Schwintek Madness

UpstateGreg · 10-20-2020, 12:13 AM

The wife and I had our first catastrophic failure this weekend. The full wall slide on our 2017 Hurricane 29M had issues. Friday we went to the NYS DMV to register the coach. The wife had made an appointment in mid-August. Before we even took possession of the rig. Friday was finally the day of the appointment. The previous owner had allowed us to leave their plates on it, (our insurance naturally), while we waited. We went and paid the sales taxes (ouch...) and got new plates. Saturday morning the wife planned to leave on a four-day solo (well, solo with the dogs) trip. Everything was packed but we went to take in the slide that we had extended the evening before in order to get everything loaded up and the rear of the slide wouldn't move.

Sigh.

Got the ladder out and start poking around. After some sleuthing, I find that the rear motor had sheared off the motor retention screw. The screw stops the motor from rising out of the bearing block. No screw meant the motor came out of the block and spun around, gouging the top of the bearing block pretty badly. I could not get the motor to reseat the index screws back into the four holes on top of the bearing block. The much more mechanically inclined brother came over Sunday and together we got the slide back in partway so we could access the motor from the inside. After ripping off the trim and cover plate my brother was able to remove the motor without too much more issue. Now that we could see what was going on we were able to get the motor back into place properly.

I worry a bit about the gouges on top of the bearing block not securing everything terribly well. The bearing block isn't terribly expensive but it is a pain to replace. I had to get a replacement screw from Home Depot. I went a bit larger than the original, a 5/8" #10 vs a 1/2" #8. But seriously, what an incredibly stupid design. They don't even bother to give you a threaded bolt hole on the motor to screw into, it just goes into one of the oval cutouts that surround the motor.

To round things out, when I was buttoning everything back up, I needed to put some sealant on the rubber trim I had pulled back on the outside so I could gain access to the area where the motor is. While cutting the tip off the tube of sealant I cut into the top of my left index finger deep enough to need four stitches at urgent care.

So the rig is working again. Slides in and out. Took it out for a few miles run to bounce it around to see if it would pop out. So far it looks ok. The wife took it for a shorter duration trip today and all is well so far.

So, any lessons learned? One, don't use the wrong tool to open up a tube of caulk or you'll bleed everywhere. Two, I need to get a collapsable ladder into the rig before we go out again. Three, I need to get a couple of slide locks in case this happens while we are traveling and I have to button up the slide and get the rig home or to a service facility with one of the motors disconnected. Four, the little Rapid Camp remote was super handy during this issue.

Hope everyone else's weekend was better than ours!

Popfla · 10-20-2020, 12:26 AM

Ugh! Does not sound like fun.

My motto is "No task is complete until I bleed on it". And I do so with amazing regularity.

I keep a 6 foot collapsible ladder like the picture below in the rear bumper, where the "stinky slinky" is supposed to go. The ladder fits perfectly - snug enough that I added a piece of nylon strap to pull it out. It has come in handy several times. They also make an 8' version, which I keep in a shed at home.

UpstateGreg · 10-20-2020, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Popfla

Ugh! Does not sound like fun.

My motto is "No task is complete until I bleed on it". And I do so with amazing regularity.

I keep a 6-foot collapsible ladder like the picture below in the rear bumper, where the "stinky slinky" is supposed to go. The ladder fits perfectly - snug enough that I added a piece of nylon strap to pull it out. It has come in handy several times. They also make an 8' version, which I keep in a shed at home.

That is amazingly compact! I think, given my height of 5'9" I need something taller to get at places like the top of the slideout. I have ladders at home obviously but think I will grab one of the Harbor Freight 14' (really 10') telescoping ladders to throw in the basement.

TurnerFam · 10-20-2020, 01:53 AM

that outside 'set screw' and the motor's 'oval' hole is designed that way for a good reason - giving you the ability to much more easily 'set' the screw into the motor housing, otherwise if it was simply the correct 'size' threaded hole, you'd have to be so exact, without also being able to 'see' it, that it might be impossible to thread in. You'd be surprised at why somethings are sometimes done, even though your own experience might lead you to believe otherwise - it's engineering, and for good reason.

enjoy.

