Schwintek slide repairs

[georgelesley]

After three full wall slide repairs (all paid for by WGO) and a fourth repair just completed at the WGO factory, I now have a very good understanding of the causes of the problem.

We stopped at Forest City to have our slide inspected and repaired if needed. I was not comfortable with the last repair which was to upgrade to the new Powergear system which was completed a few months ago. The tech found many items incorrectly done or missed completely by the dealer tech. All were fixed.

The really interesting thing was the tech telling me about "over center tip", which is when the weight of the L shaped counter causes the slide to dip very close to the aisle floor this causes the slide rails to bind with the top and bottom moving in different angles. The top of the slide hits the side of the mh first, and the bottom is then pulled into place, placing great strain on the slide rails because the top gear wants to stop and the bottom must pull the slide in.

I had always wondered why our slide would suddenly dip down about a foot before completing the retraction process. The overcenter tip is the cause. The fix is two new rollers installed under the counter which prevent overcenter tip.

Our slide now runs smoothly and at a constant angle and the slide mechanism sounds just like the smaller bedroom unit and the sound never changes throughout the retraction process. Placing the rail brackets corrrectly likely also helped as did several other fixes.

I would strongly recommend slide repairs only be done at the WGO factory where that is what this tech does all day, every day. Dealer techs get a short training course and only see a few of these repairs and cannot be as proficient at it. If your slide still "dips" near the end of the retraction it probably needs some rollers added. If your mechanic does not know what "overcenter tip" is, find another mechanic.

I suspect many original Schwintek systems never had a prayer of lasting because of the tremendous strain put on them due to a poorly designed system. Now with more rollers added and a far more robust Powergear system properly installed, I look forward to good service for a long time.

BTW, he did say no lubing needed and be sure to have jacks down and level and engine running before extending slides.

Hope this helps some.

[Jim_HiTek]

Happy I don't have that system, but thanks for the report. Sure to help others.