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Old 03-15-2009, 05:53 AM   #15
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Thanks to "donhaus" for the great followup. I had that same problem on my way home after taking delivery of the MH when new. Of course, NRV fixed it but mine was also a broken gear. To this day I still find a piece of it now and then.
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Old 09-22-2009, 08:44 PM   #16
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Ongoing saga with my AL-KO/RBW Slideout

Well so much for the new and improved bedroom slideout design to solve the original faulty design. The motor failed after 6 months on the new design that was installed on my 2005 Dolphin bedroom slideout. The problem is the motor runs but does not engage the driveshaft. After diagnosing the problem with the AL-KO engineer in California he told me that there was an internal motor problem and it needed to be replaced. He did not have an answer about if it would be covered under warranty for the new system that was installed by my dealer and purchased from AL-KO. He told me that I would have to take the MH back to the dealer that installed the new slideout system to work through the warranty question.

Yesterday AL-KO informed the dealer that there is only a 90 day warranty on the motor and I would have to buy a new motor. It took them three days to figure this out because AL-KO is closing the California facility and moving to Elkhart, IN. AL-KO also said that they rarely see these motors fail, but there happened to be another call for the same thing from another unfortunate customer. (I still do not know how much the new motor will cost, but the new system cost about $1000 when it was installed.)

My experience tells me two things:
1. AL-KO has a poor customer service organization and does not care to service their customers and support their products. If they rarely experience this problem then why not fix it if it failed after only 6 mos? (Especially when this was supposed to be the new and improved design that they recommended.)
2. If you experience problems with your RBW slideout system and AL-KO (bought RBW) recommends the new and improved design I suggest waiting to find out if it is actually better than the old POS they offer. Let the poor suckers like me find out if these guys know what they are doing.

Companies like AL-KO do not understand the power of an unhappy customer. I will be the first one to applaud a company that has excellent customer service and the last one to drop the issue when I have been serviced badly.

Buyers beware!
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Old 09-23-2009, 01:32 PM   #17
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I had the broken-teeth issue with my '05 Seabreeze as well... fixed under warranty as the coach was less than a year old.

Now I'm dealing with a bushing failure in the worm-gear assembly (see thread here, last few posts), and waiting to hear back from RBW about pricing and availability on the new design gearbox less motor (mine is still serviceable).

I hope your motor failure is not indicative of problems to come. I can't keep replacing $400 motors or $600 drive assemblies every six months...
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Old 09-28-2009, 08:49 AM   #18
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AL-KO Business

Talking to an AL-KO rep, they said they did NOT want to be in the slide mechanism business. Their business is suspension and axles.

The new wiz-bang slide mechanism is quite fast, and it really hits the stops hard. (Although the new unit is supposed to be much stronger, I'm concerned that when it slams against the stops, it is eventually tear up the planetary gears that are on the end of the motor - it looks like part of the motor, but it is actually a built in reduction gear box.) We are trying to gauge when the slide is out far enough and stop it (electrically) before it hits the stops. I am going to use some tire material, and try to make rubber stops, so it does not hit as hard as it is.

I bought a (bedroom slide) unit directly from AL-KO and the electric brake was sheared off from poor packing. So AL-KO replaced it and said to scrap the defective unit. I was going to put the motor up on e-Bay or this forum, but now I think I will keep it. After using this new one for about 9 weeks, I don't see how it is going to last. Even though the main gear is hardened steel, the way it is slamming, it is eventually going to brake something, even if it is a shear pin. If it is a shear pin, one of them will be quite hard to change, because of the bracket the motor mounts on.

I have lots of photos of old and new, and can send them to you, if you want to see the difference. There is another posing on this subject, and I posted some of the photos there.
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Old 09-28-2009, 09:29 AM   #19
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Blue Ribbon,
Thanks for your reply. I did see your prior post and the pictures are exactly what my old and new system looked like. My extended warranty covered my original repair and now they are talking to AL-KO because they do not want to pay for the follow up repair. I am not sure how many of the redesigned systems are out there, but if there are not many we may be the guinea pigs.

To make matters worse, when the dealer installed my new unit they did not adjust the stops and as a result I am seeing the bedroom unit slide out wall showing stress marks on the exterior where the motor was pulling the wall away from the frame. Unfortunately, I did not discover this until the motor problem. I have only used the slide out a few times and could not figure out why I was seeing the exterior slide out wall showing the problems. Now I have to deal with the dealer who installed the unit with this problem.

The whole process has been a real pain in the rear. It is a shame they could not have done it right in the first place - on all accounts (RBW, AL-KO and the dealer). We love the motorhome but have not had good experiences with repairs. Workhorse, on the other hand, have been great.

I will let everyone know how the saga plays out.
Thanks,
Don
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Old 10-15-2009, 08:24 PM   #20
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Update as of 10/15/09
After much back and forth with the slide-out system manufacturer (AL-KO/RBW) and the extended warranty company (EasyCare) over the past four weeks I finally have an answer. The extended warranty company is going to cover the repair of the new/improved slide system that they paid to have fixed less less than six months ago. AL-KO/RBW stood firm on the 90 day warranty on the new/improved fix. The motor has to be replaced and EasyCare has authorized the repair with the repair shop. EasyCare obviously challenged the manufacturer on the warranty but the manufacturer would not yield. I am fortunate to have an credible extended warranty. For those who do not have the extended warranty, buyer beware when dealing with AL-KO/RBW. My experience has not been good. Their customer service leaves much to be desired. There are two dimensions to this situation - 1. Cost - I believe I did not get what was paid for in the new/improved design, 2. Downtime - the aggravation of not having a usable bedroom slideout has made it difficult to enjoy our motorhome.

