Big Slideout Finger Pointing

[jerichorick]

Originally Posted by al1florida

Several years ago, when the full wall slideouts started appearing, I kind of shook my head and wondered why on earth would I want to buy one of them.

Something that long, on a steel frame, which will have some flexing and twisting, is bound to be problematic when pushing or retracting a 20 to close to 30 foot long box in and out the side.

Certainly, if you are always to park on a fairly level site where the frame of the RV doesn't have to flex or twist to stabilize on the the jacks, the huge slide is probably going to work well. However there are far to many times when we park in a site where one corner of the rig is low or high and the leveling system has to work pretty hard to get the rig level.

Another problem I have read people have, is when you have a long kitchen counter in the slideout. The counter top has a tendency to crack, probably from the center of the slideout sagging a bit in the center.

I have the crack on the galley slide counter, Fortunately mine failed to the left rear of the stove, in the cutout trim. Well hidden under the stove covers.


We have had the end plate screws fail on two slides. These screws are found behind the trim where the track rail attaches to the room connector plate. I have Power Gear slides. It is wise to give these plates a good visual inspection from time to time. If you see light between the mounting surfaces trouble is in the making. The bolts are 24 thread into 1/8" soft steel.

[creativepart]

Ben, the factory loves it when folks come in with issues like yours AND have a service contract. Really, when I was there this May, sitting in the waiting area for 2+ days and talking to other owners getting service that's what they told me.

All of us in the South or the West, a long way from Iowa, we think man, that's too far to go. But folks that live within 400 miles of there go multiple times. I talked to many that were there for their 3rd time. And, not because things didn't get fixed the first two times but because it is THE WAY to get things fixed for certain.

I would not hesitate to go again.

2/3rds of the people there had appointments. The other 1/3 just show up hoping to get in. They scheduled my work to take 3 days. It took 1 1/2 days. So, when I left early a guy without an appointment slotted right in in my place.

I called 8 months ahead to get my appointment. They are super busy every day until October/November then it peters out due to cold, snow, etc. Their busiest months, of course, are Summer and any month on either side of the Grand National Rally they stage each year in July. Folks coming to the Rally book service the weeks before and the weeks after since they are already going to be there.

[powercat_ras]

Bottom line the tolerances Lippert specified for the Swintek system were incredibly tight and had no saftey margin. RV maker deploying Swintek that did not totally comply with their spec was selling a RV with a slideout system that would eventually fail after the slide was operated many times. The farther out of spec the less slide operations needed before failure.

I was able to find some information, mainly in the Lippert Winnebago Swintek Slide Room Repair Document. The installation tolerance requirements on the Lippert Swintek Slideout System are no worse than 1/16" too narrow and no worse than 1/8" too wide at EVERY point along each of the slide box sidewalls where the top and bottom tracks are mounted to the vertical rails that mount on the coach walls and structure. If spec not met the gears will not properly mesh with the tracks and will destroy that particular track, gear, or bearing block of the system as slides are moved in/out with improperly meshing gears and tracks over time.

This seems to be very problematic on a full wall slide. The only thing to keep the slide box in the required position is the 4 non metal V rollers (see photo)

Here is a image of the Swintek system for reference. Bottom line, if your Swintek system fails, make sure the servicing entity takes the measurements and does what is needed to bring into spec before even considering replacing with the Swintek system again. I hope the new system has more forgiving tolerances but it is not documented by Lippert or Winnebago. I am hoping I can find out at GNR by talking to the right Lippert or Winnebago engineer.

[creativepart]

Great to see that image. That could work on a small slide that didn't extend very far. But a full wall slide 20' wide that extends 24" or so??? I don't see how anyone could believe that that system could hold up to that kind of use.

[Meridian42e]

Originally Posted by creativepart

I'm pretty sure the "old" system is the Lippert Schwintec In-Wall system. The new system is the Lippert SlimRack system.

They are similar in that they have two gear rails per side top/bottom - but on the Schwintec they are physically attached to the sides of the slide. On the SlimRack there are two long gear rails per side - top and bottom - but they stand proud of the slide sides by a couple of inches. The SlimRack rails are much beefier and the gears much deeper in profile.

The Living Room couch slide uses the Lippert Through Frame undermount rail system. Like the image above in post number 31. Five or so years ago they also used that system for the full-wall drivers side slide in the Adventurer 37F. It's a shame that they stopped using that.

Many people have had the Schwintec slide mechanism replaced with the SlimRack system. Usually at the Winnebago factories - but not always. Some dealers have been handling this too.

Here's what I believe you are talking about Bh2oman - first photo is the Schwintec and the second in the ThinRack:

Great description! I heard on another forum that Winnebago will no longer fix the Schwintek system. If it breaks, they will only replace it with the SlimTrack. We are going to discuss it with them for our medium slide as a preventative measure, just like BH2oman. Our's was replaced once already with a 2014 higher torgue version of Schwintek.

