Full wall slide out sags

[Kcee]

I see you have backed out the old sheared bolts. How did you get the bolts back in? Where did you purchase the bolts? I

have a 2008 Winnebago Destination, and three of the bolts have broker. I called my mechanical breakdown insurance company,

and the went out and approved the claim. I got my coach back, they put in 3 non threaded bolts, and they are crooked. Is

there a way, I can post my pictures? Thanks in advance. I am going to file a claim with Consumer Affairs

[Kcee]

How do you add photo

[pokgunner]

kcee:

I do not think you are talking about the same bolts, as there are only 2, (I tried to add a picture using the "paper clip" icon in the task bar above where you type a response, let me know if it worked)

Since I first posted I have fount 5 people with the same problem. Collectively we have used 4 fixes. Weld it like I did, make some heavy duty c clamps, drill through both Brackets and use all thread. So far mine has held. do not know about others.

If you are talking about the Bolts at end of the ram (there are 4) I've had to replace them too (7 in total) because the dealer over tighten them when "fixing" my problem under warranty, snapped the heads off and did not bother fixing or telling me. To replace them I cribbed up the slide, removed any remaining bolts. Then drilled out the broken bolts, tapped the hole and use re-threads.

Good luck with consumer affairs I had a bigger issue earlier that I went to them with no result. I bought one of the few diesel models. For them Winnebago ran a 1/0 wire from the front chassis batter about an inch next to the exhaust. The insulation melted creating a high impedance fault. The drain on the battery kept increasing as the insulation kept melting away. The dealer kept telling me that it was "normal for the chassis battery last only a few days". But when it was not lasting a full day I knew there was a problem and found this (see second picture). That presented a much bigger hazard than the broken bolts but consumer affairs was uninterested.

[Kcee]

Thank you for the timely response. Good Sam MECHANICAL Breakdown Ins. approve a fix, as in the replacement of the 3 sheared bolts. They, took out the old bolts, and replaced them with none threaded Grade 8 bolts. The problem is, they drilled another hole, beside the original hole from the factory. On top of that, they are slightly at an angle. On the middle ram, they installed 1 bolt, and left the original one from the factory in, that was not broken. In other words, mis-match bolts. On top of that, there is no nut on the new, unthreaded bolts. They said, they would give me a 3 year warranty if the bolts / slide fail because of the bolts. But, I do not live here in the Temecula area, I am from Florida. Also, they claim the have put a motor in on the drivers side slide, because it was leaking hydraulic fluid. I have looked, and I don't see anything new, plus, the hydraulic fluid, and the work area, has no signs of someone working there. I left my coach with them on Oct. 25, 2017, told them I would return on Dec 2nd. When I got back to Giant RV, they had not installed anything. They were approved to install 2 TV'S, that was not done, the slides had not been touched, and a few other issues. It's a bummer, I am very distraught about this. Anyway, I went there Monday morning Dec 4th, as I said, they had done nothing. I told them I was flying to San Francisco, thus, giving them another week. When I got back, I went in early that morning, they had done nothing, and the were aware, I lived in my coach. So, they said, it would be ready today, this evening. When I got back, it ready, they installed the 2 TV's, and the bolts. Just that day...Bolts are crooked, The TV in the living / galley area, is a lot smaller that the original TV installed in 2008. The TV's then had a lot of plastic framing, although a flat screen. The new TV, are way smaller, and now there's a gaping hole from where the original TV was. I told him, if you run into any problems, call me, and I will authorize the additional funds out of pocket. Instead of them calling, and getting permmision to put in a 40 inch, they simply put in a 32 inch, thus a gaping whole........ I will go back in a week or so, as they have to install a compressor for the in dash AC. The one that was in there was brand new, never used, as I did not have it charged with refrigerant.. They charged it, and now it was whining really bad , so, that's why the new compressor....It's just a mess.....Thanks for allowing me to vent....I still have to try Consumer Affairs....

[pokgunner]

Kcee
You must have a model quite different than mine as my rams are powered by electric motors.

I made the mistake of graduating from a cheap fifth wheel I owned for 15 years to a motor home as my retirement gift to me. Before buying one I visited every dealer on the west coast from Stockton to Portland. Thought I had done my research well. Not even close. The fact that the windshield wiper switch fell out of the dash less than an hour after I took delivery, makes foreshadowing and understatement

Since then I have not found a RV repair shop worthy of repeat business. I've talked to only two RV "techs" that strike me as knowing which end of the hammer to hold.

After too many weeks of waiting to have a repair not done, done poorly or in one case made worse, Iv'e given up and now do all repairs myself. Winnebago makes doing so even more difficult than it should, as often I encounter parts manufactured only for Winnebago, or OEM equipment that is not installed as recommended by the manufacturer. Winnebago offers a help line but it takes for ever to get an answer and about 25% of the time the answer is not helpful another 25% of the time I get only a suggestion to take it to a service center.

Once I got stumped when one of my slide out motors would not operate. I thought I had narrowed the problem to a black box (called a control module) next to the steps on the opposite side of the coach. I asked a repair shop if they can confirm. They told me that Winnebago will not give them the drawings to be able to do so. I called the OEM and they told me that they could not help as Winnebago does not use a standard installation. The Winnebago helpline told me to go to an authorized dealer who wanted 3 weeks and $300 just to investigate. So I took the black box apart found a burn on a PC board. Paid $249 to buy a new one and everything has since worked fine.

After researching the matter more it absolutely amazes me how poorly even the Named brands are design and constructed, and how difficult it is to get timely and high quality repairs done.

I think most RV owners are just ignorant to the industry's malfeasance. The RV magazines are in cahoots with the industry. The magazines rarely provide articles on real world problems. How many times have you read how important it is to weigh your RV? I suspect that few do or they just accept the fact that they are a few hundred pounds over weight. I encountered one guy who had stripped out all of his "accessories" (TV, microwave, air conditioning, awing, etc.) and still could not get down to the dry weight. He was preparing to sue and I asked him to get back with me, but he signed a settlement that included a non disclosure agreement.

If I had it to do all over again I would have bought a new chassis, a couple of salvaged units and built my own. I suspect that would have taken me 5 to 10 times longer than the time I have spent repairing mine, but there would have been a lot less frustration. Plus repairs would be less frequent. As it is now the need for a repair comes up about every 10K miles or 2 weeks of use.

Right now the water pump does not work, the fan for the vent does not work, the catch on one of the drawers is broken, the arms on the driver's seat are broken, the arm on the couch is broken, the laptop slide in the dash is broken, the steps are broken, and the gas heater does not work. All that occurred during a single 3 week trip