New EC1165 Slide Misalignment?

[Steverino54]

Hi All,

After 2 yrs of reading/researching, finally ordered a 2018 EC1165 to go on a 2017 F550 with Douglass camper body. Arrived at the TC dealer late yesterday with just enough time to briefly see the camper prior to getting trained and accept ownership later today...

Am a bit concerned that all 3 slides appear to be off alignment when viewed with the slide closed. Standing back and visually comparing the top and bottom corners...the slides appear to be rotated slightly counter-clockwise in the opening. In other words, when you line up the upper LHS corner with the main body seal molding (metal), the bottom LHS corner is off 1/2" to the right - and when you line up the bottom RHS corner, the upper RHS corner is shifted 1/2" over to the left. Additionally, the bottom surface does not appear to be as tightly sealed against the main body as the top - there is a 1/8-1/2" gap metal to metal at the bottom.

All of the other TC's (AF, Host, EC) on the lot have their slides open with no batteries installed so I cannot compare with mine. The very good salesman could see what I was seeing and took some photos to email the factory for comment.

All I want is for the slides to operate and seal properly for many service-cycles during the next 10 yrs. Before I accept ownership today...

Am I being unreasonably perfectionistic?
Is the "off 1/2" normal slide construction?

[Daryl_B]

NGaMountains wrote:
Talk about not having your priorities straight in terms of ensuring your survival by building a quality product. For my money it would be run, not walk, away from this level of engineering and manufacturing care/(in)competence when considering spending $60K.

You would expect a camper that cost $60k to be built with better quality and care, but sadly that's not the case. I think they ram them through manufacturing as quickly as possible regardless of quality, close is close enough.
But with this style of slide system close is not close enough.

[Wikel]

Boils down to you as a consumer having to protect yourself in this space. I'm sure all manufacturers have duds but as a consumer you have to protect yourself from that unfortunately. Kinda reminds me of domestic autos back in the 1980s trying to uderstand if your auto was made on a Monday or Friday.

Thsee kind of problems are poor quality control plain and simple. Do they know about them and then just ignore it, sending it out to the dealer... who knows. Either way best to walk away from such a problem than be left holding the bag IMO. We're not talking about minor fixes here, removing slides... sheesh what else is wrong that's unknown on that unit 😞

[NGaMountains]

bighatnohorse wrote:

F450EC1165 wrote:

When the slide is fully in with the top seal compressed but there is still a 1/2" to 3/4" gap at the bottom of the slide (seal barely touching). To me that means the gear tracks are not engaged with the gears correctly or the slide was not level when they screwed the tracks onto the sides of the slideout?

That is exactly what it means. My Lance has the lower front gear track off by one or two gear teeth. You can't see the pinion gear teeth, but the result is one slide corner will not fully retract.

You can verify it from inside the camper with the slide extended. Run your fingers along the interior seal from top to bottom. You will feel a gap between the rubber interior seal and the frame at one corner. The gap diminishes as you run your fingers toward the opposite corner where it will be pulled tight.

I verified three times; I called Lippert Components - spoke with their tech person - their final verdict is as explained above.
I also took the camper to Lance Repair in Lancaster, CA and they want to replace the entire slide mechanism. (My opinion of Lance repair center is below drainage level.)

I paid an independent repair tech (Vern, who is an Escapees member) inspect the system. Yes - pinion gear and gear rack are mis-aligned.

Lippert has a repair process published as a pdf document that shows the slide has to be lifted and the tracks replaced or repositioned. I got that from their tech person.

The Lippert Schwintek is a good system, but it requires a higher degree of precision build than these RV manufacturers are used to. Thus, many problems.

Wow. The way your experience and description paints this issue so vividly reinforces why I just walked away from anything other than a Power Gear slide system when a slideout model was suggested by a dealer I shopped. This is the same Eagle Cap that was debated a couple weeks ago concerning not publishing their dealer network in order to protect territories. Talk about not having your priorities straight in terms of ensuring your survival by building a quality product. For my money it would be run, not walk, away from this level of engineering and manufacturing care/(in)competence when considering spending $60K.

[bighatnohorse]

F450EC1165 wrote:

When the slide is fully in with the top seal compressed but there is still a 1/2" to 3/4" gap at the bottom of the slide (seal barely touching). To me that means the gear tracks are not engaged with the gears correctly or the slide was not level when they screwed the tracks onto the sides of the slideout?

That is exactly what it means. My Lance has the lower front gear track off by one or two gear teeth. You can't see the pinion gear teeth, but the result is one slide corner will not fully retract.

You can verify it from inside the camper with the slide extended. Run your fingers along the interior seal from top to bottom. You will feel a gap between the rubber interior seal and the frame at one corner. The gap diminishes as you run your fingers toward the opposite corner where it will be pulled tight.

