Reclining Bed Modification

[axv129]

Here are instructions for how I added a reclining bed to my x262bhs. First off the reason, jealousy, well sort of. We saw reclining beds in the new Winnebagos and we just thought we have to have that. Secondly our kids tend to hog the dinette leaving no where to sit, so the reclining bed will give us a comfy place to sit and watch TV.

Parts list:
12V Linear Actuator - $68:
[url]http://www.amazon.com/Inch-Li...8&qid=1411087395&sr=8-3&keywords=12V+actuator [/url]

12V motor switch - $14
[url]http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002...087448&sr=1&keywords=JR+products+slide+switch [/url]

QTY 2 - Polyfuses 2.5A
[url]http://www.amazon.com/Mounted...8&qid=undefined&sr=8-1&keywords=5a+polyswitch [/url]

1/2" Plywood - Home depot $28
Triangular Right angle brackets - 2 sets $5/ea
4 foot piano hinge - Home depot - $10
Various screws, pieces of wood, wood glue

Steps:
1.) I removed the mattress and measure the area where I wanted to install the lifting platform. From some guess work I decided that about the last 32" of the mattress was what I wanted to lift. In retrospect this could have been 30". I also noticed that I need to keep the platform away from the wall by about 2" to not hit the window shades when it lifts. So I drew a line at 34" from the wall for the mounting point. I actually had Home Depot cut the plywood as it's easier than breaking out the saw horses and doing it myself. So I had the board cut to 32" x 58". I placed the board upside down and screwed the hinge upside down on the back side. Now the hinge will sit flush on the existing plywood with the pretty side of the plywood up.

2.) Platform lifting point. I made a lifting point on the plywood for the actuator to push against. Basically I cut another piece of plywood to 2.5" x 6", glued this to the plywood at the right location* and placed a 3/4" board as a space for the hinges. I screwed this all together with 3/4" screws.

* Finding the right location took some dusting off of the old trig skills. Since the actuator is 11.8" at max extension and I wanted about a 60 degree angle, this worked out to about 6.8". This meant that I need to mount the actuator mount at 13.6" back from the hinge point. Also I has to mount the actuator mount off center to miss an existing support board. So I moved the mount 3" off of center of the lifting platform.

Cut a hole in the existing plywood: Since the actuator is 16" long, it needs to sit down in the storage compartment and do it's job from down there. Turns out that's about 18" so it works out nicely. We need a hole in the plywood to allow the actuator to reach up and move the lifting platform. Sure you could hack a great big hole and move on, but I like to do the least cutting possible. Also since that 13.6" is going to drop to the floor, I know that I'll need to cut a oval that size to allow for the movement of the actuator. So I used a 3" hole saw and drilled one hole at 7.5" and another hole at 13.5" back from the hinge. I cut tangentially from one hole to the other with a jig saw to make an oval which is about 9" x 3".

Mount the bottom actuator mount: For securing the bottom hinge I used the same brackets as on the top side, but I laid them down flat on the floor, so that they don't add extra height, and don't interfere with the motor on the actuator. This should be mounted under the hole cut in the last step, favoring the hinge side of the hole, as the actuator will be straight up when extended and leaning back then down. I didn't get this quite right in the pictures, but it still worked okay so I didn't move it.
[img ]1 item [/img]

Running wires: I stole power for the actuator from a nearby light in the storage compartment. I added a 5A polyfuse (actually two 2.5A's in parallel), which is a thermal fuse which resets automatically when it cools, on the power side. The fuses will stop the motor from burning up if someone is hitting the button when the actuator is down against the floor, or if something is in the way. I ran the power wires to where the switch will mount, next to the bed. I ran the wires up a narrow wall, which was a tight fit. Next I ran another two conductor cable down to where the actuator is. So one cable in and one cable out.

Wire the switch: To wire up the switch I had to get a datasheet from the manufacture, which is here.

I also had to solder the wires to the switch because the wall is so shallow that connectors would never fit.
I should have mounted the switch a little higher as the bed eventually covers the switch when all the way up.
Lastly I couldn't find the right bezel for this switch so I had to cut it directly in to the wall, and then go around it with a little bit of black caulk. Bezel would have been a lot easier.

Don't forget to make sure up is up and down is down before mounting the switch

Wire up the actuator and install the actuator. I had to wire the actuator before installing it because it need to be extended slightly to reach the upper mounting bracket.

One note: The 1/2" plywood raises the back half of the bed by 1/2", to make the whole bed truly level again and not have that bump, the rest of the bed should be raises with the extra plywood. I didn't do this yet, and I'm not sure if I'll bother.

That's it, sit back and enjoy your dinette because now the kids and wife are on the bed!

 

[Dakota 1120]

Wonderful modification, excellent detailed procedure and material list and super photos.

Others may find this very beneficial. 8)

 

[looking4fun]

Very good write up! I love to seeing ideas people have, then seeing them coming to life. I get a lot of joy and a good feeling of accomplishment when I have an idea and it actually works when I build it.

 

[LEWR]

Just finished your reclineing bed mod on a F210uds. Works great! Thank you for the great info.

 

[axv129]

Awesome! Glad it helped!