[Meridian42e]

Originally Posted by powercat_ras

Bottom line the tolerances Lippert specified for the Swintek system were incredibly tight and had no saftey margin. RV maker deploying Swintek that did not totally comply with their spec was selling a RV with a slideout system that would eventually fail after the slide was operated many times. The farther out of spec the less slide operations needed before failure.

I was able to find some information, mainly in the Lippert Winnebago Swintek Slide Room Repair Document. The installation tolerance requirements on the Lippert Swintek Slideout System are no worse than 1/16" too narrow and no worse than 1/8" too wide at EVERY point along each of the slide box sidewalls where the top and bottom tracks are mounted to the vertical rails that mount on the coach walls and structure. If spec not met the gears will not properly mesh with the tracks and will destroy that particular track, gear, or bearing block of the system as slides are moved in/out with improperly meshing gears and tracks over time.

This seems to be very problematic on a full wall slide. The only thing to keep the slide box in the required position is the 4 non metal V rollers (see photo)

Here is a image of the Swintek system for reference. Bottom line, if your Swintek system fails, make sure the servicing entity takes the measurements and does what is needed to bring into spec before even considering replacing with the Swintek system again. I hope the new system has more forgiving tolerances but it is not documented by Lippert or Winnebago. I am hoping I can find out at GNR by talking to the right Lippert or Winnebago engineer.

Great graphics Randy! Also a good way to point out the lube points on the coupler and spur gear per the Lippert video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KbVRFMo1Rg

, and that lubing the track is a waste of time and dirt collector.

[powercat_ras]

Thanks for the video it is VERY helpful towards understanding the Swintek system, and where to lubricate it.

The other documents and videos I had seen on how to lubricate Swintek focus on lubricating the coupler thru the slide room seals right above the track. From this video I finally understand the system better and now see that what is critical is that the bearing blocks can move back and forth on the gib blocks.

The instructions I had been following on how to lube did not make clear at all that the gib block to bearing block interface should be kept lubricated from right below the track thru the slide seals, too.

This is also helpful for showing that not much lubricant needs to be applied at each point.

[GaHoosier]

Originally Posted by powercat_ras

Chances are whoever told you "Winnebago used the wrong system" was stating their own personal opinion and not speaking for their company. You should document who and when told you this. If you got it in writing or can get it in writing do so. It might also be enough to get a law firm to initiate a class action lawsuit, or to get Winnebago to cover your repair even though your warranty is expired.

It appears to me that the physics of long slides is the problem. The fixed tracks on the slides and the fixed drive rods and gears in the coach wall need to mesh with tight tolerances and the sidewall and slide boxes are just not stiff enough once a slide is beyond a certain length. It appears that no one knew what this length actually was until Winnebago and other coach builders took it too far and found out the hard way. To minimize the abnormal premature wear on the system:

- make sure coach is level = in particular before operating the long slide
- lubricate the 2 drive rod to track interfaces at both ends of the long side every 60 days
- always operate the long slide with coach motor running to maximize slide motor power

The new side track system does not have the tracks hard mounted to the entire side of the slide box like the Lippert "Swintek" system did. The tracks can "flex". I assume there is some sort of guide that holds the track against the drive gears. Guess time will tell if this is better.

Thanks for your post. I double-checked my leveling system zero-point. Sure enough it was a bit out of level. I reset the zero point according to the manual resulting in better slide operation....for now at least 🤞

[Bh2oman]

I can only report what our result was ... Our rig is fixed by Winnebago.
We purchased an extended warranty when we purchased our Adventurer in 2015.
All I can say is that we negotiated the price of that policy and I'm sure glad we did that.
Winnebago never admitted that the the slideout system they used should never have been installed and they never acknowledged that Camping World should have reported the issue when the rig was a couple months old, but they did their best to resolve the issue and let others pay the cost if they could.
In our case, they let our insurance pay the bulk of cost - replacing the slideout mechanism with (what they say isn't but I think is) a "beefier" system. What was not covered was adding a roller kit underneath and at the inside end of the sink island. I requested that because just about everything that's heavy sits on that slideout and it needs everything it can get to take the wobble forces off it when going in and out and when bouncing down the road. We are also being extra careful to level the the rig before using that slideout.We always did that but were not "as" caeful as we are now.

I think that anyone without a warranty issue (like we had) or anyone without an extended warranty could pay $4,000 - $5,000 to replace the system. However, I also think Winnebago knows they screwed-up and that they will do the work at as low a cost as possible. Our cost would have been $2,500 without insurance.

We were able to take out rig to their "new" facility in Junction City, OR. That helped a lot. They also provided free a full hookup site that we used the nights before and after the repairs.
Good luck to all who are having big slideout issues.I can be fixed!