Removing carpet from under slide

[oldbeek]

OK try this. Make a cutter from steel stock 1 1/2 to 2 inch x 1/8 in X 2 ft long. Sharpen the edge of one end with a grinder. Slide it under the carpet and drive on the other end with a hammer to cut off the carpet or staples. Just throwing out ideas. There is a solution to every problem. Finding it is the hard part.

[sdennislee]

How about the tool roofers use to remove shingles. ALready has the sharp blade with a nice long handle.

[smitty65534]

A couple days ago I took an old carpenter's steel square, used a torch to cut off the "2 ft" side, heated and bent up one end 90 degrees, and used a grinder to sharpen the other end. It seemed to work decently, but the carpet is still stuck.

Yesterday, I make a one-hour trip to an RV dealer/service shop (I won't mention the name because I don't know if it is allowed in the forum). They spent a lot of time with me, explaining what to do and how to do it. They said that I needed to remove the "facia" around the inside of the slide. With that done, the slide should move out enough to reach the end of the carpeted area. If it still doesn't slide far enough, I will have to disconnect the slide from the mechanism (on the outside) and use my forklift to totally remove it. They also showed me how to make the fixture for the forklift. Really nice folks.

Today the fun begins.

[smitty65534]

I see by my last post that I can not even spell "made" properly. I didn't make a trip, I made a trip. Sorry about that. In the meantime, removing the facia is really a JOB. I may be able to finish it this year, if I'm lucky. I would not recommend it to anyone that owns a Carri-Lite.

Smitty

[rlreed]

I'm curious, how do you remove the interior facia?????

[smitty65534]

The interior skin is 1/4 inch ply with 1/4 round on the edges (everything held together with staples). These were simply "pried" off with very little effort. The main part of the fascia was made using 1 inch plywood and an outer layer of 3/8 inch plywood which was also stapled using heavy staples. When I pried (carefully) the 3/8 inch outer layer off, I found screws holding the 1 inch plywood to the main aluminum frame with a very thin outer aluminum layer separating the plywood and frame. The aluminum had been spapled to the 1 inch plywood and was being used as outer protection when the slide was extended. The largest problem came after removing the screws. The fascia had been sealed to protect against the elements using something similar to RTV but EXTREMELY strong. I had to use a wood chisel to gradually separate the frame assembly from the fascia because of the RTV type sealant that had been used. The thin aluminum was destroyed in the process and will need to be replaced.

I may have found a sealant that is similar to what was originally used. Only time will tell. The project is on hold due to a death in the family and will be continued in about a week.