Schwintek Slide Mechanism - 2014 Itasca Ellipse

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Looks like the latest fix from Schwintek works!  :)

We just travelled from south FL to the mountains in NC over the last several days & the road/slide noise problem was non-existent. What a great improvement in enjoyable driving. I had no idea it could be so quiet!
 
Cass Sumrall said:
Looks like the latest fix from Schwintek works!

We just travelled from south FL to the mountains in NC over the last several days & the road/slide noise problem was non-existent. What a great improvement in enjoyable driving. I had no idea it could be so quiet!
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Cass Sumrall said:
For what its worth, my dealer just fixed mine with the lube but they did more than just spray it on - they put a lot around the gibbs. It did work on my 20 mile drive home but they came to my home yesterday & did the new "screw & T nut" fix since all agreed the lube is only a temporary fix. We'll be on the road Friday for the next couple of weeks so I hope to report it stays quiet for the trip.
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Cass,



Can you explain what the 'the new "screw & T nut" fix' entails. I need to have that fix applied to my 2013 Itasca Sunstar 35B.



BTW, my copy of the lastest WIT Magazine arrived Friday with the detailed view of the "gibbs."


Thanks, Richard
 
Richard,

I described the "screw & T nut" fix briefly  in an earlier post, but it entails drilling out an existing hole in the metal channel holding the motor & inserting a metal bolt that screws into a T nut that is first wedged between the motor & the channel. It only takes a few minutes to do. If your dealer has not done one yet,  tell them to call Lippert & they will talk them through it and/or email them a picture with instructions.

I don't get WIT magazine & could not open the link in a post above, but it probably is the same as the one Lippert sent me. The lube did work for me for the 20 miles or so home from the dealer but all agreed, it was only a temporary fix. The "screw & T nut" fix should be permanent (hopefully).

Cass
 
I'm keeping my fingers crossed as our new Itasca Sunstar has them.  I've used the slides several times here at the sticks and bricks as we are still doing the make ready on storing and arranging all or "stuff" and the initial cleaning and waxing.    We had the Schwintek system on a full wall slide our previous 35 ft Class A Lemon .  It would appear that a greater part of the problem, including a lack of any quality control at the factory, is that the slide and tracks were installed poorly and the opening for the slide had not been squared prior to slide installation.  The side wall of the had to be cut and the side framed moved about a half inch and then sent to the body shop for repair and repaint of where the cut had been made.  Not officially documented, but based upon what I've read on line is that the larger and heavier the slide, the more problems that haunt them.  The above mentioned Itasca is our second Winnebago product, and being that the only problem I had withthe first one was the locking mechanism on the living area chair broke, I hope to have no greater problem with this one.
 
Having our second issue with our Schwintek slide in the short life of our Journey. Slide will not go out unless I do the override but will come in normally. We are traveling now so will stop at a dealer on Monday to see if it is a quick fix. If not we will have to live with it closed until we work our way to Phoenix in a month! Last time it took 6 weeks to get parts so really hoping it is a quick fix. Absolutely love our coach but wish we had never heard of Schwintek  :mad:
 
What a shame! Olathe RV in Gardner, KS has a new 2014 Itasca Ellipse 42QD (MSRP $377,791) on the lot with a torn up Schwintek slide rail on the passengers side. Most of the lower rail's screws have been ripped out. Makes you wonder if it happened the first time the slide was operated by the dealer. Anyway, there it sets, open for inspection with all the slides out.
 
Well that didn't go well, the dealer we stopped at couldn't help us and in fact made things worse. Now the slide is stuck open about an inch on the rear end of it and is now inoperable. They said that the dealer who fixed the other end of it must have not got the motors in sync and that caused the problem but not sure. I guess our best bet is to live with it for a few weeks until we get to Phoenix and have LaMesa look at it.  :-\
 
Where are you at now? There must be competent dealers on your way to Phoenix. Call Winnebago and get something set up. People that I've talked to had a lot of problems with La Mesa's after sales warranty repair. Their coaches were out of service at the dealers for long periods of time without getting any thing done. One friend had her motor home at La Mesa in Tucson for three weeks without any improvement. She stopped at a place in New Mexico and they had the problem fixed in a couple of hours.
 
