Schwintek slides

[Semi_Retired_Gr]

2013 Tiffin 30GA. 15k miles - immaculately maintained. In Arizona Feb.-March. When retracting the front slide the rear portion of the slide (the kitchen) stopped and the slide was skewed. Stopped - extended - and tried again. Same thing. Multiple times. Looked online and found the slide could be manually controlled. Retracted. Took the MH to the dealer - now 3+ weeks later they have photos of the floor where the slide roller has indented the subfloor approximately 1/4". Therefore the slide binds and the rear motor stops. Tech convinced the rear portion is too heavy for the support system therefore indenting the floor - BTW - front floor shows no indentation. As a design engineer seems obvious to me. Tech has asked Tiffin for support - so far not responsive. Sent photos Thursday evening and hoped to have a better resolution today - so far no response. Seems a Tiffin design/build problem. Hope they'll stand behind their product. Will post as soon as we get their response.

[dougrainer]

fdwt994 wrote:
I too have problems with my Shwintek slide room in my Palomino Solaire. It's scheduled to go back to the dealership (AGAIN) next month. The kitchen slide buckles, pops, won't move in and out smoothly and will not stop running even when the slide is completely out- it sounds like the motors will rip the entire slide room out of the camper if I continue to hold down the switch. I also find metal shavings and the other day found a snap ring on the floor underneath the slide.

OEM or not, it really doesn't matter to me. All I know is, I am one of many that are having these ridiculous problems with this type of system in these types of vehicles. Perhaps the Shwintek is simply not a realistic system for campers that are made cheaply and towed around on cheap suspensions. Perhaps the Shwintek is poorly engineered as well- metal gears with aluminum tracks, really? I also dread the day when I have to manually move the room in and have to dig for some control panel to disable the motors. My old camper had a worm gear that I could manually crank in the room securely (not that I ever had to in seven seasons of camping.)

You are correct. Schwintek systems are not for inexpensive(cheaply) made RV's, motorhomes or towables. The frame and sidewalls MUST have adequate reinforcement and bracing or the flexing of the frame and/or sidewall will not let the Schwintek do its job. ALL the mechanism does is push and pull the room in and out. Nothing else. ALL room support is supplied my the OEM RV maker. When the Schwintek is removed from the room, 1 person can push the room in and out because the room is supported by numerous floor rollers under the room. 75% of Schwintek problems are the fault of the OEM maker and/or the install by the OEM. Doug

[fdwt994]

I too have problems with my Shwintek slide room in my Palomino Solaire. It's scheduled to go back to the dealership (AGAIN) next month. The kitchen slide buckles, pops, won't move in and out smoothly and will not stop running even when the slide is completely out- it sounds like the motors will rip the entire slide room out of the camper if I continue to hold down the switch. I also find metal shavings and the other day found a snap ring on the floor underneath the slide.

OEM or not, it really doesn't matter to me. All I know is, I am one of many that are having these ridiculous problems with this type of system in these types of vehicles. Perhaps the Shwintek is simply not a realistic system for campers that are made cheaply and towed around on cheap suspensions. Perhaps the Shwintek is poorly engineered as well- metal gears with aluminum tracks, really? I also dread the day when I have to manually move the room in and have to dig for some control panel to disable the motors. My old camper had a worm gear that I could manually crank in the room securely (not that I ever had to in seven seasons of camping.)

[Semi_Retired_Gr]

Update - heard today from the RV dealer that Tiffin has agreed to fund necessary modifications to make the slide work correctly. As i understand it, a sheet of some unknown material will be installed over the indented floor. Thanks to Tiffin for standing behind an obvious design/build issue.

Hope to get the MH back within the next couple of days.

[dougrainer]

Effy wrote:

dougrainer wrote:
When Schwintek first came out 4 or 5 years ago, I thought they were junk. We had numerous problems with them on almost all the RV's that used them. Well after working on them and really understanding them, the problem is in the INSTALL and DESIGN by the OEM maker of the RV's. ALL the Schwintek does is move the room in and out on the side tracks. The Schwintek DOES NOT support or lift/hold the room. The ROLLERS do that and are designed and installed by the OEM. It just pushes it in and out. If the OEM designs the wall framing and chassis frames too weak or does not install the floor rollers correctly, then the system fails. If they do not adequately build a solid enough floor in the slide room(The OP's problem) and the rollers push thru or indent in the outer floor, the system fails.

Then why do some find shavings in their tracks, and why is the fix to add another set of rails? If all it's doing is pushing the slide out, it sure seems like it's still too small of a system to do that on larger slides. I'm no engineer but that reeks of "we need to band aid this system to handle what is asked of it".

Shavings?. Because the OEM did NOT install the room correctly or the wall is not adequately framed. MOST of the time, it is improper install by the OEM and you MUST replace the mechanism and when replacing you install it CORRECTLY. The larger slides are a problem. There are 2 models of Schwintek-- small/regular slide and LARGE slide and the Large slide system has different motor/s. I would never have a SCHWINTEK SLIDE on a slide larger than 16 foot. Too much weight and Flex above that. Doug

[Effy]

dougrainer wrote:
When Schwintek first came out 4 or 5 years ago, I thought they were junk. We had numerous problems with them on almost all the RV's that used them. Well after working on them and really understanding them, the problem is in the INSTALL and DESIGN by the OEM maker of the RV's. ALL the Schwintek does is move the room in and out on the side tracks. The Schwintek DOES NOT support or lift/hold the room. The ROLLERS do that and are designed and installed by the OEM. It just pushes it in and out. If the OEM designs the wall framing and chassis frames too weak or does not install the floor rollers correctly, then the system fails. If they do not adequately build a solid enough floor in the slide room(The OP's problem) and the rollers push thru or indent in the outer floor, the system fails.

