Forest City person for cost & appointment phone number

I'm getting ready to try for an appointment to get the nylon bearings/shims replaced (and possibly a cost estimate) on the main slideout for my 2004 Meridian 36G and was wondering if Bryan Funke would still be the best person to contact.  And is 800-537-1885 the best number for doing all this?  Not sure just how far in advance I need to be calling them.

I'll also want to know what all I'd need to unload from the slide compartments and inside cabinets if they pull the whole slide out of the coach.  Will they generally let a person know if the frig can be kept plugged in for cold food as we will have a 2-day trip there and return, and also any time we will be occupying  the coach while there.

Hope they are used to answering lots of dumb questions.

Although I've been happy getting work done at Forest City if I was you I would call HWH as well since they are in that neighborhood as well. ( I think your coach used HWH slide hardware.

You can often just show up at Forest City & get your coach fixed w/o appointment. Make sure you join their WIT club a month before getting the work done...(10% discount I think)

Bryan is now the shop supervisor and would not be your contact person.  Call the Owner Relations number (in the Resources post near the top of this board) to ask questions and set up an appointment.  For major work, I would absolutely make an appointment, even in the off season.  Peak shop times are as you might imagine the summer and they can be out 6-8 weeks on appointments.  Off-season, maybe only a week or two (or less.)

They do plug the coach into power in the service bay.  I wouldn't worry about unloading a slide, but be prepared for them needing to keep the coach in the service bay for more than one night.  Stay in The Lodge (if you have no pets) or the Super 8 if you have pets (actually the S8 is a nice little motel in any case.)

That's a good suggestion about joining (or renewing) WIT - actually the name has changed from WIT to something else, I forgot.  Yes, 10% discount on parts as I recall.

Allen,

I had mine done year before last.  They did not ask me to remove anything from the slide storage bins.  They took the coach into the shop each day for two full days and we had the coach back to us in the evenings.  They replaced all my big slide bushings (all the flat ones and big triangular bushings).  They also replaced my air horn relay and an automotive type of relay on hydraulic pump motor for the slides/jacks (that was to fix an intermittent problem with the rear slide).  Total bill was right at $1,500...most of it labor, of course.

Overall, a great experience.  We did make an appointment in advance.  This was in September and we made it our first stop on a two week vacation. 

Bryan had just been promoted to shop manager.  He arranged for a VIP factory tour for me which was really interesting (since I was a moderator on the IRV2 Winnebago forum at the time). 

2dalake - What year is your coach?  I understand some of the later models (after 2004 at least) are considerably easier to replace the bushings than mine will be.  Would be great if they could get the coach back to us each night but I was thinking one poster said it took them two full days to replace his bushings after pulling the room completely out of the coach.  Maybe they've learned new procedures in the last few years with more and more coaches needing the replacements, which does seem to be sort of a Mickey Mouse arrangement for all that weight of the room extension.

Don't imagine WIT discount will help much since I'm sure the vast majority of expense will be labor.  I know the bushings aren't very expensive.

Mine coach does use HWH, and I know they've been great helping me over the phone on a couple of problems I've had with the slides and jacks all at the same time,  but I thought maybe since HWH just manufactures the mechanisms while Winnebago actually does the installing that Winny might be the most experienced at replacing parts.  Course I could be way off in my thinking, which would be about par for the course.

Bryan was great to work with once there while under warranty, just hope his replacement is as good.  Thanks for all the advice.

John - been trying to locate a name/phone number under Resourses/Owner without any success.

Found a phone number but no name to go with it.  Guess whoever answers the phone will know the information I need and able to make the appointment for me.

Rumor has it that HWH is slow on getting parts to the repair shops so I would strongly suggest an appointment so the parts can be preordered.  If you are in the Arizona area 3Ts is an excellent shop to have this type of work done.  John Visser the manager works with HWH during GNR so has a good handle on HWH problems.

