Thor Super C Full Wall Slide issues

[CLBeerbower]

Brand new Thor 35SB Super C, second trip out and full-wall slide fails in the out position. Had worked with no issues prior. Flashing a code 18, which the tech said could be a bad motor or wiring. Read about it in the manual.

So bummed. Spent over an hour with tech support; they were kind but only solution was to have an emergency RV tech come out. As you can imagine, called over five different organizations and only one called me back to tell me basically “don’t work and slides and won’t come to where you are.” So Thor is happy to pay for a part or a mobile repair, except this time of year there isn’t anyone to do the work. Was able to put the slide controller in override and by the grace of god it slowly came in and I drove home. I will now call the CW first thing in the morning and see what they offer. My guess is late July before they can look at it. Whole season may be ruined. Wife is irate. Will follow up to this post to let you know how this issue on a brand new six-figure coach works out. Any others have experience with this failure? Could it come in if only
One motor was working?

 

[Bob Denman]

I ended up needing a new wiring harness for the slide in my Outlaw.
I don't know what made it work: but at least it did.
I lived with that override procedure for an entire Season... :nonono:

Good luck!

 

[99dart]

Our ws31 has the full wall slide. It failed at the IN position, first day of vacation with our G-daughters last year. Fortunately for us we were able to continue on, but the motorhome was pretty awkward to use. Part of our wardrobe was in the drawers hidden by the slide.
We later had both motors replaced by our Good Sam extended service plan. It cost us 100 bucks for a $1200 repair. And, BTW, the first owners paid for the service plan.

 

[16ACE27]

Could it come in if only
One motor was working?

No, only one side would move until it jammed.

 

[Miramar Owner]

All this makes me glad I opted NOT to buy a model with a full wall slide. Sorry to hear of the problems.

 

[revjeffrey]

@ What point & time does Thor seek out another Slide Hardware Vendor?

 

[dkoldman]

@ What point & time does Thor seek out another Slide Hardware Vendor?

I would think that Thor has to know that thousands of potential customers like me are scared to death of slides failing & hydraulic levelers getting stuck. It seems like a simple fix to me. Thor should make both items a 5 year warranty and put in controls so they can't be used improperly. It should not be part of the ESP rip off, rather more like an insurance that every new owners pays as part of the selling price. Thor should require it's dealers do all of the repairs for a predefined price for 5 years that Thor pays. i.e Let's assume the 250 of these failures per year at $1,500 average repair cost to Thor. That means $375,000 per year for Thor. A wild guess but say Thor sells 2,000 new RVs / year. If every customer was required to pay one time $250 Slide / Hydraulic Insurance fee with new purchase then Thor would bring in about $500,000 per year. They would actually make money and customers would feel free about buying the product. In time, as Thor manages the actual cost and failures, the mfg would have to improve the quality. As quality improve and Thor profit's increased they could lower the Insurance fee if not eliminate all together. At the end of the day, those items should be covered for 5 years. Everything else could be the scam that is ESP for extended coverage for those that just feel like they need.

Note: I just took stabs at guessing on some of the math. If someone has data that may be more accurate, I can update to play out as to how practical this could be. i.e Maybe they start by going to 3 years versus 5 years, but something should change which is the point.

 

[Miramar Owner]

This is not only a THOR problem. Most all RV manufacturers use the same systems and I have heard of horror stories, especially of the super slides, from Winnebago and others.

I don't know what percentage of slides fail but I suspect it is a relatively small number...it's just we only hear of the ones that do. I do also suspect that of the failures, most are with the super slides due to the weight of the slide.

Do some reading and you will discover that every slide system has its risks and failures. It's just we don't hear of the vast majority that have no problems. I have two slides with NO problems.

 

[The Gritz Carlton]

Thor has an exclusive on the 3-Trak System for the full-wall slides and it works very well. Thor engineers designed it as a result of slide issues...mostly from the 2013 era with the Palazzo nightmare. Occasionally an owner may have a failure...Thor doesn't manufacture the motors. Nothing works forever, but...as stated above...the owners with problems are mostly the only one's you'll hear about. Mine work fine. Assume you do the "re-sync procedures" every time you put them in and out?

 

[Miramar Owner]

Thor has an exclusive on the 3-Trak System for the full-wall slides and it works very Assume you do the "re-sync procedures" every time you put them in and out?

True on the 3-Trak System. That wasn't available when I bought my Miramar. I just looked at the weight and decided not to add that risk to my purchase. And yes, I do the re-sync every time.

I just get annoyed with all the Thor bashing. The industry as a whole has its issues, but Thor is no worse than the others. I live in Iowa and Winnebago is the "brand to buy" here but I have camped right next to them with major problems. The most recent was a guy with a brand new unit...first trip out...and his jacks wouldn't go up. Fluid was all over the ground around one of his jacks and his fresh water tank was over flowing. Just sayin'

 

[The Gritz Carlton]

Until RVIA decides to act as they claim they do...nothing will change...it's a worthless organization generating nothing but salaries. I'm with you on the Thor Bashing. If you do a factory tour there, you'll see things differently. There's always the "3rd Side" of every story you never hear...and it's generally the correct one.

 

[CLBeerbower]

Yes. Every time both when extending as well as retracting. It had worked great right up to this point. I am wondering if after doing some research that when it is pulled apart the wires will have gotten ripped out of the motor since I can still
Move both sides when I go into override on the control panel.

 

[The Gritz Carlton]

With that info, someone here will jump in and pinpoint your issue. Lots of real brainiacs here on this stuff. If it works good on override, seems motor is good.