We are in Osoyoos, BC, Canada and are headed down to south of San Fransisco for a week then over to Phoenix. We are nervous about La Mesa but with our previous slide problem we had to wait 6 weeks for parts. Hopefully the parts situation has improved but if we are forced to wait even half that time we would rather be somewhere warm than in the cold, wet north east. Would consider any recommendations though.
Brent
 
Purchased a 2013 Ellipse. Had a factory recall on the slideout a few months back was taken care of by camping world. We have owned the coach for six months no problems with the slideouts.
Patb
 
So our Journey will be getting its third complete slide mechanism in its young life. Parts are expected to be 2-3 weeks so we continue to live in a coach with the slide stuck in. Was very impressed with 3 T's in Lake Havasu for diagnosing the problem quickly as well as fixing a few other problems we have had. On a down note when we put the bedroom slide out after driving to Phoenix from Lake Havasu we found a ball bearing on the floor and the full wall slide has left four marks on the tile. Love our Winnie but getting a bit discouraged.

Brent :-\
 
We have 2013 Itasca Meridian 34B with full wall driver side slide.  Many problems with it.  Main issue is the mounting flanges have broken their fasteners twice.  It appears that the weight of the slide is fatiguing the screws as we travel and breaking them from bottom up.  Next effort is to put more screws of bigger diameter and see how this goes.  I would not recommend a coach with this system!
 
I checked with my Winnebago contact and they had a line issue for some units causing the problem, some screw holes weren't stamped and some wrong screws were used in production.  Problem identified and a fix is in the works.
 
I do not own a Winnie nor does my unit have a Schwintek slide. But I thought I would add some comments on Lippert. This company has really grown in size since the financial crisis in 08. Many MH companies went under and others cut back on making a lot of their own parts. Lippert has bought a number of other parts mfrs. They make the SCR/Frigette steps. They also make hydraulic slides that are horrible. They do make frames for some of the 5th wheel trailers and owners have had problems with undersized and bad quality frame rails. The fix is near impossible! MH mfrs. are becoming like auto mfrs. Farm out a lot of the major construction parts to some one else. I am actually surprised that Winnie's engineering dept. would use those slides. I am sure Winnie tests products before they switch suppliers. In any MH the slides are  one of the  weak points. Even HWH and Power Gear can have problems but they are easily (other than cost!) fixed. Sounds like those with Lippert slides have a serious problem. I am sure Winnie will come to the rescue . Good Luck! Just imagine how little help you would get from some of the other mfrs.!
 
I will confess I have not read all of the above mentioned post, but last year at the Rally a brand new Ellipse  was parked next to us, and I thought they left. They were in the shop over 4 days having the slide replaced. It seems that the gears chewed up the side.  Did not impress me. 

I was surprised that such a small system could move such a large bulky slide.

Guess I was right.

I had the keyless entry system replaced at the rally and it is doing the same thing. Intermittent, not working.

I guess I am going to call Winnebago.  Stop in in Sept on our return from Alaska.

In NJ I think it is warmer in Alaska...

Jim
 
Cass Sumrall said:
We have a 2013 Itasca Sunstar 30T with the Schwintek slide mechanism.

The good news is that it works well so far in operating the slides.

The bad news is that the design has the motors sitting on top of a vertical rod in the wall cavity next to the slide with a floor to ceiling length flexible rod to the track at the bottom. The rod is in a metal channel & with road vibration the motor at the top which is sitting on the rod moves back & forth causing the metal rod to do the same & contact the sleeve causing a "slapping" noise on the inside of the coach. The only fix for this I know of so far is to wrap the motor with foam to cushion it. We had this done by the dealer & it helped at highway speed but actually caused more noise at slower speeds. I had the tech put some foam in the middle of the channel to cushion the rod & that helped much more but I still hear it from time to time, just not constantly & loudly as before. I think a permanent fix will need to be more than adding the foam but I haven't heard of one yet.
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Thanks, Cass! Having same Scraping/Rattling/noises complaint - recently acquired -lightly used- 2013 ACE 30.1. Threads indicate Schwintek motor/track rattling, or slide improperly installed.  Understand your solution is 1- some T-nut and bolt to replace the motor locking screw(found that); 2-and installing foam around motor; 3- and foam around long rod inside frame. All details visible on Lippert/Schwintek online pdfs. But NO info on how to make the fix. (have to remove slideout mechanism to install foam?; description of bolt/wing nut replacement?)  Any help from you, or owners who have 'had it fixed'. Unit is days out of warranty, so DIY is needed.  Outside frame is riveted, with full body paint; so minimal invasion is desired. I read all related threads (and Ebrabaek's saga), seem close to solution, but cannot tear into it unless I'm sure.  Slide works OK, just noisy on the road / bumps, rough spots esp. annoying!  :mad:
 
JWalls said:
Outside frame is riveted, with full body paint; so minimal invasion is desired.
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The repair on mine required the rivets to get drilled and some touch up paint. Possibly the nature of the beast.

Once the improperly installed track was replaced, I have not had a hint of another problem.

Kim
 
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