Don, WIT 70041

I have also been reading the "slide bushing" thread with great interest. The salon slide on my '04 Meridian 36G squeals like a banshee both extending and retracting. Looking at the slide blocks (from what I can see) it appears that the lower rear block has broken.
I feel that I have 4 options since we are planning to take in the Tulip Festival in Pella, Iowa this coming spring.

1. Take the coach to HWH since we're going to be not far Moscow.
2. Take the coach to Winnebago Ind since we'll be in Iowa.
3. Take the coach to 3T's in Lake Havasu - 200 miles from Glendale.
4. Based on several inputs here and other forums, do it myself.

My problem is, I'm not sure that I have the tools/materials to do it myself, and don't have a good feel for just how to support the slide during said maintenance. Does anyone have a good handle on cost to replace the bushings? Does it involve special tooling or hand tools?

Would appreciate any insight you might have based on your experience with the slide bushings.

Red - there are very few DIY I would not consider taking on, but changing slide bushings is one of them.  I have no experience with 3Ts service facility (one of their guys looked at our jacks on behalf of HWH at last year's GNR and he was extremely knowledgeable), but HWH in Moscow or Winnebago in Forest City would be an excellent choice.

If you are referring to the triangle slide bushings then I would take it to HWH. They only took 6 hours to do mine and charged a flat 6 hour rate for it. They will remove the slide cylinders and do it the right way. If I am not mistaken Winnebago supports the slide and then cuts and bends the supports to access the bushings and then beats the support back into place and rewelds it. HWH can replace all of the bushings at once if you need them.

John said: "there are very few DIY I would not consider taking on, but changing slide bushings is one of them." 

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Have been on again - off again regarding DIY - wish I had a better view of the task. Have had very good experiences with 3T's, and talked with them this morning - they said 4 hours labor, and I have an appointment with them on Jan 21.

Agree that HWH would do a good job, but with the sounds the slide is now making, I don't want a problem to progress further while making my way to Moscow in the spring. (I can go from Glendale to Lake Havasu City without driving in snow.) 

At 3T's, John's father-in-law Paul was an engineer at HWH. he started 3T's. I can highly recommend them. Another option is Lichtsinn Motors in Forest City. A friend had his slide worked on there last fall. It took a week to get the parts from HWH. Ended up costing around $900.

Wagonmaster2 said:

2dalake - What year is your coach?  I understand some of the later models (after 2004 at least) are considerably easier to replace the bushings than mine will be.  Would be great if they could get the coach back to us each night but I was thinking one poster said it took them two full days to replace his bushings after pulling the room completely out of the coach.  Maybe they've learned new procedures in the last few years with more and more coaches needing the replacements, which does seem to be sort of a Mickey Mouse arrangement for all that weight of the room extension.

Don't imagine WIT discount will help much since I'm sure the vast majority of expense will be labor.  I know the bushings aren't very expensive.

Mine coach does use HWH, and I know they've been great helping me over the phone on a couple of problems I've had with the slides and jacks all at the same time,  but I thought maybe since HWH just manufactures the mechanisms while Winnebago actually does the installing that Winny might be the most experienced at replacing parts.  Course I could be way off in my thinking, which would be about par for the course.

Bryan was great to work with once there while under warranty, just hope his replacement is as good.  Thanks for all the advice.

John - been trying to locate a name/phone number under Resourses/Owner without any success.

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My Journey is a 2002.

I did not consider HWH and really wanted to experience Winnebago's factory service.  As noted, they did give us the coach back in the evening.  Also, there was some cutting and welding done since the evidence of new welds was visible on the ram assemblies.  If we keep the beast long enough for either slide to need service, I will certainly look into using HWH.

Mine was also groaning when extending or retracting and the front had dropped about 3/8".

Gad, I've been typing here for 20 minutes, hit the enter bar and it all disappeared.  So I'll try again but maybe shorten the dialog a little.  From what I've read the models of Itascas later than 2004 or 2005 are a lot easier to replace the shims, at least the outer lower ones.  One poster on another Forum had pictures of his (I believe was a 2007) where he replaced the outer lower ones on both rams in little over an hour.

