and behind the siding. Without them, the entire slide would pivot on those four bolts while going down the road.

I noticed that all four of the bolts on the T-299SR we are working on, were loose. I also noticed the lack of transit bars/slide locks in the unit. I don't know if that's how those bolts came loose, but that is where I would put my money. That camper had a lot of miles on it.

John: Along the top of the wall, above the slide, are three pieces of 3/8" OSB and they are glued together. Both sides of the wall have regular 2x6 studs that run vertical. It's interesting to see how everything works together, to strengthen the opening. I will take pictures, before it is disassembled. From looking at it though, I would highly recommend using the slide locks on the sides, instead of the transit bars on the top of the slide!
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Old 11-29-2009, 06:39 PM   #5
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When our slide slides in & out, it raises & lowers a little bit over a slight lip and seems to lock into place. Does yours do that? Do they all do that, or does yours just slide out on an even plane?
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Old 11-29-2009, 06:51 PM   #6
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Hi Alice

What year is your camper?

In 2005, Sunline redid "something" that they declare no longer needed transit bars. My 2004 states to use them and I do. I have been trying for a while to sort out the difference between 2004 and 2005 to see if I can find any sense why my 04 needs them and 05's and foward are declared to not???

And yes, the slide does lift up off the floor when it comes in. That is by design to not drag the carpet. The slide rails are installed at an angle under the camper to do this. Sunline gave us that benift. Not all camper brands do that. Some brands drag the carpet all the way in and out by level travel in and out and as such folks have had carpet issues.

Hope this helps

John
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Old 11-29-2009, 07:27 PM   #7
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Alice,
Ours drops down, into place, when we extend it. Without the transit bars, only the motor would hold the slide in place and only at the bottom. The transit bars are there, to hold the top in place also.

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Old 11-29-2009, 07:47 PM   #8
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Hi Ron and Alice sunline stopped useing the bars in 2005 I have a 2005 264 sr and when we bought it that was one of the first questions I ask and Larue from sunline explained to me that they no longer needed but didnt tell me why . Dan
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Old 11-30-2009, 04:30 AM   #9
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With our '07 T276SR we were told by the dealer that they were not only not needed, but were not to be used. No explanation given, just that the slide mechanism was redesigned and the use of the slide locks would mess it up.
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Old 11-30-2009, 05:40 PM   #10
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Holy crap! No wonder I am so confused. One dealer says it is no longer needed, one says not to use them, another says definitely yes.

Ours is a 2004, and to be honest, I haven't read the 3" manual yet - I figured it would be good reading in the Sunshine State. How naive am I, right?
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Old 11-30-2009, 06:36 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron & Alice
Holy crap! No wonder I am so confused. One dealer says it is no longer needed, one says not to use them, another says definitely yes.

Ours is a 2004, and to be honest, I haven't read the 3" manual yet - I figured it would be good reading in the Sunshine State. How naive am I, right?
From what JohnB has said, ONLY Sunline slide rooms made from 2005-2007 did not need the transit bars. Anything 2004 and older did need them.

As far as the "3 inch manual" goes... Most of it is just literature, that belongs to the different components in the Sunline. Very little of it, is actually from Sunline.

Gary
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Old 11-30-2009, 07:14 PM   #12
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Hi Alice.

A 2004, gee they are like mine then.

Here, I'll save you some digging in your manual.







And see this post where I started talking about this on mine a while back. It's actually part way down this forum.

http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/ph...pic.php?t=1455

This summer I called Lippert who makes out slide mechanism and asked them about Transit bars if they knew why one would use them. I expalined the Sunline 2004/2005 story and that there Denver plant made the frames for Sunline.

The official word was "The TT manufacture decides if transits bars are needed. The actual slide motor system will not extend under travel. They have never had one unscrew open on them.”

So from the Lippert end of things, they have no requirement, but Sunline did, at least in 2004 and prior. I myself can understand the need, but I have been trying to put the construction details together on the 2005 and what is so different on them. If anything.

I cannot figure out how they would be harm full as the one dealer that told Mack, no way…

So that is all we know at this point.

Hope this helps and can you even find your transit bars? Pics of the Sunline version are in the link I showed you above, at least for 2003 and 2004. I saw Kitty’s and Gary’s and they are the same as mine. It would not be suprising to find transit bars MIA.

Hope this helps

John
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Old 12-01-2009, 05:09 PM   #13
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Wow, BIG thanks John. If these transit bars were/are so important, you would think they would supply them with the tt's, now wouldn't you?

As with most of our thinking, we will do without for a year, and judge after we have used the Sunline for a season.
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Old 12-01-2009, 05:27 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron & Alice
Wow, BIG thanks John. If these transit bars were/are so important, you would think they would supply them with the tt's, now wouldn't you?

As with most of our thinking, we will do without for a year, and judge after we have used the Sunline for a season.
So you have a 2004 without the transit bars? They should have come with it from the factory, you shouldn't have to go out to buy them. They look like 3' long closet bars, about an inch or so in diameter.

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Old 12-01-2009, 05:29 PM   #15
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Allow me to add to the confusion.

Our T299SR came with the locking bars, and we used them dutifully. (This is the one Gary now has--a 2004 model year, built in November/December 2003).

We were at the factory on some unrelated business in 2005, and one of their QA people asked if she could do a walk-through, to see how things were holding up. At that time, she noted they had decided that the bars were superfluous, and recommended we quit using them. Which we did. I think they went into the dumpster at camp that night.

So THAT may account for the loose bolts that Gary just found, on that very trailer.

