Dirty Marks on Carpet where slides are

[1940 ford]

I have some dirty marks on the carpet when I put the slides out. The marks are where the rollers are. Anyone else with this problem?

Thanks
Ken
2005 Dutch Star 4 slides
2008 Liberty tow car

[RobRV]

Not Dirty , but the rollers have really compressed the Carpet Nap where they Come to rest while the slide is in!

[1940 ford]

Its compressed but it has a really dirty mark on the carpet. We have cleaned it and its better but it comes back.
ken

["007"]

Open your slide about 1/2 way and check the ramp where the rollers travel may have dirt or road grease on ramp and getting transfered onto rollers. May have to clean both to keep from transferring to rug. Some good rug cleaners will clean the rug but you have to get to the source first.

[Harm]

Ken: I had that problem and it turned out to be the bearings in the roller grinding themselves up! Had the roller replaced and no more problems.

[tmspoon]

We had that problem with our old Itasca. Turned out to be a black rubber substance. Never found out where it was coming from but solved the problem by putting a thin sheet of plastic, about 2' square, down where the marks were on the carpet and letting the slide ride over it. Marks on the plastic but not the rug. Only problem, it takeas two people to put the slides in. Good luck.

[Route 66]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harm Ken: I had that problem and it turned out to be the bearings in the roller grinding themselves up! Had the roller replaced and no more problems.

Same here. It's usually a broken roller.

[MT flyfisher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken Wendland I have some dirty marks on the carpet when I put the slides out. The marks are where the rollers are. Anyone else with this problem? Thanks Ken 2005 Dutch Star 4 slides 2008 Liberty tow car

Ken -

Yes, I have this problem with several of the rollers on one of the 3 slide outs in our 2008 Kountry Aire 5th wheel.

I had it back to the factory right after we bought it last year for this problem, and the service guy told me they had put incorrect rollers on when it was manufactured, rollers that are designed to be used over ceramic were put on where the slide came in over carpet. He said the rollers for ceramic have a narrower diameter, and I think he said have greased bearings, whereas the rollers that are to be used over carpet are a larger diameter and do not have any greased bearings.

Anyway. he said he cleaned the area around the rollers, and replaced them with the correct ones, so I assumed that would fix the problem. NOT!!!!!!!!!

When we took our trailer out of storage this past spring and opened the slides for the first time, there were the same dark marks on the edges of where the roller indented the carpet.

So, on October 1 we drove 1400 miles (one way) back to the factory, where I reported the same problem - this time a different service team - who again reported that they cleaned and replaced the rollers. (The rollers weren't the only repair we had made, lest one would think I'm totally crazy to go that far for a few black marks on the carpet.)

You'd think that the second time would be a charm, and the problem would be fixed at last, wouldn't you?

I did. So we leave the factory with that impression, and drive like fury for about 1100 miles before we open our slides for the first time (we were trying to beat an early winter storm in WY, and get our RV back to MT and into storage for the winter). Well, we didn't beat the storm and had to open the slides and wait it out for a couple days.

VOILA! The same black marks as before. Now I'm not a very patient guy, and I really do like Newmar's service guys, but this time I'm saying things that I wouldn't want repeated.

Anyway, I've been able to remove the black marks up to now with Hot Shot carpet cleaner, so I cooled off after a couple minutes and decided I'd take a look for myself as to what might be causing the problem -- it can't be that much a rocket science now, can it? Surely, someone with even a moderate amount of intelligence (like me) could figure out the cuase.

So, I stuck my nose as close to the floor as I could get and peered back under the slide with flashlight in hand. AW! EUREKA! I don't think my black marks have been caused by grease at all, but by the brackets that hold the roller on each side, which are painted black.

Anyway, that's my theory for now and I'm sticking to it. I didn't have either the time or the energy to clean the carpet before we finally got back to MT on or about October 6 and put the trailer into storage for the winter. Those black marks will just have to be there when we get it out next spring!

John

["007"]

Thats interesting John my roller brakets are just plain shinney metal after 6 years of use never had black paint on them.

[MT flyfisher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by "007" Thats interesting John my roller brakets are just plain shinney metal after 6 years of use never had black paint on them.

I'm thinking that they may have also installed the wrong kind of brackets when they initially put the wrong type rollers on, and left these brackets on when they replaced the rollers. Our other 2 slides outs come in over, and rest on, carpet (one of these slides has just one roller that's over carpet while the other rollers are over ceramic) but there aren't any problems with those rollers.

I'll have to look at the brackets that hold the rollers on those slides when we get our unit out of storage next spring. I bet they are silver, like yours.

John

[Bpsailr49]

I bought my '06 Mountain Aire last summer. It was used and was sitting on a dealer lot for a while. It was also driven to several "RV Shows" in the area. The dealer had applied some of the plastic protector over the carpet to protect it from any traffic in the RV. The plastic protector comes with a sticky substance on one side to adhere to the carpet. It is like plastic, heavy duty scotch tape - wide stuff. 24" wide.

The dealer had left the carpet protector film on for too long and some of it wrapped up in the rollers - 2 of the rollers. Every time the main slide came in or out it was rolling that plastic around the rollers. It was a tangled mess and much of the sticky substance was exposed on the rollers.

Need less to say, the carpet had nice "tracks" from the rollers, plastic and sticky substance. It took weeks of cleaning and cutting the plastic off of the rollers.

My carpet guy cleaned it three times before it really started to look ok. To this day it still shows the tracks if you look at it in the right light.

Check those rollers!

Good luck -

Bill

[a k]

My rollers were causing scratches on my tiles. I cut some of my wifes place mates from the kitchen and let the rollers roll up on them when I bring in the slide. You can also pry up on the wood and slide them under the rollers when slide is in. Keeps the floor clean also.

[CharlieM]

I have used carpet runners for years. The plastic 24" wide carpet protectors you can buy in any length at Lowes. I put it down in front of the rollers and about 6" from the edge of the slide out carpet to allow the slide to lift over the plastic before the rollers get to the protectors. The rollers rest on the plastic. Other than the dents I haven't had any problems with carpet marks.

[1940 ford]

Thank you for all of the suggestions and we will try them.

Thanks Again
Ken