Then why do some find shavings in their tracks, and why is the fix to add another set of rails? If all it's doing is pushing the slide out, it sure seems like it's still too small of a system to do that on larger slides. I'm no engineer but that reeks of "we need to band aid this system to handle what is asked of it".

[Effy]

Having friends with this system on a full wall that failed and had to be fixed, it will be a consideration on my next MH. As in, I won't buy one with a shwintek slide system. There have been reported failures on every MH brand they've been installed on. So It's not solely the manufacturer. They simply are under-engineered to handle the task. It's clearly evident given the fixes (adding more flooring, adding another rail). They'll tell you it's the way it's installed and try and put the onus on the MH manufacturer, but the system is under-engineered. Let's not bulk up the system itself but put a bunch of band-aids on it thus covering the root cause. Schwinteks are too small to handle the job on anything but a small slide. Why they keep using them likely comes down to money. Either they are contractually obligated, or they are just too cheap to use a better system. There are a few brands that don't use them, and those will be on the top of the list when I look to buy a new MH. Mine still work OK, knock on wood, but like I said it's not a full wall. It still struggles when pulling in and its definitely not confidence inspiring.

[fivejackie]

Our Hurricane 27K slide runs out ok, coming in its slow. With the frig and pantry loaded it won't come in. I had to jack up one side and the help of gravity, pulling by hand and the DH one the switch we can get it in. The system is junk.

[93mastercraft]

afrescop wrote:

93mastercraft wrote:
The whole Schwintek system is JUNK!

I think you are painting with a very broad brush. Your coach was a total piece of junk so you claimed but to say all brands using the same system are junk is a very broad indictment of a brand with tens of thousands of slides on the road.

We have two Schwintek sides on our RV. They have been opened and closed dozens of times without issue. One time the larger of the two would not extend correctly. I took it back to Camping World only to find out we had left our portable laptop desk in the slide's path. Desk removed, slide works as advertised.

I have my doubts as to the durability of this system. so far I have followed Lippert's instructions for lubricating the gib. Would I prefer not to keep my fingers crossed due to posts such as all the above? You bet! But it is what it is and that is it works in our coach.

Just cleaned the aluminum shavings out of my Schwintek worm gears. Hoping they will last the summer.

[dougrainer]

When Schwintek first came out 4 or 5 years ago, I thought they were junk. We had numerous problems with them on almost all the RV's that used them. Well after working on them and really understanding them, the problem is in the INSTALL and DESIGN by the OEM maker of the RV's. ALL the Schwintek does is move the room in and out on the side tracks. The Schwintek DOES NOT support or lift/hold the room. The ROLLERS do that and are designed and installed by the OEM. It just pushes it in and out. If the OEM designs the wall framing and chassis frames too weak or does not install the floor rollers correctly, then the system fails. If they do not adequately build a solid enough floor in the slide room(The OP's problem) and the rollers push thru or indent in the outer floor, the system fails. They sell and install about 10,000 of these per month. They have for over 4 years. To the Poster that stated he lubes---BAD IDEA- that will cause dirt/sludge build up and WILL cause operational problems. The only lube is a graphite type spray inside on the nylon blocks the driveshafts rotate on. The OP's problem is his dealer. Tiffin responds within 24 hours to all problems to a dealer. As a Tiffin dealer, we get responses within that 24 hours on ALL abnormal requests and problems. We have fixed Tiffin slides with the OP's problem. You install a 1/8 inch aluminum plate on the bottom of the slide where that roller has indented the floor. 1/8 inch will not affect the operation of the slide mechanism. Doug

[afrescopXx]

93mastercraft wrote:
The whole Schwintek system is JUNK!

I think you are painting with a very broad brush. Your coach was a total piece of junk so you claimed but to say all brands using the same system are junk is a very broad indictment of a brand with tens of thousands of slides on the road.

We have two Schwintek sides on our RV. They have been opened and closed dozens of times without issue. One time the larger of the two would not extend correctly. I took it back to Camping World only to find out we had left our portable laptop desk in the slide's path. Desk removed, slide works as advertised.

I have my doubts as to the durability of this system. so far I have followed Lippert's instructions for lubricating the gib. Would I prefer not to keep my fingers crossed due to posts such as all the above? You bet! But it is what it is and that is it works in our coach.

[93mastercraft]

The whole Schwintek system is JUNK!

[ct78barnes]

I do not understand why the keep using these slides with all the problems they are having with them. Maybe on a small slide it wold be ok but a full wall slide it way to much for these little gears. They say they are cheeper then the old power gear rams but with all these problems it seems it would cost the builders more in the long run. We have a 2011 Winnebago and we have the Power Gear slides and after the first year they are working fine. Why mess with something that has worked for years to just save a few bucks.

[fivejackie]

I sprayed the tracks and slides plates under the slide-out before we left. After every stop it got harder and harder to pull it in. More spray didn't help. The front motor has all the heavy load and it's just getting weaker. It works hard to come in with the frig and pantry unloaded.

[Itakethe5th2011]

I had my Schwintek bind up on the way out. I had to push the side that was binding up while holding switch down. Then I found on you tube how to spray lube on track. It fix the problem. Try spraying a light lube on track. It has worked fine for the last 2 years.