Overhead Bunk Shwintek Issues

Beacher · 07-08-2014, 11:27 PM

2014 Thor Hurricane 34E

My overhead bunk worked fine, then it just didn't. I head a big thunk, and a tooth piece of the drive gear on the passenger side fell to the floor.

I took it in for warranty repair at McMahon's RV in Westminster, CA, but they are currently in bankruptcy. So, I then visited Mike Thompson RV in Santa Fe Springs, (second of three Thor Warranty dealers in Southern California), and they initially only ordered replacement parts for one side after waiting for a month for the parts to arrive, then discovered they needed parts for the driver's side as well. Still waiting.

Anyone else having problems with the Shwintek overhead bunk in their Thor Motorhomes?

Kenneth Neal · 07-09-2014, 04:16 AM

All I can say is the Schwintek In-Wall Slideout System is seriously flawed. In my case the slideout was underpowered and I am on my third set of motors. I now have the high torque motors and so far so good. There seems to be some consensus that Schwintek System can't handle the heavier slides. How heavy is your slide and do you have the high torque motors?

Beacher · 07-09-2014, 06:28 PM

The problem isn't with a living area slide-out, it's with the overhead bunk platform that is over the driver's and passenger's seats.

It goes up and down, rather than in and out. However, the rail and drive assembly is similar, just oriented differently.

It probably weighs about 200 pounds, including the wood cabinets mounted underneath.

They are using very cheaply manufactured Chinese servo motors, but my issue is with the cheap drive gears.

srobm · 07-11-2014, 07:26 PM

Mine has worked fine so far however I have to put the pins to hold it in place very quickly as it slides down out of the up position.
I believe that I am lucky on the slide issue as I have two slides but they are not full length of the unit slides so I think that is much easier on the motors.

srobm · 08-04-2014, 10:44 PM

I guess I spoke to soon. Driving along this weekend and heard a thunk and now the left side is down about 2 inches over the other side. Can not figure this out as the locking pins were in.

Pops R · 04-20-2016, 04:41 PM

Well I see the posts on this topic are back in 2104 and here I am in 2016 with a problem.

We have the 2015 Thor Challenger with the front bunk over the driver and passenger seats

When lowered now the right side comes down faster than the left side and is tonally off level. going back up the right side is about 2 inches short of going up all the way.

Any suggestions short of having to take it in for costly repair? Is there any way to adjust it or is it a case of having to have the lift apparatus replaced?

JamieGeek · 04-20-2016, 05:09 PM

When you raise and lower it do you always go all the way (down and up)?
When you hit the end do you hold the switch for an extra 4 seconds or so (that resets the timing in the controller)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSafAnjxIV4

Beacher · 04-20-2016, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

When you raise and lower it do you always go all the way (down and up)?
When you hit the end do you hold the switch for an extra 4 seconds or so (that resets the timing in the controller)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSafAnjxIV4

Yes, what JaimeGeek said!

I am happy to report all these years later, (two), that my overhead bunk was repaired a Mike Thompson's RV in Santa Fe Springs under warranty, and has worked fine since then!

It's been up and down many several dozens of times!

The main and most important lesson learned was to always ONLY completely go all the way down and then all the way up again, with no pauses and always wait three-four seconds at the end of travel.

When the overhead bunk was demonstrated at the time of purchase and delivery pickup check the overhead bunk was only partially lowered and then raised again by the salesman. I then proceeded to show off the nifty overhead bunk to my kids, my family, and my friends several times at three different rallys, (with appreciable ooohs and aaahs). I did not know at the time that I was messing up the synchronization of the motors as nobody mentioned that is was an issue way back then, (late 2013)!

If you have not experienced any shattering drive gears, (as I did), or chewed up aluminum tracks, (as I did), or broken front lift cable, (as I did), then you may only need to resynchronize your motors.

The online YouTube video by Schwintek for the wall slide synchronization process applies the same to the overhead bunk.

Pops R · 04-20-2016, 07:08 PM

So you are suggesting the same procedure should work with the over head bunk that goes up and down as opposed to in and out? I was not aware the bunk apparatus was also powered by the same as the slide outs

**EA37TS** · 04-20-2016, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pops R

So you are suggesting the same procedure should work with the over head bunk that goes up and down as opposed to in and out? I was not aware the bunk apparatus was also powered by the same as the slide outs

Pops,

It is the same system as the slides. If your model is like mine in the overhead cabinet above the driver on the left side is the controller for the bunk. It is the same controller (part number) that is used for the slides.

Pops R · 04-20-2016, 07:21 PM

Yes thanks will try that. We have the 37LX

djnash · 04-27-2016, 01:06 PM

Has anyone removed this 200lb useless bed. Any idea on how its done..

Pops R · 04-27-2016, 02:00 PM

I have to LOL with that post on removing the bed. I understand the feeling but obviously removing it is not practical as you have the cabinets and fans so just leave it up out of the way seems like best choice.

