Slide bottom Darco wear marks

[Mikelff]

Originally Posted by Mikendebbie

The bedroom slide in my unit has a single wythe plywood floor (no aluminum framing) as shown in this screen shot from a YouTube video (AZ Expert) replacing a rotten floor of a Montana bedroom slide. I am pretty sure my dining and kitchen hydraulic slide floors have aluminum framing.

I would double check that aluminum framing in the floor?. Most slides only have framing in the walls and roof. The floor is typically 3/4 inch plywood only. If you do have aluminum frame in the floor that’s even better from a strength standpoint, but any new floor will probably have to come out and in from the inside of the slide. Not very desirable.

[Reset19]

Yes, drill a small hole and use some wire to verify. The bands are the aluminum structure within. The plywood is on top of the floor above the aluminum.

[Reset19]

The wear marks in the first picture of this thread outline the aluminum structure where the thin luan flexes underneath the Darco. When I countersunk the UHMW, there was not sufficient threads on the screw to hold in the thin luan plywood layer the Darco was adhered to. Note the living room and bedroom slides are different. I was not comfortable targeting the aluminum tube only for the screws. I chose not to try and use longer screws to penetrate the luan, extend beyond the air gap created by the aluminum tube, and reach the plywood on top that the kitchen cabinets are mounted to.

[Mikendebbie]

Back in June 2023 there was a thread (link below) where I drew the sketches below - trying to figure out what the slide floor construction was. This was only my guess. I have never been able to find a photo from (say) a factory tour showing the slide box structure…and I have not found a YouTube for someone fixing rotten floor in a Montana living room slide where the framing might be exposed. Again, this was a guess…I have no way to verify it or provide dimensions for thickness of the members.

https://www.montanaowners.com/forums....php?p=1275427