Slideout bearing failure

Wicked Whippets · 12-28-2008, 09:25 AM

The slideout bearings failed on my 2004 Vectra 40AD (the main slideouts). By tilting the RV with the jacks I was able to get them to retract.

The repair will cost about $4K. It's been in the shop (Affinity RV in Prescott) for about 3 weeks waiting for parts. I should have it back by February.

Does anyone know if this is a common issue on Vectras? I had checked the mechanism in September and there appeared to be some lube in place.

LK23 · 12-28-2008, 12:53 PM

What are you calling slideout bearings? Are you referring to the white plastic bushings in the slide channel? See photo:

Slide bushing

C Zimm · 12-29-2008, 09:29 AM

You might want to do a search on this subject. I've commented on it in the past as well as others. Winnebago covered my repair after the warranty expired. Winnebago apparently installed a lot of units out of alignment. This is according to HWH which builds the hardware.
Winnebago instructed my dealer to replace the bearings (bushings) on both slides.
Parts should not take three weeks as they can be shipped in a small package very easily.
It would be in your best interest to give Winnebago a call on this one but you may be out of luck due to the nature of the industry right now.
Best regards...

Wicked Whippets · 12-29-2008, 07:04 PM

Yep, the white bushings came out in pieces. The metal-to-metal sound when this happened would curl your hair!

Along with the bearings/bushings, there were other parts damaged or had failed. I have no idea what caused the failure, but alignment would be a high possibility.

Affinity is a Winnie dealer and said most of the parts have come in, but something was backordered and they didn't want to start the job until they had all the parts.

I'll let you know the outcome.

Wicked Whippets · 01-09-2009, 02:06 PM

Here's an update:

Good Sam refused the insurance claim, so I'm on the hook for the repair.

I went over to Affinity in Prescott today and the parts arrived while I was there. They will start working on it on Monday and I can pick it up on Friday. The total tab will be about $5K.

Affinity has an HWH expert on staff and he showed me the problem... The prior owner (we bought the Vectra in Sept.) had failed to monitor the wear on those white nylon/plastic slider "bearing" pucks. The ones where the floor drops down had cracked and failed and that put stress on the others. Nearly all of the pucks were gone which is why I heard the metal-to-metal grinding.

I didn't call Winnie as was suggested and now I regret it. I think the sliders are way under engineered for the load that is put on them. I know that they changed the design in later years and I understand why.

Anyhow, the HWH guy said they will remove the basement bins, then support the rooms and completely remove them to repair the damage to the hydraulic system and the slide mechanisms. He said Vectra owners should check the condition of the pucks periodically and replacement them if they are worn (a relatively inexpensive repair). He showed me what to watch for in the future so I can keep tabs on it.

Before we bought the Vectra I checked out all the systems and everything seemed operational, but I never thought to check the conditions of the little square nylon slider pucks.

Fakrwee · 01-09-2009, 04:44 PM

Sorry to hear about your problem. That is a beautiful rig. Sometimes problems just come out of nowhere.

I’m curious to know why Good Sam didn’t cover at least part of the repair. What was their excuse?

Good luck
Tom

wagonmaster2 · 01-10-2009, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Wicked Whippets:
Here's an update:

Good Sam refused the insurance claim, so I'm on the hook for the repair.

---Have you by any chance tried contacting "Highways" Action Line, they do wonders sometimes when these companies don't want a lot of adverse attention drawn to their products. Might be worth a try and nothing to lose. Just a thought.-------

Wagonmaster2
2004 Meridian 36G

I went over to Affinity in Prescott today and the parts arrived while I was there. They will start working on it on Monday and I can pick it up on Friday. The total tab will be about $5K.

Affinity has an HWH expert on staff and he showed me the problem... The prior owner (we bought the Vectra in Sept.) had failed to monitor the wear on those white nylon/plastic slider "bearing" pucks. The ones where the floor drops down had cracked and failed and that put stress on the others. Nearly all of the pucks were gone which is why I heard the metal-to-metal grinding.

I didn't call Winnie as was suggested and now I regret it. I think the sliders are way under engineered for the load that is put on them. I know that they changed the design in later years and I understand why.

Anyhow, the HWH guy said they will remove the basement bins, then support the rooms and completely remove them to repair the damage to the hydraulic system and the slide mechanisms. He said Vectra owners should check the condition of the pucks periodically and replacement them if they are worn (a relatively inexpensive repair). He showed me what to watch for in the future so I can keep tabs on it.

Before we bought the Vectra I checked out all the systems and everything seemed operational, but I never thought to check the conditions of the little square nylon slider pucks.

Tinsey99 · 01-19-2009, 08:47 AM

I was telling a friend of mine that has a 2005 Vectra about these rollers. He had them replaced at 3-T's RV Products and his extended warranty DID cover them. He stated he thinks 3-T's got around 4-4.5 hours to do it. He said they did a great job and he was in and out of there in one day.

Wicked Whippets · 01-19-2009, 10:46 AM

I pick my Vectra tomorrow. The work would have been a one-day job if other components hadn't been damaged when the pucks failed. They had to remove the basement storage bins, then remove the rooms.

Good Sam won't budge on this one. Maybe with the recession they are hurting and have told their adjusters to refuse anything they can.

While they had it and were waiting on parts I had them flush the tranny, the radiator, the hydraulic, the diff, change engine oil, replace the air filter, service the brakes and a bunch of stuff. This is my contribution to restart the economy. If it works the recession will be over by the weekend!