In follow up to our problem, when I lowered it all the way in the attempt to get the two sides synchronized the problem got worse. The right side would only go back up an inch or so and then locked up while the left side kept going up.

Thor is of no help (after the first year warranty period) I use to get one on one immediate responses using the customer care form on their web sites but that individual moved on to parts department and I guess they rotate positions often?

In any case it seems after the first year they are less concerned with 5 star customer care/service so we must move on.

I was able to get connected with a good Customer Service Tech with Lippert, who helped me get the bunk back up and working.

I am aware of all the horror stories of the Chinese made components and gears breaking as I am sure Thor does too but wants to look the other way. I expect one day in the future it will happen to us too.

Our situation is we are full timers so do not have the convenience of sitting in a house somewhere while we get service done on the Motor Home.

I get it, its our choice to live full time, but the good hype of going full time and the post sell, drop in good customer service and care is just the harsh reality of it all we have to live with and deal with.

winder1 · 04-27-2016, 06:26 PM

If you EVER got good warranty service from THOR consider yourself lucky!

The good news is that now that your warranty is up, you can use any service you want, and definitely get better service. All of my THOR systems that have broken were repaired to better than new. All it has taken is my rig being in for repair way more time than I have had to use it!

Currently in the shop for the overhead bunk, among numerous other issues. It also came down cockeyed and jammed, on the very first use, joining the slide out, the auto levels, the generator, the Harris batteries, and on, and on, and on.

Maybe by year two enough of the low bid components will have been replaced, that I may have a functional RV.

Jbird_in_SC · 10-22-2016, 12:46 AM

I had the same problem with our 2017 Thor Challenger 37TB and the link below solved our problems. We've had the RV since mid-August and has about 1,700 miles (about 850 miles when we took delivery). While driving, I've noticed the overhead bunk on the driver's side tends to drops a slight bit (maybe 1/2 inch), so I have raised it a few times. Apparently doing so, I have got the unit out of synchronization. The video below worked for me. Whew...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSafAnjxIV4

Thanks,
Jay

mcbsunny · 10-22-2016, 03:24 AM

Our 37tb 2017 Challenger has had a lot of issues with the overhead bed from the very first day we drove it home. We have to do the 5 step reboot almost each trip. The pins that are suppose to hold the bed up in place while driving are way to short and do not stay in place and it allows the bed to drop on one side or the other. It has actually rubbed the texture wallpaper off the wall in a couple of 2-4 inch spots. So it is back in the shop for that and the other 5 page list of issues that needed to be fixed. (water leak ruined the kitchen cabinets, electrical issues with the leveling system, slides leak in rain storms, ect.....) It has been in the shop for 3 of the last 5 months of owning it.

bassoneman · 04-19-2019, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beacher

2014 Thor Hurricane 34E

My overhead bunk worked fine, then it just didn't. I head a big thunk, and a tooth piece of the drive gear on the passenger side fell to the floor.

I took it in for warranty repair at McMahon's RV in Westminster, CA, but they are currently in bankruptcy. So, I then visited Mike Thompson RV in Santa Fe Springs, (second of three Thor Warranty dealers in Southern California), and they initially only ordered replacement parts for one side after waiting for a month for the parts to arrive, then discovered they needed parts for the driver's side as well. Still waiting.

Anyone else having problems with the Shwintek overhead bunk in their Thor Motorhomes?

We have a 2015 Hurricane 34j The Over head bunk got stuck down. I noticed the passenger side was going up faster than the Drivers side. I put a little of my body weight on the Passenger side and the bunk went up.. I am afraid to bring it back down to redo the timing. If it gets stuck down, no way to drive rv.. Is there a manual way of putting up the bunk, like there is the slide outs...

WarEagleDan · 04-23-2019, 12:26 PM

"Has anyone removed this 200lb useless bed. Any idea on how its done."

Useless? My daughter & 5 grandkids would disown me if I even suggested it. It's their favorite place in our Windsport!

mstng · 10-01-2019, 04:20 PM

24.1 Vegas overhead bunk. This has probably been answered but can anyone please tell me where the controller is so I can re synch. Slide out one is in the compartment outside but I can’t find the one for the bunk.
Thanks

ducksface · 10-01-2019, 04:26 PM

We had to resynch ours yesterday.
A workman put it six inches up and down about two dozen times and it finally went out of sync

We finally got it to go all the way down.
Hit the button in down mode until we heard the switch click (the switch you put your finger on. The rails would turn themselves off and sometimes the switch wouldn't activate in up, and sometimes wouldn't activate in down. We finally worked it all the way down with some manual pressure on the offending side. )
Raised it a foot, and it got crokked again. Actually the drivers side rail would just stop working.
Put it back down until we heard the switch click.
Three times and it resync'd itself.

We didn't find the control box, but this is how we resync'd.

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