# Cheyene 634L bed



## bracken (Apr 26, 2006)

This may be of interest to some Cheyene / Apache owners. I am now quite expert at fixing many of the Autotrail failures on my 2005 model, SE pack electrics, mains charger unit, reversing camera, gas regulator etc. etc. Also fitting a cruise control, and a reversing warning unit. However:

Having lived for 12 months with a 2005 634L SE, I don't believe that I have ever come to terms with the horrible double bed arrangement - and am not entirely convinced that I have ever arranged the cushions properly in the manner which the designer intended, (or was it never designed)? 

For those of you who are fortunate enough not to be conversant with this bed, it is a very flimsy pull out arrangement based on a couple of elongated kitchen drawer runners - there is no positive locking device that I have discovered, and the bed will withdraw itself towards the back wall during the night and thus bend the drop-down legs fixed to the aluminium underside of the front edge of the seat rail! When these fold back too much, the kitchen drawer runners bend and the outside occupant of the bed ends up on the floor with the dogs!? A couple of hours with a mallet and screwdrivers allows a rough fix to be accomplished next morning. Having got tiddled off with this game, I solved the retraction problem by drilling a couple of 6mm holes through the side woodwork and dropping a couple of loose bolts through before placing the cushions in position - this stops the retraction! 

Now for the next fix! The drop-down steel legs are supposedly held up to the underside of the front rail by velcro strips - Autotrail please note these are useless! The legs frequently drop down and rattle during the day especially when travelling. I've finally I believe solved this annoyance by buying a couple of 20mm X 3mm Neomidium magnets, with holes in the centre, and screwing them to the underside of the seat rail using a tap washer as a spacer/buffer. The legs are now held up neatly out of sight - whether my credit card will work again after sitting down remains to be seen!?

If anybody has been fortunate enough to meet a salesman who knows how the cushions are supposed to be arranged on this bed at night, I would love to be let in on the secret. The only way I have found to get the cushions to fit, is to remove the long thin back strip cushion affixed to the short L of the back seat by velcro, this then gets thrown over the front passenger seat. The seat cushion is then turned upside down and reversed to stop the velcro hooks ripping lumps off the tops of the cushion backrests (it would have been better to have stitched the hooks on the back narrow bit - please note Autotrail), which are arranged 'loosely' beside the wider main cushion already placed as described above. If the piece which has been removed and put away is left on, there is not enough room to get the cushions flat beside the cupboard containing the fire - when it is removed, the cushion back rests are too loose, and the unfortunate person on the outside of the bed ends up laying between them during the night. Am I expecting too much comfort in a £43,000 2 berth motorhome, or have I failed to spot something somewhere? I would love to hear how others have solved this one.


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## 101776 (Nov 13, 2006)

Sounds like loads of stress at bedtime to me, I've got a different model Cheyenne and have not used the bed you have to make up....by the sounds of your problems I think I'll just not bother!!

Perhaps you could ask autotrail how the cushions are supposed to go, and how to make the 'base' behave, surely more than one person has complained????

Good Luck


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

Hi,

We found the double bed to be a bit too much hassle to set up on ours too.We use the L seats as 2 single beds and sleep feet to feet,it does help that Sharon is 5'5'' tall so our feet never meet  ,she sleeps across the back seat under the rear window.

I must agree that the rear double is a poor design from Autotrail,fortunately we never use it,makes getting ready for bed much quicker.

Steve


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## zulurita (May 9, 2005)

We had one of those back in 2000 but they didn't have those drop down legs then! We found the cushions ok then. However we also preferred to use it as two single beds.

If the bed is that much of an issue then get back to the dealer with your concerns so that they can rectify things.


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## ingram (May 12, 2005)

With my pedant's hat on I have to ask why this topic is under the 'Autocruise' heading ...... perhaps it is the stress of bed making; literally ..... :wink: 

Harvey


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

ingram said:


> With my pedant's hat on I have to ask why this topic is under the 'Autocruise' heading ...... perhaps it is the stress of bed making; literally ..... :wink:
> 
> Harvey


You are right Harvey-this should be in the Autotrail section,can this be put in the right category please mods?

Steve


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