Schwintek Slide Poll

[dezrtracr]

Are most of the Schwintek slide problems on large slides? Would a slide less than 10 feet in length be likely problem free?

[johnd1985]

this seems to only happen with the larger slides as I see it. I am going to have to contact WBGO when I get home and see what kind of continuing support I can get for this. unfortunately if this keeps up i'm not sure I will want to keep this coach.

[dezrtracr]

I agree that most of the Schwintech slide problems appear to be described as "large" slides. I'm just not sure what constitutes a slide being called "large". Would a slide less than 10' in length be considered "small"? And a slide greater than 20' "large"? Any thoughts on this?

[Mr_D]

WOW!!
I hope they get everyones problems with the slides solved! There just is no reason for this!

[BeachDude]

I had my Schwintek Slide overhead bunk mechanism completely replaced under warranty.

The mechanism is constructed and operates identically to a "small" wall slide.

[CBTraveler]

Our 34B never had a problem with the Schwintek mechanism on the bedroom slide or the passenger side living room slide. Only the driers side huge slide that is probably 20+ feet long. If you read my previous posts you can see that we had lots of problems with the drivers side large slide. Most of the people I've talked to about their WBGO slide problems have only talked about the big slide. That's not to say that the smaller ones may have problems, but I think there are not many problems.

I've heard that Lippert bought PowerGear. I hope they let PowerGear alone.

[jhanan]

Here is the like to the lube video
https://youtu.be/8KbVRFMo1Rg

[Robin6684]

Owned our 5th wheel 18 months, all 3 slides have now failed at least once. One fixed under warranty, one not, now camping with third slide problem and can't stand Schwintek!!!!!!!!! I will be starting a class action after this last trip. This is unacceptable. We are tired of "praying" that the slide opens when we camp. It makes it a horrible experience. Please contact me if you are interested in joining a class action against them, please.

[XBoater]

What part is failing? Motors, wheels, rail?

[Camper Ken]

We have one slide on our new Itasca Navion. No problems, but we've only had it since late July. The slide has been in and out a couple dozen times at most. It's what I'd call a "small" slide, perhaps 10'.

Our previous coach, a 2013 Newmar Bay Star had flush fitting slides and we had problems a few times with them not retracting properly to fit into the opening. Every time we closed one of those slides we hoped it would go in correctly, which they "usually" did. Also had an electronic control slide module fail on the Bay Star.

Hopefully our Schwintek slide on the Itasca will be problem-free.

[Robmat]

This August I had the large slide on the drivers side (about 18 feet long) motor fail and when pushed (by road service and a bunch of other people that were needed to get it in) in went in cock-eyed and damaged the flooring and some of the trim. Also one of the plastic runners on the roof bucked slightly. I has been in the shop since August 12 and when I called Monday I was told the parts just came in and it should be ten days to two weeks before they can get on it and it may be in the garage being worked on for over a week. I had it at the dealer for a minor slide issue while still under warranty (the sink peninsula started dragging on the floor) so I am being told it is completely covered by Winnebago. To top it just before the slide failed the bedroom air conditioner failed in 100 degree temperatures. It was bad enough that I had several issues that should have been caught by quality control that weren't when I first got the unit and now a major malfunction. I'm hoping for the best.

[majfrizz]

Here is the new slide track on the 2016. The gear bar is made to be loose for movements. My concern it could break since it is very flimsy.

Bob

[rjsupersonic]

I does look flimsy, maybe they need to look at some farm equipment and see how heavy duty gear systems are made

[sask66]

2013 vista 27 n. No problems with slides yet except for noisy extending and retracting on the large passenger side slide. I have had them lubed when I had some service done and have lubed(partially) once myself. I am apprehensive every time I use them, waiting for problems, but so far, o.k.

[jhanan]

Ridiculously flimsy design. Unbelievable. They need to go back to bottom mounted hydraulic ram systems - such as the HWH system in the older rigs. The systems need to be powerful and resilient to when the slide box has some twisting or binding due to parking out in the sticks on uneven conditions.

[Tom-NC]

jhahnan,

You are correct about going back toi HWH, however the manufacturers have tried to lighten up the coaches and also make more room and that is why the Schwintek system. With that said the 2016 Winnebagos are using Power Gear.

I just came back from FC and all is ok

Good luck!

[jharrell]

Originally Posted by majfrizz

Here is the new slide track on the 2016. The gear bar is made to be loose for movements. My concern it could break since it is very flimsy.

Bob

I have that power gear system on my 2016 31be full wall slide. Looks flimsy but seems to have no trouble moving the 25ft long slide. Think it mates with the drive gears better than the schwintek since it's not attached to the slide except at ends. Was about to get a Thor ace before I went with vista, they all went to triple track schwintek for full wall slide this year. Vista just seemed made better, and they copied the 30.2 ace floorplan for 2016, so I went with it. Great so far, hoping the slide is trouble free.

[dfelter]

2013 Winnebago Tour 3-slides 2- Schwintek. 1 Schwintek has been repaired 3 times since September 2013 and is need of repair again. Winnebago has been great with support, however Lippert has not. As far as I an concerned I would not want to own anything that Lippert has anything to do with.

[CBTraveler]

Looking at the poll numbers it appears that some have not had a problem with the Schwintek. I'd bet that most of them do not have a large slide which seems to provide the biggest problems.

Either that, or they have not put very many miles on, especially miles on the bumpy roads.

We have traded in our troublesome Meridian34B for a Tiffin product. It also uses Scnwintek, but only on the smaller slides. The big slide has HWH. We have not had a problem with any of the slides. Cross my fingers and hope that the next trip does not make a liar our of me.

Lippert seems to be having more problem in other areas in addition to the Schwintek. I've met more than a few 5th wheel owners with Lippert Hydraulic jacks that are quite troublesome. We had Bigfoot levelers on our Montana ( added after I owned it for a year). That system was bullet proof.

[530ktm]

So far after having the guide roller replaced 8 months ago my slides have been working perfectly. Knock on wood.