Mods/Upgrades to our 2003 Dynasty

[zmotorsports]

Originally Posted by pduggs

Thanks Mike. Looking forward to those videos. I have yet to check the condition of the caulk you speak of. I fear mine has the original caulk, as the prior and original owner did only regular maintenance. Though it was garage kept for it's entire life.

How do you check the condition of the caulk? Do you use a caulk like you would for a shower tub or would Dicor self leveling work? Is the concern only applicable to the lower outside corners of the slides and not the above corners?

I intend to do the mod you outlined, but it will likely be some time before I get to it.

The caulking is easy to inspect, if it looks like it is cracked and water can get through, then it needs to be removed and replaced. The lower corners are the main concern. I wouldn't use Dicor or any self leveling as this is on a vertical surface and not like on a flat roof area.

In the earlier years I used Proflex RV clear caulking but more recently I tried the Dow Corning 999A in clear and have much better results. It not only lasts much longer but it is a more true clear and doesn't yellow or chalk out nearly as bad or as quickly. It also appears to maybe be a bit more flexible but I have no specific evidence of that, merely my gut and observation.

Mike

[Chargerman]

To everyone who has enjoyed Mikes thread here’s another great one if you haven’t already seen it. “MountainAire-back from the dead”

[BigLar368]

Mike, I have seen through your entire thread that you like to pretty much fab up lots of your own parts which is very impressive to me and most likely many others. After seeing these guardian plates did you ever consider just fabbing them up yourself? You have a great shop and I thought maybe you had a brake somewhere in there. Just curious if you had to do it over again would you make your own or just buy them out right. I look forward to seeing your video. Thanks again for sharing all your projects.

[zmotorsports]

Originally Posted by BigLar368

Mike, I have seen through your entire thread that you like to pretty much fab up lots of your own parts which is very impressive to me and most likely many others. After seeing these guardian plates did you ever consider just fabbing them up yourself? You have a great shop and I thought maybe you had a brake somewhere in there. Just curious if you had to do it over again would you make your own or just buy them out right. I look forward to seeing your video. Thanks again for sharing all your projects.

Thank you for following along and I appreciate your comments.

As for fabricating them myself, that is the one piece of shop equipment that I don't currently have is a large pan brake. That being said, even if I did have a brake in my shop currently I still would have purchased them from Chris @ Talin Manufacturing. After talking with Chris and discovering that he and I kind of think alike in the way we look at fixing things or improving things and hearing what he went through to come up with the design for the Guardian Plates and how he sought out the best materials he could, I would rather buy from him to support his small business, especially where he is a fellow RV'er, rather than steal his design just to save myself a few bucks.

That may or may not make sense to people, but I would like to think that I am about more than just saving myself a few dollars when everything boils down. I strongly believe in that entrepreneurial spirit and especially from a mechanical aspect of someone taking an idea or product and making it better to solve a problem. I hope that makes sense.

Mike

[10Boomer]

Originally Posted by zmotorsports

Thank you for following along and I appreciate your comments.

As for fabricating them myself, that is the one piece of shop equipment that I don't currently have is a large pan brake. That being said, even if I did have a brake in my shop currently I still would have purchased them from Chris @ Talin Manufacturing. After talking with Chris and discovering that he and I kind of think alike in the way we look at fixing things or improving things and hearing what he went through to come up with the design for the Guardian Plates and how he sought out the best materials he could, I would rather buy from him to support his small business, especially where he is a fellow RV'er, rather than steal his design just to save myself a few bucks.

That may or may not make sense to people, but I would like to think that I am about more than just saving myself a few dollars when everything boils down. I strongly believe in that entrepreneurial spirit and especially from a mechanical aspect of someone taking an idea or product and making it better to solve a problem. I hope that makes sense.

Mike

Makes perfect sense to me Mike very good person in my book!

[ronspradley]

My philosophy also. I live in a small town and try to shop local when I can. We do not have big blue or big orange here in town (they are 10 miles away) so I try and shop local with a TrueValue hardware and McCoys lumber. And I do the same in the small town where I park the Gulfstream at sister's house. Just like when traveling in the coach I try and not eat at any national chain restaurant. Usually ask for local recommendations when fueling or from fellow campers. Have found some gems doing that.



ronspradley

[zmotorsports]

Originally Posted by 10Boomer

Makes perfect sense to me Mike very good person in my book!

Thanks Perry, I appreciate that.

Mike

[zmotorsports]

Originally Posted by ronspradley

My philosophy also. I live in a small town and try to shop local when I can. We do not have big blue or big orange here in town (they are 10 miles away) so I try and shop local with a TrueValue hardware and McCoys lumber. And I do the same in the small town where I park the Gulfstream at sister's house. Just like when traveling in the coach I try and not eat at any national chain restaurant. Usually ask for local recommendations when fueling or from fellow campers. Have found some gems doing that.



ronspradley

Yeah, we do that too. We aren't much for chain restaurants anyways but especially when we travel. We like to try and sample the "local cuisine" when we travel. We too have found some real great places that we may not have found had we not asked around or stuck to chains.

Thanks for checking in on my thread and commenting.

