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Old 01-24-2017, 06:55 PM   #1
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What are the new slides and are they working out?

Was looking at some of the new Winnebago Class A's and they had a different looking slide mechanism that was quite honestly very flimsy looking. Our coach has the rams (its a 2011) not sure the brand but they are flawless. I have read more horror stories on the Schwinteks than I can remember and they have me pretty spooked to be honest! The newest ones dont look any better than the Schwintek's but perhaps they work better.

The new slides have a very narrow toothed profile runner that is not fixed to the slide wall. What are these and are they holding up?
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Old 01-24-2017, 07:08 PM   #2
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Probably a Schwintek from your description.
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Old 01-24-2017, 07:10 PM   #3
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There are two types of slide mechanisms. Those that fail today and those that will fail later. Given time they will fail. NOTHING in life is perfect. We deal with the cheap construction our rigs have. That is just a fact of life.
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Old 01-24-2017, 07:13 PM   #4
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Come on guys, I said its not a Schwintek and anything can break...anybody know if these new slides (I think they are called power gear?) are working out any better?
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Old 01-24-2017, 07:54 PM   #5
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Hi,

Schwintek and power gear are one in the same. They are supposed to be better than the ones that attach to the slide but time will tell. I have the original Schwintek and after the factory fixed the big slide it is so far working fine, time will tell.

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Old 01-24-2017, 08:05 PM   #6
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Slide mechanism update

After three failures with the schwintek slide mechanism on my 2013 Winnebago Tour, we traveled to Junction city Oregon and had the power gear slide mechanism installed on our galley slide. I must admit I was a bit concerned with the new rails, looked a bit flimsy. The tech who did the install assured me that this system was far better than the originals Schwintek system. I have extended the slide over two dozen times and have had zero issues. The motor is a bit louder than the original but the travel time is much quicker. The new rail is designed to flex with the slide movement thus keeping it in contact with the drive gear. I would also like to add that I have absolutely no noise whatsoever while traveling, cannot say the same for the original. Hope that is of some help to the skeptics.

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Old 01-24-2017, 08:55 PM   #7
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Thanks Rick! I haven't heard much about these new power gear slides and that must be a good thing...the things that work don't usually get much attention!
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Old 01-25-2017, 09:07 AM   #8
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We also had the new Power Gear assembles installed at Forest City on our FWS. Major improvement over the old system. Sounds like an industrial press going in and out now.
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Old 01-25-2017, 10:44 PM   #9
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I have a 2016 Sightseer with 3 Power Geat slides. One of the Power Gear slides is an older design similer to the slides on our 2005 Sightseer. The other two Power Gear slides are the new design.

The gear housing on both of the newer design slides cracked causing slide failure. Winnebago replaced the bedroom slide mechanism at Forest City, Iowa. Our dealer replaced the slide mechanisms on our full wall slide. Our dealer showed me the failure and frankly discussed the problem.

My Power Gear slide mechanisms were replaced with modified designs to fix the weak failure point. Hopefully this will be a long tern fix. That said I always wonder what might fail next.

Lippert owns Schwintek and has purchased Power Gear. So some Schwintek slide mechanisms are being replaces with Power Gear.

To Winnebago's credit my full wall slide failed after the one year warranty expired and Winnebago covered the repairs as good will.

Safe travels. JD
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Old 01-30-2017, 07:28 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 2wiresdave View Post
Was looking at some of the new Winnebago Class A's and they had a different looking slide mechanism that was quite honestly very flimsy looking. Our coach has the rams (its a 2011) not sure the brand but they are flawless. I have read more horror stories on the Schwinteks than I can remember and they have me pretty spooked to be honest! The newest ones dont look any better than the Schwintek's but perhaps they work better.

The new slides have a very narrow toothed profile runner that is not fixed to the slide wall. What are these and are they holding up?
I have had my full wall slide peplaced with the newer Slim rack power gear
and no problems. Meet the LCI man at Tampa show and had a long talk with him about the new system. the problem with the old system was with very little movement the gear and teeth on the wall could come disengaged. that is not going to be able to happen with the new slim rack as they floot together and stay engaged.
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Old 02-02-2017, 06:16 AM   #11
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schwintek slide mechanism - Do all of these new slides make a lot of noise going in and out? It makes me want to Grease something?
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Old 02-02-2017, 06:56 AM   #12
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Our 2016 Journey slides have work flawlessly over the last 14 months. It has the updated Power Gear mechanism that replaced the problematic Schwintek that cause owners and Winnebago so many headaches. We move around a lot. So, the slides have many cycles on them.
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Old 02-02-2017, 09:44 AM   #13
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Dave,
The newer power gear slide mechanism works great. At first blush they do indeed appear to be flimsy but not so. No comparison to the Schwintek track slide in terms of reliability. The new version gear and tooth point of contact is "captured" meaning the gear cannot jump teeth like on the Schwintek track. I've used both versions and have had the newer power gear for over a year with dozens of cycles on four slides without incident.

Some may argue the point but, in my humble opinion, I think full wall slides will give any slide mechanism a workout given both the large weight factor and the potential for the large "box" to rack ever so slightly out of square causing clearances issues. Again, just my opinion based on our experience and my understanding of mechanical systems. We traded our full wall slide (Schwintek) for a coach with four smaller slides with the newer Power Gear system. Were happier campers now

cheers,
Joopy
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Old 02-02-2017, 11:12 AM   #14
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Here are pictures of my Power Gear slide failure.





