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Firelime's avatar
Firelime
Explorer
May 13, 2016

First trip bust

Well our first trip of the year is a bust. As we were just about to depart the kitchen slide bound up on the retract and now won't come in. It is now at Campingworld. Hopefully they can figure it out early enough so we can depart tomorrow, but that is unlikely. I feel like we have joint custody with Campingworld since it's lived there half the time since we got it. Rant over.
  • our previous coach (Safari) had a cable driven slide in the bedroom I found out that the cable tension had to be re-adjusted a couple of times a year to keep the cables at the correct tension. Once I learned how, it wasn't difficult and the slide worked perfectly for many years.

    Ron
  • NC Hauler wrote:
    majorgator wrote:
    Firelime wrote:
    I feel like we have joint custody with Campingworld since it's lived there half the time since we got it.

    This may be slightly off-topic, but I've read countless comments on here that basically say the same thing. Whether its Camping World or some other dealer, it seems like many (if not most) new units spend a lot of time back at the dealer for warranty repairs. My parents have a rig that's less than a year old, and its already been back to CW for a converter replacement (which took well over a month) and back again for a radio replacement (which took 2 hours). We've only ever owned used campers, but these situations make me wonder if buying a 3-5 year old rig might very well be a better decision. This way, the previous owner will have gotten all these little annoyances worked out.

    Just kinda one of those random thoughts that pop into my head.


    Don't know if this is always the case, hasn't been ours.. And remember that used unit you have was new at one time and may have had issues and they've been fixed...Every TT/5er we've owned since 1999 was purchased new...and all spent very little time at the dealer and most of that was in adding upgrades...and now the new Jayco since last August and other than a few nickel dime issues, our new units have spent very little time back at the dealer..Guess we've been fortunate?


    I think the bold above was actually his point, which I would agree with. NEW owner will take care of the little stuff. NEXT owner would get a decent rig without the little 'issues'.

    The last 3 campers we had were all brand new. Not one of them went back to the dealer for any repairs. Lucky? Nope. We have for sure had issues that should have been warranty but I fix it myself in the driveway. Have never had anything serious enough to bother dealer with fighting, leaving the unit and being concerned with final repair quality... GOOGLE and YOUTUBE are my friends :)

    To the OP - sorry for your situation, hopefully they will get you squared away and on the road.
  • We bought our 2001 alpenlite because it was what the wife wanted and also because the factory was 122 miles from our house. Never needed to take it to the factory but it was nice to be close.


    chevman
  • majorgator wrote:
    Firelime wrote:
    I feel like we have joint custody with Campingworld since it's lived there half the time since we got it.

    This may be slightly off-topic, but I've read countless comments on here that basically say the same thing. Whether its Camping World or some other dealer, it seems like many (if not most) new units spend a lot of time back at the dealer for warranty repairs. My parents have a rig that's less than a year old, and its already been back to CW for a converter replacement (which took well over a month) and back again for a radio replacement (which took 2 hours). We've only ever owned used campers, but these situations make me wonder if buying a 3-5 year old rig might very well be a better decision. This way, the previous owner will have gotten all these little annoyances worked out.

    Just kinda one of those random thoughts that pop into my head.


    Don't know if this is always the case, hasn't been ours.. And remember that used unit you have was new at one time and may have had issues and they've been fixed...Every TT/5er we've owned since 1999 was purchased new...and all spent very little time at the dealer and most of that was in adding upgrades...and now the new Jayco since last August and other than a few nickel dime issues, our new units have spent very little time back at the dealer..Guess we've been fortunate?
  • We wish you the best of luck getting back on the road and having the fun you should be having....
  • Firelime wrote:
    I feel like we have joint custody with Campingworld since it's lived there half the time since we got it.

    This may be slightly off-topic, but I've read countless comments on here that basically say the same thing. Whether its Camping World or some other dealer, it seems like many (if not most) new units spend a lot of time back at the dealer for warranty repairs. My parents have a rig that's less than a year old, and its already been back to CW for a converter replacement (which took well over a month) and back again for a radio replacement (which took 2 hours). We've only ever owned used campers, but these situations make me wonder if buying a 3-5 year old rig might very well be a better decision. This way, the previous owner will have gotten all these little annoyances worked out.

    Just kinda one of those random thoughts that pop into my head.
  • This slide has a cable drive. I wasn't even sure where to begin with it. Interesting though that this slide doesn't have any rollers on the bottom like my other 2 cable slides. Instead it slides on a narrow plastic strip. Seems like an awful lot of friction and a lot of load on such a small surface area.
  • Mine does that every once in a while. Mine strips the teeth on the pinion gear. Each slide guide has a rack with pinion gears fastened together by a piece of square tubing. They keep both ends of the slide in alignment with each other. There not hooked to any power, just keep the ends tied together.

    I just replaced mine Saturday. Takes me about an hour now that I know how. I just ordered 2 new 16 tooth gears for a tad over $50 with the shipping. I like to keep spares. Mine is always on the street side. Guess I'm going to have to check into whats dragging and causing the problem.

    The first time I had to use a screwdriver and lever it against the frame into the rack. I walked the end away from the ram in one tooth at a time. One tooth equals a quarter inch on mine. Lever it and run the ram in a little bit and repeat, over and over. I got it home that way.
  • Thanks. Had to tow it. The slide was part way in. I wasn't crazy about it but they said that's what needed to be done for them to look it. Had the wife follow me. Luckily where I'm at we have a lot of wide farm roads with little traffic.
  • Wow that's the pits!! How did you get it to Camping World? Hopefully it will be an easy fix and they will have you on the road tomorrow. Good luck, John