Campnjoe · 10-20-2020, 01:55 AM

Glad you got it sorted out. I have a 29m as well.

Did you happen to get an inspection done before you purchased?

UpstateGreg · 10-20-2020, 02:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Campnjoe

Glad you got it sorted out. I have a 29m as well.

Did you happen to get an inspection done before you purchased?

Not sure it would have been picked up. The screw clearly had just sheared off. The broken part was still magnetically stuck to the motor.

To answer your question, no. I brought my brother, a professional diesel mechanic with decades of experience, and previous RV ownership (which I have had as well, just not with slides) and we did a pretty thorough examination. Some areas have numerous RV inspectors around, they are more scarce in this area. The slides have gone in and out any number of times since we purchased it and we did two short three day trips with it without slide issues.

Yosemitebob · 10-20-2020, 08:03 PM

Thank you for posting your fix that means a lot for many. Hopefully I never have the problem but with people like you it really helps.

Pete'sMH · 10-20-2020, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UpstateGreg

That is amazingly compact! I think, given my height of 5'9" I need something taller to get at places like the top of the slideout. I have ladders at home obviously but think I will grab one of the Harbor Freight 14' (really 10') telescoping ladders to throw in the basement.

It comes in a 7 ft model as well. I’m your height and while I can’t use it to get on the roof (rear ladder is for that) I can use it for everything on the side - all the way to the top.

rudyhehn · 10-20-2020, 11:51 PM

My condolences. I also had slide issues at inconvenient times. Like you I think the design is not well engineered. Hope your finger does OK. Could have been worse. At least you were not pinching the tube of caulk between your legs while cutting of the the tip!

Carlmatt · 10-25-2020, 12:00 PM

I have a Thor Chateau 31W with a full wall slide. In its 3rd year the slide started binding in the rear - starts together, then the rear slows down for a few seconds, then catches up again after the front is fully extended. It continued to get worse until the slide would stop and get stuck. The last time required 2 men and a woman to push as my wife was on the switch to retract the slide. It is now at Camping World - they are replacing the slide mechanism - $1150 for the tracts and the motors plus $2000 labor. (6-8 weeks). The controller never showed any fault codes. The slide needs 4 motors and not just 2 as they have to work very hard to move this heavy slide.

Jimbo56 · 10-31-2020, 08:37 PM

Just wondering. When you ran the slide out in the driveway, was the coach level?

Carlmatt · 11-01-2020, 07:54 AM

Yes , we were level everytime

donblanco · 11-01-2020, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carlmatt

I have a Thor Chateau 31W with a full wall slide. In its 3rd year the slide started binding in the rear - starts together, then the rear slows down for a few seconds, then catches up again after the front is fully extended. It continued to get worse until the slide would stop and get stuck. The last time required 2 men and a woman to push as my wife was on the switch to retract the slide. It is now at Camping World - they are replacing the slide mechanism - $1150 for the tracts and the motors plus $2000 labor. (6-8 weeks). The controller never showed any fault codes. The slide needs 4 motors and not just 2 as they have to work very hard to move this heavy slide.

2012 Four Winds 31L - sort of a 'sister' model to yours, different floor plan. But our slide is doing the exact same thing! Some times it works, some times not so much. What we have done as a temporary workaround is to have someone (usually me) go outside to the front end of the slide and as the slide starts coming out, push *in* on the front corner. I usually do it in short bursts until I see the back end get past whatever is slowing it down. We had initially tried to push *out* on the back end from inside the motorhome but that never worked.

Not sure if this is a 'sync' issue or if something is going out, or if maybe something is blocking the path of the back side...

Surely this would involve nothing more than maybe a new motor, right? I'm shocked that you would have CW replace *everything* at such a crazy cost...

SRobe21849 · 05-08-2021, 06:25 PM

My wife and I just cut a month off our travels due to the swintek slide issue on our 29M Windsport. It would not retract properly and now is not straight. We stopped using it as it is in and we can travel with it at least. Traveled to Elkhart THOR to try to get an appointment to get it fixed. Still trying 4 weeks later after much emailing and telephoning. Getting a response from THOR is harder than the repair.

We purchased the 2019 Windsport 29M and have had issue after issue in three years. Now it sits in our driveway. Hope we get good news soon.

