Lowering the Drop Down Bed 79-6

[Gerby]

Has anyone tried to get the drop down bed to go lower in the Bailey Autograph 79-6, it looks like you just need to remove some spacers from the mechanism allowing the piston to have a greater travel range and then extend the 2 guides fitted to the wall.

We want to start using the bed as our main bed but need it to drop to the top of the main part of the dinette seat backs (headrests are removable though not sure if the seat belt fixings may restrict it a little) as it is too claustrophobic for the better half and I like to sit up in bed and there is no where near enough room to do so in its current setting.We are not sure if making it go lower would affect the maximum weight limit (currently a very good 250KG) due to the amount of wire being exposed in single formation being increased.

I do know that when Bailey sent out engineers to fix the rear window issue on earlier 79-6 models they also adjusted the bed so that it didn't drop as far as originally set but I do not know what the reason for this was, so wondered if anyone else had tried this and what the results were.

Kev W

 

[tonyidle]

Has anyone tried to get the drop down bed to go lower in the Bailey Autograph 79-6, it looks like you just need to remove some spacers from the mechanism allowing the piston to have a greater travel range and then extend the 2 guides fitted to the wall.

We want to start using the bed as our main bed but need it to drop to the top of the main part of the dinette seat backs (headrests are removable though not sure if the seat belt fixings may restrict it a little) as it is too claustrophobic for the better half and I like to sit up in bed and there is no where near enough room to do so in its current setting.We are not sure if making it go lower would affect the maximum weight limit (currently a very good 250KG) due to the amount of wire being exposed in single formation being increased.

I do know that when Bailey sent out engineers to fix the rear window issue on earlier 79-6 models they also adjusted the bed so that it didn't drop as far as originally set but I do not know what the reason for this was, so wondered if anyone else had tried this and what the results were.

Kev W

Bed movement is normally limited by strut travel so if you lower it then it won't park as high as it does now. If the bed can genuinely travel further down (you'll need to test that) then to retain current height when parked will need new struts with more travel. Or you can bump your head on it more often .

 

[Gerby]

Bed movement is normally limited by strut travel so if you lower it then it won't park as high as it does now. If the bed can genuinely travel further down (you'll need to test that) then to retain current height when parked will need new struts with more travel. Or you can bump your head on it more often .

Hi Tony, thanks for the advice.

they seem to have put a number of 1/4 inch (ish) spacers on the piston which prevents movement in one direction only (this being downwards) I did try taking just one out which allowed the bed to drop a bit further than before and the bed still went back to its original position when I lifted it back up so I am hopeful that if I remove more then it will still fully retract as there is no restriction on movement in that direction but will keep your advice in mind if I do risk trying it lower..

My main concern is that Bailey sent an engineer out who added further spacers which restricted the amount it would drop more than originally set without explaining why so was hoping someone may know if there was a genuine concern or if it was just Bailey over reacting to some minor possible issue just to cover themselves.

Many thanks
Kev W

 

[tonyidle]

Hi Tony, thanks for the advice.

they seem to have put a number of 1/4 inch (ish) spacers on the piston which prevents movement in one direction only (this being downwards) I did try taking just one out which allowed the bed to drop a bit further than before and the bed still went back to its original position when I lifted it back up so I am hopeful that if I remove more then it will still fully retract as there is no restriction on movement in that direction but will keep your advice in mind if I do risk trying it lower..

My main concern is that Bailey sent an engineer out who added further spacers which restricted the amount it would drop more than originally set without explaining why so was hoping someone may know if there was a genuine concern or if it was just Bailey over reacting to some minor possible issue just to cover themselves.

Many thanks
Kev W

As long as the linkage geometry isn't compromised and the struts don't touch anything they shouldn't as they move laterally then removing washers will do no harm. It may be that the struts now available as replacements have more travel so the engineer simply used washers so they matched the old ones. If the bed doesn't rest on anything it shouldn't you may have a cheap and simple solution.

