Update on Lippert slide mechanisms

[garyemunson]

When Lippert first came out with the in wall slide mechanisms, the failure rate was terribly high. How are people doing with them now? Our 2015 Winne has had only one issue but that was caused by poor installation and I was able to correct that before any damage was done. I see they now use a steel rack rather than the aluminum one. I can see on mine the aluminum is beginning to wear in the closed position no doubt from rough roads shaking the slide and putting strain on the aluminum teeth as they hold the slide in place against the steel spur gear. I'm sure this is why they changed to the steel rack. Older posts complain about motor/gearbox failures but that seems to have abated. I'm comparing the issue with a similar one I experienced in the elevator trade in the 80's when the old, reliable (and big) door operator motors started being replaced with small gear motors. For the first 5 years we could not get replacements fast enough and we all hated the new design. 40 years later, the tiny gearmotors have become as reliable as the older, "washing machine" type motors of the past. I appreciate the general physics of the Lippert style mechanisms as they secure the slide much better when stowed without the need for the broomsticks wedged at the top while travelling. I remember the first time we drove our previous Fleetwood without the broomsticks (with the old bottom mounted slide mechanism) and seeing the top of the slide wiggling in and out on a bad road. I make it a point to use the CRC PowerLube 2X a year on the Lipperts as recommended and they still work like new. We already have 50K on our coach so our slides have seen a lot of deploying and retracting. My main concern is the longevity of the gear motors. I'm hoping, like the elevator units I worked on, that technology has caught up with design and they will have a long lifespan. The work I had to do on it was amazingly simple. Access to them seems difficult at first glance but once you do it, it's far easier to get to them than the older slide drives. Anyone had problems with 2015 or later Lipperts and if so, what was the issue?

[bighatnohorse]

dougrainer wrote:

2. The high failure rate from the first years until a few years ago was indeed installation by the OEM's

Agreed.
I had a Schwintek problem and it took the repair shop a month to find the problem. Granted, it was their first time working with a Schwintek mechanism.
However, they found a most obscure part defect that was probably the fault of the camper factory installation.
Documentation of the problem and repair: https://www.eaglecapowners.com/owners/showthread.php?tid=351

[garyemunson]

Doug...it came that way. We bought the coach new. Would have been a warranty issue if it hadn't lasted as long before failing. There was only the one hole for the securing screw and it was drilled too high.

[dougrainer]

I have worked on Schwintek since they came out.
1. Motorhomes had/have fewer problems that Towables. Always have. Due to the motorhomes have better more rigid walls where the slide hole cut out is
2. The high failure rate from the first years until a few years ago was indeed installation by the OEM's

3. They had weak sidewalls and when the hole was cut, the walls flexed and this is NOT good for the Schwintek design.
4. They had inadequate frame(floor steel frame) designs that allowed the floor to flex too much and that slight bending cause failure of the mechanism
5. IF your original problem was as you described, then I would state that someone prior to you getting the unit had replaced that motor and failed to install it correctly.
6. To put the Schwintek in how they are in the RV business, over 4 years ago, they were building 8000 plus mechanism's a WEEK for OEM's. That figure has gone up.
7. Last, I hated Schwintek when they first came out. Until I had seen the problems and had LCI training, I now see that most of the problems were OEM installation/design caused problems. The system is actually very good if installed correctly. LCI had big problems getting the OEM's to install and design the frames/walls correctly. One thing that caused the OEM's to change and build correctly was, LCI started to charge back the OEM's for their designs/installs that caused the problems. Doug

[garyemunson]

I should explain what the trouble I had was. One of the slide motors was not properly seated in place. The bottom of the motor has 4 roll pins protruding from it that go into holes in the drive mechanism frame. Those pins prevent the motor body from rotating when it runs. When the motor is properly in place, a screw is run through a cover plate and sticks into an oval hole at the top of the motor that also serves as a cooling vent. In my case, one motor's roll pins were not seated in the drive mechanism frame. This left the motor sitting about 3/4" higher than it should have been. Now, instead of securing the motor from raising up, the screw was the thing keeping the motor from rotating. As the hole was oval, the motor was free to rotate a little but luckily I found the problem before the screw did any real damage to the motor. I found out what was wrong after about a year and a half when one side made a loud pop and the slide jammed. What had happened was all this time the coupling between the motor and the slide mechanism shaft had just the slightest of engagement but was still doing it's job. After a year and a half of wear, the minimal engagement allowed the "teeth" in the coupling to strip. They only had had about 1/16 inch of engagement so the coupling was still usable once I saw the problem with the motor not being seated. Once I engaged the roll pins, the motor went down 3/4" and the coupling was OK with that. I redrilled the securing screw hole 3/4" lower and all was well although the oval hole in the motor shell was pretty beat up from the twisting back and forth. With the pins properly engaged, now the screw does it's intended purpose of just preventing the motor from lifting up while the pins prevent any rotation.