The housing cracked. The location of the crack in the upper most picture is slightly above the geared track and to the left of the visible spring.

My full wall slide did not fail at the time of discovery of the cracks on both slide mechanisms. The rubber seal was coming loose so I asked our dealer to fix the rubber seal. The dealer was aware of the Power Gear slide mechanisms weakness and they did a courtesy inspection and found the cracks. According to my dealership Winnebago is more forthcoming with them about problems than they are with customers.

My bedroom slide failed at the 2016 GNR. Winnebago fixed the slide but didn't show me the failure. l might be wrong but I suspect the crack progressed to a slide failure. The rearmost Power Gear slide mechanism failed to operate. The working slide mechanism was able to retract the slide, draging the slideout in at a crooked angle. The rear of the slideout was about 2 inches from completely closing. It's good to know that one slide mechanism can mostly close a slide.

According to my dealership the fault has been fixed in the newer Power Gear slide mechanisms.

Safe travels. JD
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Old 02-02-2017, 10:43 PM   #15
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Power Gear Slide

while at the Tampa RV Show our Power Gear Full Wall slide failed to come in as it should. It has been very noisy and started jumping on the front end by the door. Finally got it in but not without it making a lot of cracking noises. While doing my walkaround i noticed the hood was not locked on the right side. When i turned the lock the whole hood bracket fell to the ground. Only one small dab of glue used to hold it. When we got home i was hosing off the rear of the RV when a 1" square of the full body paint fell to the ground. This is all on a Vista LX 27N with only 7,500 miles. Took the couch up to Camping World in Tallahassee where they found the slide to have excessive? wear and needed to have the gear replaced. Both the Slide mechanism and hood bracket we're approved. under warranty but the paint repair denied as they stated they do not cover paint chips. This is not a chip. Winnebago had me call CDI in Forest City who does their full body painting and acknowledged the 27N has had problems with paint adhering. Said he would check the photos and call me back. That was Tuesday. 2 calls later and still no callback. Too many issues in only 8 months.
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Old 02-03-2017, 10:58 AM   #16
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Hi Honwing.

I believe that we have finally fixed everything (KNOCK ON WOOD). It took me over a year and about 15 K miles of repairs. Nothing new has occurred in the last 7 K miles.

My drivers side hood latch failed. The key would not turn. I was able to maneuver between the radiator of the cap of the coach and remove the hood lock. My dealership ordered a new lock but they ordered the wrong one. We started our tour around the US with only one working lock. We needed both to secure the hood so, to check engine levels, I had to remove the faulty lock each time. My dealership ordered the correct lock and they mailed it to me during our travels.

We had far too many faults on our 2016 coach. That said I love the layout over our previous coach and the driveability of the 2016 Ford F53 chassis is so much better than our 2006 Ford F53 chassis. White knuckle driving has been nearly eliminated. Heavy traffic, and tight construction areas are not as stressful and for the most part I'm far more relaxed.

Our coach is in Central California while we are in Washington. Because of a four day storm we took Hwy 101 from Central Oregon to Central California. Once our taxes are completed we will head south. Our goal is to visit the Utah National Parks and we want to wait for nicer weather.

Hope that your RV issues and slides are fixed soon.

Safe travels. JD
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Old 02-03-2017, 11:05 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hardroad View Post
schwintek slide mechanism - Do all of these new slides make a lot of noise going in and out? It makes me want to Grease something?
If you have the Schwintek, yes. I followed this method and used exactly what lube they call for.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P1E7ZS



NOTE: I don't have that RV anymore, but I spent 3 years with those slides.
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Old 02-04-2017, 09:15 PM   #18
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Doesn't Lippert own Power Gear now? Seems like all the slide problems began when W switched from HWH to Power Gear/Lippert.
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Old 02-04-2017, 10:12 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hardroad View Post
schwintek slide mechanism - Do all of these new slides make a lot of noise going in and out? It makes me want to Grease something?
Yes the new design is louder and faster than the original design. It is more robust with more powerful motors. Don't be alarmed by the volume level, just make sure you follow deployment and retraction procedures to a "T".

1) coach is leveled
2) engine running on fast idle
3) check voltage, must be above 13 volts constant
4) operate slide and conclude with below:

Hold the switch until you hear BOTH motors click and go silent when the slide reaches it's stop (both coming "in" and going "out"). I hold the switch up to 8 seconds for good measure.

Regards,
W.D.
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Old 02-04-2017, 10:24 PM   #20
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Quote:
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Doesn't Lippert own Power Gear now? Seems like all the slide problems began when W switched from HWH to Power Gear/Lippert.
Hello Ray, yes Lippert did buy out Power Gear. I think they may have things under control now at WBGO with the Schwintek mess. Boy that was a hard lesson learned that must have been very costly as well. We'll see how it goes from here.

I am a fan of HWH, they build stuff stout. I think and hope Lippert has learned this is the best policy. Lippert has decent designs, but build the dang thing so you can't break it, once and done. It's cheaper $ wise in the long run.

Regards,
W.D.
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