Upper bed rollers

Kiltym

Active member
Have a question as to how these should be working.

Our rollers don't really roll. They slide over the "slot" they are installed on. I have removed all 4, cleaned, and used silicone lubricant on them and the all turn freely. However, when re-installed, they just slide. The friction between the white roller and the plastic material it sits on is less then the friction needed to turn the roller it would appear.

Is this how they all work? I saw some scuffing in the slot where the rollers live, and then investigated closer and noticed the rollers aren't rolling.

So just looking to see if others the rollers actually roll correctly, or just slide?


Also, noticed some scuffing on the edge where the bed sits when fully extended on the drivers side. The front corner of the bed seems to just touch this surface when pulling the bed out, and in turn, scuffing this molding. The passenger side seems OK.

I found a reference here: https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=431&highlight=bed+rollers

to larger rollers being installed onto the vans because of this issue. I have attached a photo of our rollers and the scuffing, again curious as to what rollers other vans have installed.

The only solution I can think of, perhaps to remedy both problems, is some kind of friction tape applied in the slot to cause the rollers to actually roll, and would also lift the bed a small amount to avoid scuffing that molding.
 

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OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
1. Hard to tell from photograph if you have retrofit larger white rollers as the difference between the white rollers on the earliest Westies and.the larger white rollers of the retrofit and later Westies was not that big.

My white rollers slide and roll. Don't think it really matters if they just slide as long as they slide smoothly. If you spray the indented slide area groove with silicon spray, they may slide more smoothly even if not rolling.

Or you can try your idea of some grip tape material, but wonder if will last.

2. Very little clearance between bottom bed pieces, especially the metal edge trim pieces and the gray plasric trim. Take a look at the metal edge trim pieces ro make sure they're screwed into place and not sticking out.

I'd giess that many Westies may have some scuff marks.

Could add some felt strips to top of gray plastic trim or bottom of bed pieces as protection.

3. Any way to get larger white rollers? The groove looks like larger white rollers might fit, which would give more clearance.

Keep us posted.
 

discus

GA Westy
You want the bed base to be sitting on the ledge when the bed is deployed. This way, the weight is evenly distributed across the entire edge of the base and not on the roller.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Kiltym

Active member
Not sure how the bed can lay on the ledge, and not scrape the ledge when being deployed.

However, I agree it seems best to have the bed on the ledges and not on the rollers as the rollers are just screwed in. Not sure how much weight they would take.

I did some things today. I thickened the rollers with some layers of tape I have. The rollers now roll all the time, which seems better then sliding in my opinion. The tape added some friction to the smooth white rollers. I added two wraps to three of the rollers, and about 6 to the driver side rear one where the bed seemed to be scraping. The corner is better, but still scraped a bit if the bed was not perfectly square when deploying (there is a fair amount of lateral play in the bed). I then took a closer look at where the rear rollers attach to the bed. The rear ones only have two screws holding them in. The front have three screws. The driver side rear roller was a bit at an angle for some reason (very minor, but noticeable compared to the passenger side). I added a little bit of shim under the indented corner of the roller mount to keep the roller more square when screws in, which it did, and it no longer scrapes. However now when deployed, that corner of the bed is not resting on the ledge but hanging from the roller.

Tomorrow I will reduce the thickness of tape on that roller and see if I can get things all perfect. I still have a hard time imagining the bed laying on the ledges and not scraping, but it seems to be the ideal situation to aim for.

Will post some photos tomorrow.
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
While it'd make sense for bed to rest on ledge, mine doesn't except at certain points (without anybody in bed--maybe weight would flex rollers).

Paperthin clearance for most of the rolling section so maybe bed flexes downwards.

Always wondered how those little screws in the rollers could hold so much weight.

Hinged Section. The hinged section with side latches has a metal piece on the top edge which should clear the ledges when opened. My metal piece was not properly centered and would scratch side/corner of ledge. So I widened holes in the plywood and recentered the metal piece.

Then, the plywood leading edge/corners of the hinged section rests on the ledge (but rest of hinged section doesn't touch ledges).

Rolling Section. The rolling section rolls above the ledges. As it nears it final bed position, the front leading edge gets closer to the ledges but the rest of the section should still be above the ledge. Then, this section should fall downward into place.

On driver side, paperthin clearance but no touching of ledge. On passenger side, rolling section touches ledge in two spots (front edge and where metal angles about a foot from leading edge).

The end of the grooves closest to bathroom should have a single screwed bumperstop in the groove to prevent the rolling section from sliding too far toward bathroom (groove also narrows).

So in theory, the front leading edge is the most likely part to scratch the ledges.

To avoid scratching ledge and to build muscles, push the whole rolling section upwards away from ledges as you roll/slide section into the front end (use one hand under section to push upwards at rear of section and other hand to push upwards and forward on front edge toward front of Westy).
 

Kiltym

Active member
I spent another couple of hours adjusting things, and I think they are as good as they will get. That being said, I can slide paper between the bed portion and the ledge on both sides. I really don't see how it could possible lay against that ledge and not mark it up when pulling out and putting away. Perhaps others can chime in at some point as they have time to take a look at it and see if there is a slight gap on all Westys.

I am attaching some photos of what I did to make the rollers roll, and to fix the driver side corner so it no longer scrapes the ledge.

I assume Westfalia knew what they were doing with the roller attachments to the bed, but having them through-bolted would certainly add some margin for error a bit more then screws.
 

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Kiltym

Active member
We are missing one of our rollers. Does anyone know where we can get a replacement?
Unlikely you will find exact replacements. Would need to fabricate something. I have seen thicker plastic rigid tubing in hardware stores, I would see if that might work.
 

Kiltym

Active member
Hinged Section. The hinged section with side latches has a metal piece on the top edge which should clear the ledges when opened. My metal piece was not properly centered and would scratch side/corner of ledge. So I widened holes in the plywood and recentered the metal piece.

Then, the plywood leading edge/corners of the hinged section rests on the ledge (but rest of hinged section doesn't touch ledges).
Ours is also like this. The passenger side has the issue of the metal top edge just rubbing the ledge. Will take your lead and widen the holes a bit to slide metal edging over a few mm.

Wonder if many have this same issue. Its literally a mm or two on ours, so perhaps those Germans were trying to make everything too perfect :).
 

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