I verified three times; I called Lippert Components - spoke with their tech person - their final verdict is as explained above.
I also took the camper to Lance Repair in Lancaster, CA and they want to replace the entire slide mechanism. (My opinion of Lance repair center is below drainage level.)

I paid an independent repair tech (Vern, who is an Escapees member) inspect the system. Yes - pinion gear and gear rack are mis-aligned.

Lippert has a repair process published as a pdf document that shows the slide has to be lifted and the tracks replaced or repositioned. I got that from their tech person.

The Lippert Schwintek is a good system, but it requires a higher degree of precision build than these RV manufacturers are used to. Thus, many problems.

[Daryl_B]

I can tell you from experience that both the dealer and manufacture will play it down, tell you that's normal and within spec. In my case 1 of the 3 slides was installed straight and level and worked perfect and was flush, it was even and sealed well all around when closed.
In my opinion the other 2 slides were both installed incorrectly.
The way I understand it there are 2 motors on each slideout (1 on each side), each motor drives a shaft with 2 gears that are engaged into the aluminum tracks.
When the slide is fully in with the top seal compressed but there is still a 1/2" to 3/4" gap at the bottom of the slide (seal barely touching). To me that means the gear tracks are not engaged with the gears correctly or the slide was not level when they screwed the tracks onto the sides of the slideout?

[cartmancartman]

Dont accept the camper otherwise it will be sitting in another repair facility for a month and you have to deal with the headache.

Can you post some pictures

[bighatnohorse]

Do not accept the camper. Turn your back and walk away. Something is wrong with the slide mechanisms themselves.
I suspect that a jig used for aligning the slides in the factory was a little off (especially if all three slide exhibit the same problem).

Re-syncing the motors is easy - I'm sure that they'll try that first. If that doesn't work then walk away.

It is a big deal to realign the slides - they have to be removed from the frame (with a forklift if possible). If the mechanisms have to be re-positioned on the slide or it's opening then it could mean drilling new mounting holes.
I've never seen this problem on the ECO forum but it can happen. My Lance has a similar problem. See what the dealer can do for you, but at this point, I would be very disappointed but I would never accept mis-alignment.

[billyray50]

Sorry to hear of your slide woes. Unfortunately slide issues happen to all brands of RVs. My 2016 Jayco TT had slide issues after 2 weeks of delivery. Had it back to dealer to have it realigned. Friend of mine is having issues with his new Cedar creek. Will not shut after opening one of his slides. Had to shut it manually with two other able bodied guys. Going back to the shop. So far no issues with my Adventurer after 14 months of ownership. Knock on wood.

[GeoBoy]

If it isn’t fixed to your satisfaction don’t take it. That is a lot of money for you to not be TOTALLY satisfied. Good luck.

[Daryl_B]

I had similar issues with 2 of the slides on my 2016 EC1165.
The kitchen slide always worked fast and smooth and it looked level and even side to side when either in or out.
The rear slide made noise and did not operate smoothly, it had a 1/2" gap at the bottom when it was closed and was not level side to side.
The dinette slide was also not level side to side (maybe 1/2") and had a larger gap at the bottom when closed (5/8" to 3/4"). The dinette slide would also struggle to close the last 6" slowing down to about 1/2 speed.

The dealer fixed the slide issues and a list of about 10 other things all under warranty.
This problem was not a slide syncing issue.
To fix the slides they had to adjust the positions of the aluminum slide gear tracks to make the slides level and even top to bottom.
In my opinion the whole issue was due to poor careless fitting of the slides during the manufacturing process.

[work2much]

Steverino54 wrote:
Thanks Greg and Pete! I have previously read about slide syncing and wonder if that is the problem vs. poor construction...how will I know the difference? Maybe if we go through the re-ync process and the slides do not square up with the opening?

Here is a short video from lippert on how to re-synch the slide. This looks like a simple process, but I guess there could be more. I have also heard that with 2 motors (as apposed to one using a rack) even little stuff like the length of wire to each motor can make a difference in their timing.

Re-time a schwintek slide

[Steverino54]

Thanks Greg and Pete! I have previously read about slide syncing and wonder if that is the problem vs. poor construction...how will I know the difference? Maybe if we go through the re-ync process and the slides do not square up with the opening?

[Bedlam]

As an observation: We are at the Balloon Festival in Albequerque with 1400 other RV’s in our lot. I only see Schwintek used on smaller and lighter slides. All the rest use some type of under-slide drive system.

Have the dealer realign the slide to get this corrected. If the dealer cannot get it straight, do not accept the unit with promise of it getting fixed later.

[work2much]

Not being unreasonable. Dealer should be able to hook up the other units with a battery for you to compare. The slide has 2 motors and if they aren't synched exactly the slide won't be square to the main body. Youtube has more info on lippert schwintek slide alignment and troubleshooting.