 

[Gary Ward]

Hi Tony / Gerby
Did you ever manage to lower the bed? I am looking to do the same thing if possible. Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks

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[Gerby]

Hi Gary Ward I did manage to get it about 4 inches or so (cant quite remember how much exactly now) lower by removing some spacers from the ram mechanism but it then hits a stop which I have not been able to change, I also had to move the guide rails down as they are also set to the original height and the guides will come out of the bottom of the rails if not moved.

In all honesty it is slightly better but had I known what I know now I may not have bothered, we do use the drop down bed (mainly because if we don't our 2 rather large Weimaraner's take over the lounge bed as soon as we make it up) though my wife does find it a little claustrophobic.

If you want a bit more info let me know and I will take a few photo's of the mechanism in the bed, how much lower it goes at maximum (not a lot) and what I did to the guide rails (luckily the screws were evenly spaced so I just moved them down by 1 screw placing (this does mean the one interferes with the removable headrest though only an issue if you use that seat for travelling)

 

[Gary Ward]

Hi Gerby

Thanks for reply appreciated, couple of photographs when you can would be really helpful.

Seen a 81-6 whilst I was at a rally at Hereford Rowing club on the Weekend, that pull down bed goes right down to dinette if required, which made me wonder if mine could be lowered

Thanks Gerby

 

[Gerby]

Gary Ward no worries, will be in van tomorrow getting it ready for a weekend at Pandy (Brecon national park) so will run off a few snaps, I looked at the 81-6 a while back and did like the drop down bed but it is a major change design wise from what we have in the 79-6 and the extra money needed didn't make it worthwhile imho.

 

[Gary Ward]

Morning Gerby

Absolutely agree with you. Thanks for your help

 

[Gerby]

Hi Gary Ward (and anyone else reading this) please note this is just to show you what I did and you should check with a recognised mechanic before carrying out any work yourself as it may cause damage to your vehicle or have an effect on your warranty


The first 2 pics show how low the drop down bed now goes, about 615 mm from van roof (not a lot lower than before)

The next 2 pics show how I have moved the guide rails down by 1 screw hole (if you don't do this the guides fitted to the bed will just hit the bottom plastic stop or push that stop out as it did on mine originally) if you look at the second one you can see the original screw hole in line with the guide rail just below the roof line)

the next 2 show the ram that controls the bed dropping wires, this is located under the mattress and bed slats, the rubber inserts are too act as stops preventing the bed from going too low (there was an issue originally where some vans had too few inserts and as such would hit the bottom stops of the guide rail, Bailey went around all 79-6 vans and added extra ones when they did the rear window fix which actually made the beds drop less than originally)
(Please note that both of these photographs are with the bed in the fully dropped position, the only difference is I removed one additional spacer on the second one to show that the arm would not retract further)

whilst it looks like there is still a great deal of ram arm left to go into the body there is a further stop to the right of the ram which prevents it going further in, (I think the full stroke length is in line with the ram body length).

All I did was remove spacers from the ram arm until the bed went as low as the ram arm movement would let it, one WARNING here is that if you remove spacers there is a high probability that the bed guides will hit and potentially damage the bottom guide rail stops and also come out of the guide rail entirely hence why I moved my rails down (don't forget there are 2 guide rails). you should also note that if you move your guide rails down they will stop you being able to fit the top head rest on one of the belted seats in the dinette.

I had noted that the ram arm could potentially be further screwed into the end piece by about 1/4 an inch which would lower it very slightly more but I never bothered as it would mean the bed would be slightly lower in the raised position and I would probably hit my head on it, if you are a bit shorter than me it may be an option for you)

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[Gary Ward]

Gerby

An excellent response very comprehensive thank you.

 

[Gerby]

No Worries Gary Ward most funsters are always happy to help where we can (though it can sometimes include a lot of piss taking, all part the fun).

one hint for the forum, if you post something and want another member to know just type an @ sign immediately followed by the username of the person (IE no space) like this "@""Gerby" (naturally without the quotation marks) you should be able to then select the name from a list that will come up, they will then get a notification and link to your post (like you should have for this post)

 

[Gary Ward]

Gerby Thanks again