Still more Schwintek slideout woes

mtnfan · 06-13-2015, 09:12 AM

So, we drove our 2015 Sightseer 30A to Forest City, Iowa to have the factory fix their slideout in our MH, after the dealer was getting nowhere. We were there for a week and learned a bit about the system and how it is supposed to work. Most importantly, we learned that if the opening in the box is out of spec by more than 3mm, the entire assembly will eventually fail. The techs put metal shims on BOTH slides to make them square. They told us to "toggle" the switches 5 times to synchronize the motors each time the slides are pushed out AND retracted.

Think about that: Move the slide out, until it stops, then toggle the switch, in, out, in and then out again till it stops. That tidbit from the Schwintek guru at Forest City. So, we complied, and well, you guessed it, got home and the passenger slide will not retract fully. So, next week, another 1200 mile trip BACK to Forest City.

Are there any attorneys on this board? I'm thinking a class-action lawsuit. We as consumers deserve a product that works! And although the service staff at Forest City are great, someone needs to get the attention of the CEO. His company is losing customers, and until it reflects on the balance sheet he won't care.

TomandGloria · 06-13-2015, 09:58 AM

Probably doesn't care now. There have been lots of issues with Schwintek on this forum and he is either oblivious to the complaints concerns or figures they are building more coaches than they can handle and will deal with warranty concerns for 12 months than you are on your own.

On the flip side our 07 is a really great coach and we have enjoyed every mile we have put on it. I hope they fix yours soon and you are able to start enjoying yours without concerns about your slide outs working correctly.

Rossi6998 · 06-13-2015, 02:48 PM

I'm going to keep my eye on this thread. I have had my Schwintek slide repaired (after 1 1/2 years of ownership) and have had (and still have) problems with my Lippert hydraulic jacks. For those who do not know, Schwintek is owned by Lippert.

cj.mann · 06-13-2015, 04:44 PM

We have a 2013 Winnebago Adventurer 37f. Our full wall slide 25.5' uses 2 schwintek motors. At about 2 months ownership we had to have both motors replaced as they failed. We were on a trip & could not get the slide back in. That was last camping season. Our 1st trip this year was a cross country trip. We got from Md to Sd & our full wall slide came almost completely out on the front end while were driving. It was on the interstate in construction with no place to pull over. The whole motorhome felt like it would tip over. My husband was able to fight the wheel to the 1st exit where we managed to manually push it almost in & brace from the inside. This is our 5th motorhome, so I would call us inexperienced, though we would never want to experience this again. We're lucky we weren't killed.
I think the schwintek lippart motors are a very undesirable product & using them on a full wall slide is a bad design.

mtnfan · 06-13-2015, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rossi6998

I'm going to keep my eye on this thread. I have had my Schwintek slide repaired (after 1 1/2 years of ownership) and have had (and still have) problems with my Lippert hydraulic jacks. For those who do not know, Schwintek is owned by Lippert.

I have had issues with the jacks as well, but nothing major (yet), just one jack did not lower, but did eventually.

I believe this: either Winnebago wrote sloppy specs for Lippert/Schwinteck to provide slideout/jack systems for them OR Lippert/Schwinteck provided an inferior product, Winnebago knows it, and does nothing because the green eye shades showed management that it cheaper to fix them than to cancel the contract, and go with a better quality product.

Rossi6998 · 06-13-2015, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cj.mann

We have a 2013 Winnebago Adventurer 37f. Our full wall slide 25.5' uses 2 schwintek motors. At about 2 months ownership we had to have both motors replaced as they failed. We were on a trip & could not get the slide back in. That was last camping season. Our 1st trip this year was a cross country trip. We got from Md to Sd & our full wall slide came almost completely out on the front end while were driving. It was on the interstate in construction with no place to pull over. The whole motorhome felt like it would tip over. My husband was able to fight the wheel to the 1st exit where we managed to manually push it almost in & brace from the inside. This is our 5th motorhome, so I would call us inexperienced, though we would never want to experience this again. We're lucky we weren't killed.
I think the schwintek lippart motors are a very undesirable product & using them on a full wall slide is a bad design.

I have heard, although I cannot confirm, that the design of the Schwintek slides are unable to handle full wall slideouts. I have also read somewhere on this forum if you contact Winnebago and explain the slideout malfunction, they will send you some braces to keep the slideout stationary so it does not extend while going down the highway.

Good luck!

ed rzepka · 06-14-2015, 07:52 AM

So when they repair these things, are they installing new and improved components or the same stuff that was there before? Does anyone know Winnebago is making slide out improvements for newly manufactured motorhomes?

ed

Rossi6998 · 06-14-2015, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ed rzepka

So when they repair these things, are they installing new and improved components or the same stuff that was there before? Does anyone know Winnebago is making slide out improvements for newly manufactured motorhomes?

ed

Not sure about improvements, but when they replaced a portion of my slideout mechanism the rails used to be black and they are now silver. Again, may be nothing...

irish65 · 06-14-2015, 03:13 PM

I saw a new Forza in May that had a new slide system I forget the name. Instead of the squiggle bar it has a 1/2 square bar with teeth on it. It didn't impress me because the bar was bending while the slide was out and isn't attached other than at the ends. It probably will keep synched but will something else fail? I can't believe they think a whole wall slide will be moved by these light systems without issues. The old systems
had their problems but were so much heavier duty. I have a View and it seems to be adequate in this application. My buddy just got a new Tribute the slide was making a scraping noise while driving. I looked and it was out a 1/2 an inch at the rear bottom and 1/4 inch at the top. The front was tight. He is going to take it into Winnebago at GNR.

univmd · 06-14-2015, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irish65

I saw a new Forza in May that had a new slide system I forget the name. Instead of the squiggle bar it has a 1/2 square bar with teeth on it. It didn't impress me because the bar was bending while the slide was out and isn't attached other than at the ends. It probably will keep synched but will something else fail? I can't believe they think a whole wall slide will be moved by these light systems without issues. The old systems
had their problems but were so much heavier duty. I have a View and it seems to be adequate in this application. My buddy just got a new Tribute the slide was making a scraping noise while driving. I looked and it was out a 1/2 an inch at the rear bottom and 1/4 inch at the top. The front was tight. He is going to take it into Winnebago at GNR.