Mike

[BigLar368]

Originally Posted by zmotorsports

Thank you for following along and I appreciate your comments.

As for fabricating them myself, that is the one piece of shop equipment that I don't currently have is a large pan brake. That being said, even if I did have a brake in my shop currently I still would have purchased them from Chris @ Talin Manufacturing. After talking with Chris and discovering that he and I kind of think alike in the way we look at fixing things or improving things and hearing what he went through to come up with the design for the Guardian Plates and how he sought out the best materials he could, I would rather buy from him to support his small business, especially where he is a fellow RV'er, rather than steal his design just to save myself a few bucks.

That may or may not make sense to people, but I would like to think that I am about more than just saving myself a few dollars when everything boils down. I strongly believe in that entrepreneurial spirit and especially from a mechanical aspect of someone taking an idea or product and making it better to solve a problem. I hope that makes sense.

Mike

Thanks for the response and I understand your reasoning. Still look forward to the videos.

[RustyTools]

Great attitude and well said, Mike.

And kudos to those that have also chimed in.

[zmotorsports]

Thanks for all of the comments guys. I had hoped I wasn’t alone in my thinking on this forum with this get mine and screw everyone else attitude much of society seems to have these days.

Mike

[zmotorsports]

I finished up the Guardian Plate installations on both the driver’s front (streetside) slide as well as the passenger’s (curbside) slide yesterday. They turned out great with only minor trimming required. It took me a little longer than expected but I’m sure that was due to me video recording the installation and well as going back and covering how to measure them prior to ordering them from Chris @ Talin Manufacturing.

Streetside front glued and ready for final installation.


Guardian Plate with 3M 5200 Marine Adhesive applied. Notice the application of the adhesive where I don’t block the sides. This is to allow air to escape when pulling the plate up tight against the floor of the slide. You don’t want to trap air and create a pocket so this will allow the air to be pushed out either side easily as your pulling the plate up tight.


Installation complete. Remember the small headed stainless rivets are for the sides of the plates and the large headed stainless rivets are for the bottoms. Also it is imperative that the apex of the bend fit perfectly into the bullnose of the wear bar/glide bar. That is hands down the most critical part of the installation on the flat floor slide.
M



Next I moved over to the curbside slide and install RF300 corner plates (3”) and the 12” wide roller plates. Here is a roller plate with adhesive and ready for installation.


I had to do just a bit more trimming on the curbside slide RF300 corner plates as I had a 1” square tube running the length of the slide but it didn’t go all the way to the end.


A little trimming and fitting and it slid right into position.


Curbside slide complete.




Thanks for looking.

Mike

[10Boomer]

Originally Posted by zmotorsports

I finished up the Guardian Plate installations on both the driver’s front (streetside) slide as well as the passenger’s (curbside) slide yesterday. They turned out great with only minor trimming required. It took me a little longer than expected but I’m sure that was due to me video recording the installation and well as going back and covering how to measure them prior to ordering them from Chris @ Talin Manufacturing.

Streetside front glued and ready for final installation.
Attachment 205459

Guardian Plate with 3M 5200 Marine Adhesive applied. Notice the application of the adhesive where I don’t block the sides. This is to allow air to escape when pulling the plate up tight against the floor of the slide. You don’t want to trap air and create a pocket so this will allow the air to be pushed out either side easily as your pulling the plate up tight.
Attachment 205460

Installation complete. Remember the small headed stainless rivets are for the sides of the plates and the large headed stainless rivets are for the bottoms. Also it is imperative that the apex of the bend fit perfectly into the bullnose of the wear bar/glide bar. That is hands down the most critical part of the installation on the flat floor slide.
MAttachment 205461

Attachment 205462

Next I moved over to the curbside slide and install RF300 corner plates (3”) and the 12” wide roller plates. Here is a roller plate with adhesive and ready for installation.
Attachment 205463

I had to do just a bit more trimming on the curbside slide RF300 corner plates as I had a 1” square tube running the length of the slide but it didn’t go all the way to the end.
Attachment 205466

A little trimming and fitting and it slid right into position.
Attachment 205467

Curbside slide complete.
Attachment 205464

Attachment 205465

Thanks for looking.

Mike

Great job Mike, lots of work and time. Question, apex meaning the corner to the lower rub block, the one the slide glides over and out to make the flat floor look, not the main rub bar between the blocks. I know Chris has thought of all this but no issues with rivet heads getting caught going in and out with slides?

[onechaddude]

Originally Posted by 10Boomer

Great job Mike, lots of work and time. Question, apex meaning the corner to the lower rub block, the one the slide glides over and out to make the flat floor look, not the main rub bar between the blocks. I know Chris has thought of all this but no issues with rivet heads getting caught going in and out with slides?

Perry, I wondered the same thing about the rivets and the glide block. I ran my slides in on the coach for the first time since installing the Guardian plates a couple weeks ago to go for an exercise ride. Absolutely no jumping or catching of rivets at all that I noticed. It just ran in smoothly. Knowing Chris he had checked and rechecked all aspects of the plates before releasing them. But like you, I still wondered about them catching.

Chad