Kudos to Grand Design.

[Coach-man]

I recently had my front slideout stop working. I was one month over my warranty period, and the dealer would not work on it unless I paid. I called Grand Design Customer Service to ask some questions, as I was going to fix the slideout myself. Ray at Customer Service was great, answered my questions, and walked me thru trouble shooting my problem. We determined it was the controller that was the problem, Ray authorized sending me a new controller under warranty. Yesterday received new controller and a new motor! All is well, everything works as good as new!

I am so glad we decided on Grand Design when we purchased our 5th wheel. I researched a lot of companies, the one company that stood out was Grand Design for customer service. All companies have "issues" with their units coming off the production line, but Grand Design stands behind their products with first class customer service! Anyone looking to purchase a 5th wheel or TT check out Grand Design, you will not be disappointed!

[tcamper]

............one of the main reasons we plan to purchase a Grand Design in January-Feb 2016.

[Coach-man]

minnow wrote:

Coach-man wrote:

minnow wrote:
How much of a job was it replacing the motor. I've seen the videos and looks to me like little to no room to access the motors.

There is enough room to get one arm / hand in, which is all you need. As with hitching, and un hitching you may have to manually move the slide to take the pressure off the motor, but it pops up and back. It then just pulls out. One thing I learned while doing the job is to index the drive so it goes back in the same position as it came out. There are two pockets for the outside set screw. Square that with the wall to get position of the drive gear. It also helps if the slide is about half way, that makes reaching the motor easier but it still can be done all the way in.

Thanks. I also read that Lippert has "beefed up" the motors now as well as the original version was not robust enough to do the job.

That may be, I did not notice anything about the motor itself being different. However, what was changed is the connector on top of the motor. The "old style" had the wires going straight out the motor towards the back. Since that was where the set screw went to hold the motor down, the wires had to be flipped 180 degrees over the top, and then down. I my mind, this placed a lot of unnecessary stress on the connections, a potential failure point. The new one had the connector come out of the top with the wires already facing the right way, thus iliminating that failure point!

Oh, BTW there are no "shear pins" in this design. Too much torque on the motor will cause it to shut down, which is what happens when the slide reaches the end of its travel.

[minnow]

Coach-man wrote:

minnow wrote:
How much of a job was it replacing the motor. I've seen the videos and looks to me like little to no room to access the motors.

There is enough room to get one arm / hand in, which is all you need. As with hitching, and un hitching you may have to manually move the slide to take the pressure off the motor, but it pops up and back. It then just pulls out. One thing I learned while doing the job is to index the drive so it goes back in the same position as it came out. There are two pockets for the outside set screw. Square that with the wall to get position of the drive gear. It also helps if the slide is about half way, that makes reaching the motor easier but it still can be done all the way in.

Thanks. I also read that Lippert has "beefed up" the motors now as well as the original version was not robust enough to do the job.

[Coach-man]

minnow wrote:
How much of a job was it replacing the motor. I've seen the videos and looks to me like little to no room to access the motors.

There is enough room to get one arm / hand in, which is all you need. As with hitching, and un hitching you may have to manually move the slide to take the pressure off the motor, but it pops up and back. It then just pulls out. One thing I learned while doing the job is to index the drive so it goes back in the same position as it came out. There are two pockets for the outside set screw. Square that with the wall to get position of the drive gear. It also helps if the slide is about half way, that makes reaching the motor easier but it still can be done all the way in.

[Gsport]

I love reading stories like this. I've had my Grand Design Solitude for almost three years and couldn't be happier...

[ORbiker]

Coach-man wrote:
I recently had my front slideout stop working. I was one month over my warranty period, and the dealer would not work on it unless I paid. I called Grand Design Customer Service to ask some questions, as I was going to fix the slideout myself. Ray at Customer Service was great, answered my questions, and walked me thru trouble shooting my problem. We determined it was the controller that was the problem, Ray authorized sending me a new controller under warranty. Yesterday received new controller and a new motor! All is well, everything works as good as new!

I am so glad we decided on Grand Design when we purchased our 5th wheel. I researched a lot of companies, the one company that stood out was Grand Design for customer service. All companies have "issues" with their units coming off the production line, but Grand Design stands behind their products with first class customer service! Anyone looking to purchase a 5th wheel or TT check out Grand Design, you will not be disappointed!

That;s very cool that they stood behind their product.

How old is your rig? And which model?

[minnow]

How much of a job was it replacing the motor. I've seen the videos and looks to me like little to no room to access the motors.

[blofgren]

Great to hear. This is one of the major reasons Grand Design will be on my short list for our next unit.

I would just love to see a rear cap and some variation on exterior colors 🙂

[brirene]

Glad they took good care of you. Always nice to see good reports. Thanks for posting!