We love the floor plan and the Chasis and V10 Ford engine is great. We have put 25M miles on so far traveling throughout the country.

Will post an update on our slide issue when we get some resolution.

Jimbo56 · 05-09-2021, 10:28 AM

Seems as though most of you that have had slide motor issues are having it on the full length wall slide.

TurnerFam · 05-09-2021, 01:21 PM

maybe, but I've motor replacements in both the main full-wall slide and the much smaller bedroom slide. I don't actually think it's the 'weight' that is the issue with these systems, but the fact that two motors, operating on their own, even with a common 'controller', can sometimes either fail, fall out of sync with each other, or various other scenarios. Since it's not a single track, but a Top and Bottom track system, it also brings into the scenario that the gears on each, if not always at the same connection pressure, can also create misalignment, or worse, skipping of the track or gear teeth.

The typical 'owner' related issue is not holding the extend or retract button long enough AFTER the slide is fully deployed or retracted, allowing the controller to 'sync' the motors.

There are other techniques, such as stopping the retracting process and running the slide back out, fully, again, to also re-sync the motors, etc.

Some have stated that you 'must' deploy or retract the slide FULLY, but the slide system doesn't care. There may be times when you don't want to deploy the slide fully, such as to have a little more hallway room when overnighting in a parking lot, or just even to have room to run a coax cable or extension cord thru the slide seal.

Now, yes, there can be factors that could impact the slide during that time, such as gravity, having a slight slant or weight transfer toward that side, or just movement within the coach, etc, which could create some tendency for the slide to 'creep', especially over a long time. I'm not sure, though, if the slide is fully deployed, if that is not still the same factors.
If you'll notice, if you have a front electric motor bunk, that if you do not add the 'pins' when the bed is in the fully 'up' position, such as for travel, the 'slide', or in this case the 'bed' can start to creep down while moving. I've seen this happen before - and while the bed did not slide down far enough to impact driving, it was an interesting find. The reason it did not come down all the way is because one side did most of the moving, which then 'bound' the bed at a certain point from traveling the rest of the way down. That 'angle' is exactly what the problem is with most regular slides when the motors are no longer 'in sync'(not the band, of course!).

If you have a slide where the front is out farther than the rear, and therefore the front of the slide does not come all the way in contact with the sidewall when retracted, you have the two motors 'out of sync', which can be easily resolved. Run the slide all the way back out again, hold the button for several seconds, afterwards, and then try to retract it again. You may have to do this several times, but eventually it will work.

If, though, you have one end of the slide where the top is making contact with the sidewall, yet the bottom is not, that is a different story. That means that it's not your MOTOR that is at issue, but that your TRACKS, or better yet, your GEAR TEETH are no longer in sync. That can not be easily resolved, matter-of-fact, you will probably have to remove and replace/repair the main column that houses the motors, gears, and shaft. Chances are the gear teeth had 'skipped' on the rail during extraction or retraction, or lost a gear tooth, or a rail tooth has broken, etc. This happened to us. A new column replacement solved the issue from then on.

My personal thought is that if the slide 'room' is not exactly 'square', or the opening is actually a little too 'large', then the TRACK and the column's GEAR TEETH may not always be coming directly and correctly in contact with each other, creating the obvious possibility that you could 'skip' a tooth.

Scubawise · 05-09-2021, 03:41 PM

Thx excellent knowledge for all of us

Pete'sMH · 05-09-2021, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimbo56

Seems as though most of you that have had slide motor issues are having it on the full length wall slide.

Most, maybe, but it was the smaller bedroom slide that gave me the bigger problems on my Fleetwood a while back.

rudyhehn · 05-09-2021, 10:29 PM

As noted above we had slide issues three times. The last time we had it repaired at the Lippert repair facility in Goshen, close to Elkhart. The left slide now functions but almost always stalls on the front end when extending the slide. A quick hit of the switch to retract, then hitting extend usually works. Sometimes we have to repeat the procedure. Not sure why it does this. Any ideas?

Scubawise · 05-10-2021, 12:26 AM

Us and our friends hold the buttons 5 or 6 seconds after in and out..you can hear the sync

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