Quote:
Originally Posted by Myles
About a month ago, we drove our 2022 Thor Omni SV34 from Florida to New York. When we arrived we noticed a large gap on the front bumper passenger side.. 1 inch. There was no gap on the drivers side.
We also noticed that the molding between the cab and cabin (outside) had pulled away from the body. You can easily see about 3 screws that have pulled out of the wall.
We called dealer who assured us the unit was safe to drive back to Florida, and ît feels fine when driving, and we made an appointment for the first day we got back.
First night on trip back home, slide started opening crooked, and before I could stop it, it stopped itself and froze. After one hour on hold with thor, the tech walked me through the manual override.
Very difficult to get to clothes, bed is usable, but can't lie flat, we slept across it last night. Can't get to some food in fridge, can't wait for tonight!
Has anyone had similar issues? Opinions and comments appreciated.
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I believe you have 3 different issues... and none of them are due to a bent frame so ignore Dave's alignment snipe.
Here is what you are very likely dealing with:
1) I have a post and there are several other posts about problems with the front cap attachment to the house box and the top of the cab. This is a well known problem with the Thor Super C's. Do a search (Magnitude / Omni Front Cap) and you will find several threads.
Kwlot and PillBox repaired their own front caps but it is not for the faint of heart. I purchased one of the first Magnitude SV34's in October 2019. I had the front cap start to come apart after about 5000 miles or so and only a couple trips. I had the front cap on my 2020 SV34 fixed at the Thor Factory Service Center in Wakarusa.
The start of the problem is seeing screw heads pushing against the molding the runs up and down the driver and passenger side walls where the front cap and house mount to the cab. Eventually the molding can lift and you can see broken, loose or missing screws. You can also see gaps between the cap and the cab when leveling from the torque and twisting forces.
Using Auto-Level and also traveling rough roads can start the problem by twisting and torquing the chassis and front cap. Thor uses screws that are much too small and not enough screws up and down both sides, on the roof and also where the cap attaches to the roof of the cab. They also aren't using enough structural adhesive.
You do want to get this fixed ASAP because if the molding is lifting and you drive through rain, you will get water intrusion. I also personally would not trust 95% of the dealers out there to repair it properly. I would take it to the Thor Factory Service Center in Wakarusa to be repaired. Unless you have the same type of skills and equipment Kwplot and Pillbox. Kwplot did an outstanding job of fixing and upgrading his front cap.
I would estimate 80% of the Thor Super C's from the older Chateaus to the newer Omni / Magnitudes have this front cap attachment issue based on my experience and reading other owner reports of the same problem.
Here is some light reading to help get you started:
https://www.thorforums.com/forums/f4...sue-22547.html
https://www.thorforums.com/forums/f4...ues-27773.html
https://www.thorforums.com/forums/f4...fix-28874.html
2) The bumper is a plastic cover and not well made and the alignment of it is not that great either. It is also only attached with a few small screws and some adhesive. There was also a post about someone else who's bumper was out of alignment from day one on his XG32 (Chunker).
Under the plastic you will find the stock chrome F-550 bumper that the plastic bumper cover is screwed into with adhesive holding the top of the plastic onto the chrome bumper. You will also see underneath the plastic where they cut off the tow hooks and left them bolted into the frame.... nice clean work by Thor.
The front fender flares are also not attached very well. There have been a few reports of people having issues with those as well.
I pulled off the plastic cover and the stock bumper and replaced it with a heavy duty bumper / cow catcher. I have a post on here with pictures of it.
Here you go.....
https://www.thorforums.com/forums/f2...ade-27248.html
https://www.thorforums.com/forums/f4...ons-26727.html
3) The crappy Schwintek Slide System requires 1/8" or less tolerance of the slide box during manufacturing. It's like playing the lottery when it comes to Thor assembly and how close they got it. Leveling must be near perfect (using manual level and not Auto-Level). Otherwise you can get twisting of the chassis that causes the slide to bind.
The 3Trax System is also marginal at best for a heavy, full-wall slide. The motors are also not well secured. They tend to move a little from the tremendous torque opening and closing the slide. It can sometimes cause a wire to pinch and then the motors get out of sync. They can also lift out of the bearing block if there is enough torque to bend or shear off the tiny screw that is supposed to secure the motor.
It is my opinion that the full-wall slide will eventually fail in some fashion if you use the slide a lot. Some people have been lucky and not had any issues but many have not been so lucky.
My slide failed a couple times and I know other Omni / Magnitude owners with the full-wall slide who had similar issues. I finally got tired of it and I had my Scwintek Slide Mechanism replaced with the Vroom Slide Mechanism last October. The performance and quality difference of the Vroom Slide System is night and day compared to the stock Schwintek Slide Mechanism. I also have a thread on this as well.
Here is info on the Vroom Slide System:
https://www.thorforums.com/forums/f2...v34-28659.html
https://www.thorforums.com/forums/f8...oom-29873.html
It's a shame that you purchase a coach north of $200K and have these types of issues but it is what it is in this industry.
After doing many of my own repairs and upgrades and after getting my front cap fixed by Thor and having the Vroom Slide System installed, my SV34 seems pretty solid.... but it took a couple years.... a lot of time and more money to get it done right.
Good Luck!
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