New ACE slide gears stripped out

[West]

I just purchased a 2016 Thor ACE 30.2 that has the full body slide out and the Schwintek 3 track slide. After just a few trips out the gears on the upper tracks have stripped out. The dealer doesn't know why it happened.
Have any of you had a similar problem?

[curryd]

I have a 2016 ACE 30.1 - extended the long slide 5 times and suddenly it began scraping the bathroom wall and the upper trim is torn loose. Dealer can't get it in for a fix yet, so not sure why slide is out of alignment, but slide gear stripping might be the reason. I'll let you know what we find... good thing I can use everything except the furnace with the slide in!

[West]

Thanks for letting me know. I found a few other threads with slide issues and few videos on YouTube from Lippert on how to realign, lube, over ride and worst case how to disconnect the motors so you can manually slide the slide out in if necessary. I've only had my slide out in and out a few times since they fixed it and so far it's working well. Hopefully they can get your figured out quick. Sounds like yours is worse than mine was.

[acsnook]

I just got my Thor Ace 27.1 back from a slide out warranty repair. I was told that one of the tracks was off 3/8 of an inch from the factory and caused the slide out to stop working after the gear failed. The factory sent him an upgraded unit and it is working fine, for now..

[Henry's RV]

I was/am very leery of slides but they are practically a necessity, it seems, and I have a large dog who needs a little floorspace. I wonder how much being level matters? Of course I level for the fridge, and am picky about it, but even a little bit off seems like it would stress the slide motors and track. I can't open my slide at home because of a slope - this thread makes me wonder just how sensitive are these things, or is this possibly manufacturer error? I have a fear of being stuck somewhere because of a non-functioning slide.

[Chance]

Originally Posted by Henry's RV

I was/am very leery of slides but they are practically a necessity, it seems, and I have a large dog who needs a little floorspace. I wonder how much being level matters? Of course I level for the fridge, and am picky about it, but even a little bit off seems like it would stress the slide motors and track. I can't open my slide at home because of a slope - this thread makes me wonder just how sensitive are these things, or is this possibly manufacturer error? I have a fear of being stuck somewhere because of a non-functioning slide.

I'm also leery about slides -- don't want one myself but consider them "practically a necessity" later to sell the motorhome. If designers didn't try to squeeze so much into RVs they wouldn't need slides to such a degree. I would personally delete one if given the option -- which Thor could if they wanted to.

[West]

My last RV I had for about 10 years and never had a problem with any of its 3 slides. I think the Schwintek slides are just trying to hard to save space and are not worth the trade off. I think a better controller that could keep a proper count would help a lot.

I'm like you Henry I can't open my slide at my house either. To much slope to chance it.

[Henry's RV]

Originally Posted by West

My last RV I had for about 10 years and never had a problem with any of its 3 slides. I think the Schwintek slides are just trying to hard to save space and are not worth the trade off. I think a better controller that could keep a proper count would help a lot.

I'm like you Henry I can't open my slide at my house either. To much slope to chance it.

That makes it hard to do the maintenance we need to do... have to find a level space to use the slide. I have two slides, but only use the one for the bed if I'm going to be in and out of my site. I know people with multiple slides who love them and have had no problems. Maybe I just need to get used to it. My dad was an engineer and lived his life focused on the idea that everything broke. I remember how he hated power windows in cars - everything was just "one more thing to break." He made me super attentive to preventive maintenance, so that may be a good thing!

[West]

I agree. Preventative matenance is very important. After I got mine back from the shop I bought the recommended CRC lube and lubed up the slide. It was a handy thing to do, I found a few screws that were stripped and hanging out enough that it could catch when sliding. You've got to love dealerships top quality repair jobs.