My 2004 isn't making any noise, at least yet, but for the last 2-3 years I've been watching the outer lower rectangular bushings very closely where one on each ram has pieces broken off but still seems to be supporting the rams.

I may have to reconsider who I take it to for these replacements since all of the bushings probably need replaced as the room is dragging on the carpet more than it used to.  FC and HWH are about the same mileage from north of Oklahoma City so distance won't be a factor but if HWH can do it in 6 hours that would definitely be a deciding factor as I think I've read it takes FC a couple of days which would involve overnight lodging cost.  (And we dislike motels/hotels very very much).  And not sure I like a lot of cutting bending and welding to get to the bushings.  It looks like it would be better to pull the room from the coach making access to all the bushing very easy, but then I'm not the one doing the work, nor would I want to try it on our year's coach.    Going to stop here before things disappear again.

Speaking of Moscow, Iowa at HWH, do they have any kind of overnight parking so we can be there first thing in the morning for them to get an early start.  And probably need a place to stay the next night before starting the long 2-day trip home.

Wish there was a shop here in north central Oklahoma like 3Ts, but I feel lucky to even have a good recommended shop to install a new cooling unit in my Norcold when I decide to do it.  I guess they are capable, I did have to rewire the Norcold black box after I got home from this shop so it would quit clicking and my cooling fans would start working again.

Why does the time on my Posts show exactly 2 hours earlier than it is here at home, like it must be Pacific Time Zone instead of Central?  Is there a setting somewhere I need to change?  Know this may not be the place for this question but didn't know where it would fit.  Thank you.

Why does the time on my Posts show exactly 2 hours earlier than it is here at home, like it must be Pacific Time Zone instead of Central?  Is there a setting somewhere I need to change?

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Go to your forum profile, Look and Layout, and you can set the time offset.  The auto detect is the easiest method.

Wagonmaster2 said:

Speaking of Moscow, Iowa at HWH, do they have any kind of overnight parking so we can be there first thing in the morning for them to get an early start. ....

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We were there about four years ago and they do have overnight parking.  I think it was electric only for hookups.

I was at HWH having this done last July. They have electrical hook ups but also have a dump station and water available. They have a nice wairing room for service and if you have animals they are welcome. Call and make your appointment for first thing in the morning and they will have you on your way by 4pm. They were even able to plug me in so i could keep the fridge going. I did not have to remove anything from the slide being worked on but had to give them room to access the rams from the other side of the coach. I did not have to remove everything from the passenger storage but just enough so they could pull the rams.

mike and pat said:

I was at HWH having this done last July. They have electrical hook ups but also have a dump station and water available. They have a nice wairing room for service and if you have animals they are welcome. Call and make your appointment for first thing in the morning and they will have you on your way by 4pm. They were even able to plug me in so i could keep the fridge going. I did not have to remove anything from the slide being worked on but had to give them room to access the rams from the other side of the coach. I did not have to remove everything from the passenger storage but just enough so they could pull the rams.

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To do all this did they need access to both storage compartments on the passenger side of the coach?  Oh,  I have the 36, maybe the 39 has more compartments on the passenger side but I guess they still need to get into the compartments opposite the front/rear rams in order to remove them.  I would probably need to leave a couple of my plastic storage boxes at home and maybe also the spare tire I carry in the last storage compartment since both those compartments are about as full as I can get them.    Appreciate the information, sounds about like FC.  Was hoping maybe they were like the grounds at the Blue Ox tow bar company, they have at least a dozen or so camping sites with full hook-ups and some with concrete platforms.
Still undecided whether to got to FC or HWH for the bushing replacements.  I would have thought FC would be better at it but from what I'm reading it sounds like HWH has a better attack plan.

Ned said:

Go to your forum profile, Look and Layout, and you can set the time offset.  The auto detect is the easiest method.

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Thanks Ned, my time offset was -2.  Not sure how it ever got that way.  Appreciate the help, I'd never of found it by myself.  There's so many little hidden options on these computers I have no idea how to change or improve things.