I swear, the more you look at this stuff, the more you begin to think that nobody in the business has the slightest idea what they are talking about, and that some trailers happen to be better because of some lucky accident in the design.

Do any of you follow Gypsy Journal? The publisher there was doing a bus conversion, and published a blow-by-blow of the process. He is very much disgusted with all commercially built campers, and said that they once had the slide room on a Fleetwood MH come open while they were cruising down the interstate...
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Old 12-01-2009, 09:07 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stan47
Allow me to add to the confusion.

Our T299SR came with the locking bars, and we used them dutifully. (This is the one Gary now has--a 2004 model year, built in November/December 2003).

We were at the factory on some unrelated business in 2005, and one of their QA people asked if she could do a walk-through, to see how things were holding up. At that time, she noted they had decided that the bars were superfluous, and recommended we quit using them. Which we did. I think they went into the dumpster at camp that night.

So THAT may account for the loose bolts that Gary just found, on that very trailer.
Stan, WOW..... Well that helps add a little to the confusion factor. Mechanically, the 2005 and 2004 are built the same from what I have found. I'm not that into the 2003 and older ones and I know they changed methods along the way. Don't know what year.

However there are still several TT makers using the in 2009's. Jayco does on there MH's as I have a pic of the slide lock when at the factory tour.

Each slide combo is made a little differnet. Mine is table and chairs. Some are dinnettes. The weight overhang is different and what people load in them is different. The canterliver bounce back is different pending the load in the slide. Now it may not mean a hill of beans, but ....

I can see the value in using them even if they only help by 20% on debouncing the slide. I would caution those with older Sunline slide models, your slide may be made different. Slides have changed over the last 15 years a lot.

Just maybe, we will bump into the technical reason they started with them in the first place.

Thanks for sharing that tid bit.

John
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Old 12-01-2009, 09:16 PM   #17
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Quote:
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Each slide combo is made a little differnet. Mine is table and chairs. Some are dinnettes. The weight overhang is different and what people load in them is different. The canterliver bounce back is different pending the load in the slide. Now it may not mean a hill of beans, but ....
That's a good point. Do you think the fact you have a probably lighter table and (2 instead of 4 most of the time) chairs causes that bounce to be a little more, so then that would be why the bars fall out? With the dinette coaches, it may just be enough weight, especially with the big drawers under them, to hold it down enough where the bars wouldn't move.

Jon
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Old 12-02-2009, 07:56 AM   #18
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John, I'm sure you know that the slide-out mechanisms are not manufactured by the trailer-makers, right? So it's possible that Sunny changed to a different supplier, or that their supplier made the recommendation for or against the support bars. That being the case, it would have been made without regard to the load that any particular slide is bearing, as you and Jon have observed.

But the need for supports like these is one of the things about RV design that has always grated on me, with my engineering background. You look at a Camping World catalog, and about half the stuff they offer is some kind of band-aid to make up for lousy initial design.

My two worst pet peeves:

1. Why, when you buy the most expensive TT, do you still have to pay extra for an electric tongue jack?

2. Why does ShurFlow offer water pump "upgrades?" The difference in price between the cheapest (i.e. worst) and most expensive (presumably best) pump is less than a hundred bucks.

To be honest with you, I have for a few years been rethinking the whole business of having money invested in an RV, which is essentially a "house of cards." You and Gary have a lot more experience looking under the skin of trailers, and therefore a different perspective. What Gary saw as sturdy construction in the rear of my 299 looked pitifully shabby to me.

But this is getting off on to a whole 'nother rant, which deserves its own thread...
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Old 12-02-2009, 08:51 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stan47
To be honest with you, I have for a few years been rethinking the whole business of having money invested in an RV, which is essentially a "house of cards." You and Gary have a lot more experience looking under the skin of trailers, and therefore a different perspective. What Gary saw as sturdy construction in the rear of my 299 looked pitifully shabby to me.
It's all relative. I think JohnB and I had this same conversation at the ADK M&G.

I've had a pretty good chunk of my 2363 apart at this point. When I yanked the siding off the rear, my exact words were "If this is a good one, I don't want to see a bad one."

Since then, I've been in a bunch of RVs. The Sunline fit and finish is certainly better than 98% of today's market. We recently went to the Atlantic City RV show just for fun. I bet we walked through 50 trailers that day.. there was only one I could say I would consider buying, and that's not talking about floorplans, that's examining the construction.

On the other side of the coin, I have put some time into some designs over the past year. It is NOT easy to build them strong AND light without looking into some space-age, high dollar stuff.

Anyway, I still feel that this RV has been the best money I have ever spent. Can't see myself without one in the future. Will be trying very hard to build the next one myself.

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Old 12-02-2009, 05:44 PM   #20
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Gosh, Frank. That's not really encouraging, if we go to look for another TT.

I don't understand why someone is not building RVs with stressed-skin panels. They build manufactured-houses that way, and it seems to me that it's lighter, stiffer and has better insulation properties. And I can't imagine it being more expensive. The only problem that would need solving to apply that construction to trailers would be inventing a way to join the corners of the panels that was reliable and leakproof. On houses, there's some leeway, because they use vinyl siding corners, which hide all the joins. And they don't have to account for so much flexing, since under all but the worst circumstances, a manufactured house gets move down the highway only once in its lifetime.

I suppose the short answer is that there is no incentive to build anything better, because what the industry currently builds sells.

My sister has noticed the difference in durability between her old StarCraft and whatever 2005 model they bought to replace it. I would have been suspicious just looking at the numbers: their new trailer is the same length as the old one, has a slide room, yet weighs a thousand pounds less. So WHERE did the manufacturer cut corners to lose the weight?
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