Yes I saw the same as above, on a 2015 Tour this past weekend, is this a new slide system, what is this system called?

BVThunder · 06-15-2015, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ed rzepka

So when they repair these things, are they installing new and improved components or the same stuff that was there before? Does anyone know Winnebago is making slide out improvements for newly manufactured motorhomes?

ed

We are anticipating buying a 2015-16 40R Winnebago. I emailed corporate and asked about the slide issues. They admitted there was a problem that had been corrected by switching to Powergear mechanisms.

ed rzepka · 06-15-2015, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BVThunder

We are anticipating buying a 2015-16 40R Winnebago. I emailed corporate and asked about the slide issues. They admitted there was a problem that had been corrected by switching to Powergear mechanisms.

Did they say when it was corrected? Also, why did you not end up buying?

ed

wa8yxm · 06-15-2015, 09:34 AM

Dang makes replacing 1/4" Grade 8 bolts on my Power gear seem like nothing.

Alas, wish I coudl help you...

Adam Hunter · 06-15-2015, 11:35 AM

FWIW,

The full wall slides are not as heavy as you may think - depending on their depth and length.

I replaced a bearing on the full wall slide mechanism on our 34B and with the motors disconnected I could push the slide in and out by myself, its not as deep as some but has a kitchen, residential fridge, buffet cabinet and bedroom cabinets in it. Of course thats based on have the slide on the rollers and them working correctly, they really carry the weight.

I still maintain from my limited knowledge that these Schwintek slides NEED a fully level coach, lots of clean power and not stopping and starting the slides once you get it moving.

All that being said if I could, I would snap my fingers and make mine turn into hydraulic slides!!

univmd · 06-16-2015, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by univmd

Yes I saw the same as above, on a 2015 Tour this past weekend, is this a new slide system, what is this system called?

I think I found my answer: In Wall Slide System - Power Gear

two-niner · 06-17-2015, 12:37 PM

univmd: That ad states up to 16' ??

grtharris · 06-17-2015, 04:23 PM

Adam Hunter I to have been reading the Schwintek post with great interest has we have four of them on our coach. I believe the Schwintek in wall slide system is a good engineering design. I think the problems occurred when the assemblers on the lines did not make the technological leap to the new system which require a good fit and proper install to work. They were used to the hydraulic systems that would crush anything that got in the way. With that said if it is installed correctly they will work for a long time. Moving them in and out by hand with the motors disconnected would be a good test for proper install. Most importantly the rollers at the bottom must be carrying all of the weight without any restriction.
For those looking at a new coach one of the first things I would look at is the bottom of the slides there should be nice clean slight indentions left by the rollers.
Well that's my 2 cents.

ed rzepka · 06-18-2015, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grtharris

Adam Hunter I to have been reading the Schwintek post with great interest has we have four of them on our coach. I believe the Schwintek in wall slide system is a good engineering design. I think the problems occurred when the assemblers on the lines did not make the technological leap to the new system which require a good fit and proper install to work. They were used to the hydraulic systems that would crush anything that got in the way. With that said if it is installed correctly they will work for a long time. Moving them in and out by hand with the motors disconnected would be a good test for proper install. Most importantly the rollers at the bottom must be carrying all of the weight without any restriction.
For those looking at a new coach one of the first things I would look at is the bottom of the slides there should be nice clean slight indentions left by the rollers.
Well that's my 2 cents.

What do you mean by "a good fit"? RV's made in the US are amongst cheapest, sloppiest, and poorly manufactured things made in this country. Schwintek may be a "good engineering design", but it doesn't seem to be working well. If is clearances and tolerances that have to be so close for Schwintek to work well, maybe we need to go back to hydraulics. Its often hard to find a stick built home that has a perfectly square wall. With an RV bouncing and twisting down the road many thousands of miles it almost seem they will eventually fail.
Just my 2 cents.

rjsupersonic · 06-19-2015, 12:00 AM

I have talked to three different people within 2 months with Swintek slide issues. Hopefully Winnebago switches to Power Gear soon!!

-Grumpy- · 06-19-2015, 08:39 PM

After two weeks of nightmares, I finally got my Itasca Meridian 40U back. The slideout (Scwintek) on the passenger front went down when I was packing up to head home. As a result, Winnebago had to send two different mobile units out to me to get my slideout in (2 days total). The first mobile unit (first day) didn't know what he was doing. The second mobile unit (second day) at least got the slideout back in, although I had to find 3 volunteers to help push in the slideout after the motors were removed and the slideout was jacked up. Three days later I finally got an appointment at a warranty repair facility. Then it took 9 days for delivery of the necessary parts. Then two more days for an appointment, and then 2 days for them to do the repair. Since we were not allowed to stay in the MH during repairs, I had to spend 2 nights in a motel at my expense. This REALLY SUCKS. I will be more than happy to jump onboard a class action. I think if Winnebago is forced to pay for motels, delays, etc., this problem will quickly get resolved. Time to find a hungry attorney that is graduating from law school