Replacement wheels for under bed (photos included)

[bncinwv]

I think this has been discussed previously, but in the course of prepping the rig for the upcoming spring season, I noticed that one of the wheels under the bed had failed in that the axle portion is no longer in the center of the wheel. Anyone have any replacement ideas that would be of an upgrade? A more heavy duty replacement seems to be in order.
Bingo

[rohrmann]

We had the same issue, and at the Goshen rally, 15 minutes with a tech, brought it up, and two days later had a new caster. So I didn't have to totally disassemble the bed, drilled two holes through the rail and bolted with washers and nut instead of the wood screws. I think any heavy caster of similar dimensions would work.

[jimcol]

Home Depot has an assortment of casters. Jim

[WaltBennett]

Don't think you'd want a caster - they have to swivel to change direction and that could mess up your carpet after a while. Just replace the wheel since the slide only goes back and forth & doesn't change direction any other way. There's still lots of different sizes and weight ratings available.

[oldelmer1]

Our wheels started digging into the carpet,causing ruts in the padding.

So, I installed 2 carpet sliders under the wheels. Now they slide across the carpet with no marks.

[Irlpguy]

I don't know if this picture will help but the wheels are not swivel type and are very cheap. This is the style used on my Montana bed frame and you are limited to how wide they can be. I added an additional piece of 1X2 along with longer screws. Have had no problem since with them. It is well worth adding this additional support piece.
Lots of choices at Home Depot and other places as long as you change them both then they could vary a little in height but as I said you are likely limited in width.



Not a Mod just something else to fix, so do it right the first time.

[bncinwv]

Thanks Ed, that was the post I remembered. How did you access that area, through the bed storage? I really am hoping I can do something without detaching the bed from the wall? Guess I will take them off, visit Home Depot and go from there.
Bingo

[Irlpguy]

Bingo, you do not have to detach the bed frame from the wall. You do have to stand the mattress off to one side or wherever it can be put out of your way, remove the lid of the storage compartment and the bottom of the storage and you will have full access to the wheels. It is of course much harder if not impossible to get the screws in that secure them to the frame while it is still fastened to the wall. However someone posted here they had used bolts and washers to fasten theirs and that would be a good option. I would still add the additional support as you can glue and screw it in from the top as long as you don't put the screws where the bolts will have to go. Gluing I feel is necessary to fastnen it solidly to the original material, but would be optional. If you can solve the issue with bolts I would recommend doing so, removing and putting the frame back in the exact same place may be difficult, not much to attach to on the outer wall.

I did not know there was a problem with mine, I had removed all the above items in order to re-fasten my bed frame to the wall of the slideout. When I had it apart I took it right out of the unit and worked on it on my workbench and improved several other quality workmanship items at the same time, that included the wheels. I am certain the attachment of my frame to the wall was because it was not put back properly by the dealer when they did the "frame flex" repair as they had the slide right out of the unit.

Good luck with the project...

[bncinwv]

Appreciate the heads up, I am thinking of blocking the bed frame a quarter inch or so higher to remove the wheels. Will try to find something a little more robust since we store items on the bed when in transit. I cannot change the height of the wheel, since on our rig, the bed frame goes beneath the wardrobe and depressed the drawer assembly when the slides are brought in. As always, will provide some photos for the forum to peruse as the project unfolds.
Bingo

[richfaa]

Had one fail on our 06 3400. Got a better quality replacement at Home depot. Not another problem.

[bncinwv]

Got the caster replacements and managed to even get them installed today. Turns out it was a little more complicated than anticipated and involved removing the lower portion of the bed itself to make the repairs. The OEM wheel definitely had a failure as can be seen. The inner part of the wheel is what failed as can be seen here:





Removal of the lower portion of the bed required removing screws from the angle brackets on both sides at the back and removal of the square bit screws at the base of the storage area as well as removing the bed gas cylinder supports after propping the bed up.



Then the lower section of the bed could be removed:



The box was then set on end to allow for the caster replacement. The replacement casters were obtained from Home Depot and were actually about a quarter inch higher which is why they were mounted directly to the bed bottom:



Since the casters were a little bit higher, I was concerned that the height may affect the dresser bed interaction that is necessary during slide closure on a 3850FL. I isolated the kitchen slide and retracted the bed slides a little at a time to so that I could visually insure that the bed was not too high. Everything is good and hopefully the new casters will last longer than the OEM ones.

Bingo

[Preston & Terri]

We have the same problem, will be digging into it this week.