 

[CLBeerbower]

With that info, someone here will jump in and pinpoint your issue. Lots of real brainiacs here on this stuff. If it works good on override, seems motor is good.

I agree. Thanks.

 

[CLBeerbower]

Lippert tech wants me to test the voltage at the controller first. I will let you know what I find out.

 

[Beau388]

Here the controller diagnostic -

Green LED1 Blink: Motor 1 - 2 Blink: Motor 2

Red LED 2 Blinks: Battery Drop Out
3 Blinks: Low Battery
4 Blinks: High Battery
5 Blinks: Excessive Motor Current
6 Blinks: Motor Short Circuit
8 Blinks: Hall Signal Not Present
9 Blinks: Hall Power Short to Ground



The controller gets it power through a 30 amp fuse in the power center fuse panel. Each controller has two output cables that go to the left and tight 12 volt motors at the top of top track just inside the coach's wall - accessed through the weather strip. If the slide moves about 6 inches then stops and won't move - it is a loss of Hall sync power at one or both motors. An manual override wide move the slide. One minute after the slide stops moving the controller will revert to normal mode. If the slide doesn't move at all - generally the controller is seeing a voltage below 6 volts. - start the generator or leave the coach on shore power until all slides are in. Only one edge of the slide moves - disconnected motor wire, dead motor, jammed slide.


Slide motors come in two types - standard 350:1 gear reduction 8 amp nominal or 500:1 gear reduction HD 12 amp for triple track. All the controllers are the same and can be swapped if needed. All in-wall slides can be moved manually if the motor brakes are disengaged.
<http://www.amlrv.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Schwintek-Manual-override.pdf>

 

[Cwray-THOR]

Just had our 1st trip of the new year with our 34J 2019 Hurricane that we bought mid-July last year and our full slide stuck out and froze in the extended position in out home drive way. Luckily, I had the foresight to pull our cars out of the garage beforehand. So, now we’re stuck with this 36’ beast in our subdivision, parked in front of our house until next Monday (6 days) before we can pay someone to tow it to our dealer.

We had someone come out via Coach-Net to manually get the slide in and locked before driving it back to the dealer. I wasn’t around, but the tech said it was jammed (only can move an inch before throwing a 2-green, 8-red error) and it couldn’t be done. It would need to be towed with the full slide extended. This sounds like a disaster in the making with further damage being done to alignment or frame due to it being towed 45 minutes down country roads to the dealer.

Am I wrong?

The guide posted above makes me think that there is indeed a way to disengage the motors that the tech didn’t know about. I’m wondering if I should take matters into my own hands and see if I can find those things and do that part myself.

Any thoughts? Much more knowledge and experience here than what I think I’ve been getting over phone calls, unfortunately.

 

[Huck-THOR]

I have a 2017 Challenger 37LX with a full wall slide that has had to be reset a time or two in the past, but the last few weeks I have had to do the reset every time I put the slide out and in.

 

[dkoldman]

We were set to buy a brand new ACE 29.3 when one of the issues noted was the slide would not extend / retract. Salesman eventually went to find a mechanic to get help. While they were gone, I went for he override that I had learned on this site.

It was displaying 5 Blinks: Excessive Motor Current error

About an hour later the salesman came back but no service help. He was surprised to see the slide out and us comfortably going through the coach. The slide never worked properly, but the manual override always did. I found it in lower compartment outside. I was told that the slide among several other things noted would be repaired during the PDI after I buy?

I know it is not like buying a car, but I would never buy a brand new SUV where the moonroof, rear tailgate would not work or not retract when opened, or fully extended. And for the dealer to tell me if I buy the car they will fix is. It is just not something I can overcome short some major discount on vehicle.

Slides and hydraulics are my majors fears with RV purchase. I don't believe it is confined to Thor, but I believe the Thors, Winnebagos Forest Rivers of the world must own the problem and create solutions to dump mfgs that can't fail proof and improve reliability of designs if not offer immediate emergency support for situations like the brand new 34J Hurricane. I mean how bad it must be to have brand new unit and warranty, but still helpless? Well worse if you consider that some actually pay $4k -$8k more so that if it happens later after mfg warranty; you still have same expenses to deal with emergency.

 

[The Gritz Carlton]

Just had our 1st trip of the new year with our 34J 2019 Hurricane that we bought mid-July last year and our full slide stuck out and froze in the extended position in out home drive way. Luckily, I had the foresight to pull our cars out of the garage beforehand. So, now we’re stuck with this 36’ beast in our subdivision, parked in front of our house until next Monday (6 days) before we can pay someone to tow it to our dealer.

We had someone come out via Coach-Net to manually get the slide in and locked before driving it back to the dealer. I wasn’t around, but the tech said it was jammed (only can move an inch before throwing a 2-green, 8-red error) and it couldn’t be done. It would need to be towed with the full slide extended. This sounds like a disaster in the making with further damage being done to alignment or frame due to it being towed 45 minutes down country roads to the dealer.

Am I wrong?

The guide posted above makes me think that there is indeed a way to disengage the motors that the tech didn’t know about. I’m wondering if I should take matters into my own hands and see if I can find those things and do that part myself.

Any thoughts? Much more knowledge and experience here than what I think I’ve been getting over phone calls, unfortunately.

Absolutely do not tow with slide extended. This would be disastrous!! While at Wakarusa last December, the tech told me...if you have a slide stuck in any position...go to the controller box under the slide in the nearest storage bay...disconnect the two white wires on each side of the controller (this unlocks the motors)...this will allow manual 'pushing' the slide back in. Once in place, reconnect the white wires and this will lock the motors back in place so as to hold the slide in.