I am dubious about how long the next motor will last. I will keep you posted.
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Old 11-27-2009, 05:10 PM   #21
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Update as of 11/27/09
The new motor and pin assembly were installed by the authorized repair shop and paid for by the extended warranty (about $800). The new motor is not as powerful as the previous motor that failed. The previous motor moved the slideout much faster than the original motor (it was too fast in my opinion and I wonder if the power of the previous motor was a source of the problem). The replacement motor operates more like the original motor and moves the slideout at a more practicle speed, closing and opening with much less force.

I have put the motorhome away for the season so I will not have much to report until spring/summer of 2010. I hope the new replacement motor lasts longer than the previous replacement motor (3 months) and this is the last report I will have on the subject.

Thank goodness for the extended warranty otherwise this experience would have cost me well over $2000.
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Old 11-28-2009, 10:57 AM   #22
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Has anyone that has one of these drives with gears having busted off teeth just had a new gear made and installed on the existing motor? My motor is fine...just the gears teeth are bad...I may be better off manually opening and shutting the slide until I can determine the proper course of action...
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Old 11-28-2009, 11:51 AM   #23
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GDLOW,
Check out the post by noozeyeguy. He did the DIY fix. A great post with pictures. Sounds like what you are looking for.
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Old 03-16-2021, 04:19 PM   #24
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Bedroom slideout how to get info on the new redesign

[QU OTE=donhaus;480684]I just picked up the MH from the repair shop. They installed the new, redesigned RBW slid out system. The new system replaced the old flawed design that used the brass drive gear assembly. The only old part used is the gear-tooth rail on the slide out frame. The new system is a simpler design that is a more direct drive design versus the old multiple gear system. It inlcuded a new motor and a hardened steel drive gear (as opposed to the inferior brass one).

WOW - what a difference in performance! The new system is much smoother, more powerful, faster and quieter. The old one was noisey, slow and struggled to open/close the bed and closet slide-out unit. Best of all, my extended warranty covered everything but the $50 deductable. The total repair was $997 (the new drive system was $525). I have Easy Care for my extended warranty and they were great to work with. I was very happy when they agreed to cover the additional cost of the new system vs just going the least cost route.[/QUOTE]
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Old 03-16-2021, 07:35 PM   #25
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There is two problems with the original set up. The motor/gear had too much torque for the job and second is there was nothing to stop the motor when the slide hit full in or full out. If you held the wall slide switch too long, you can hear the motor load down when full in or out, the roll pin thru the brass gear would break, or teeth on the brass gear would break and/or the bushing at the end of the worm gear would break apart and fall out in pieces. The long gear shaft could also be damaged over time.
I replaced the brass gear twice with an identical steel gear, teeth broke off it much easier than the brass gear, I found the brass gear was stronger. In my opinion the motor was too big and had too much torque for the job it's doing. The Power Gear mechanism used on my current 2008 Dolphin bedroom slide has a much smaller motor and has no issues. What finally solved all of these problems with the 2005 RBW mechanism was to install 2 micro switches or limit switches wired in series with the in/out lines with the hallway slide switch. The limit switches are mounted under the bed, when the slide hits full in or out, the switch is pushed open by the slide with interrupts the power to the relays, the motor stops instantly even if you continue to hold the hallway slide switch on and nothing gets stressed or damaged. This mechanism never had an issue again after using $20 of wire and 2 switches. The hardest part if installing this was finding away of running 4 low gauge wires(lamp cord) from under the bed to the hallway panel. This worked so well I did this same mod on the 2008 Dolphin using the Power Gear set up. To find a replacement brass gear Google Martin gear WB-1220, through the bore is 1/2" and needs to be drilled out to 5/8" which is the shaft size.
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Old 03-17-2021, 09:41 AM   #26
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Thanks for the follow up the micro switches I may have to do.My motor shaft breaks where the pin is . I was hoping to find the redesign kit that our member donhaus was talking about that eliminates the brass gear box does anybody have the pdf or or installation an service guide ? I just found a old post from donhaus an the only part reused is the gear that drives the rail . The new part #is LPW-32127R-FR an costs $522.95. I have googled the part # an it does not show up ,it does refer me back to dons post . Does any body know of this redesign kit or have pictures of it ??? Thanks Rick
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Old 03-17-2021, 11:57 AM   #27
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Hi Rick, I had not heard of a rebuild kit for this mechanism, but then I didn't look too hard. I talked to one Dolphin owner years ago who had a RV repair place replaced the entire mechanism with the Power Gear unit, it was close to $2000 total with install. Being a DYI person I chose to try fixing the old mechanism and it did work out fine after the micro switch addition. Changing the brass gear or long 5/8" shaft isn't hard, but if the bushing at the end of the worm gear shaft needs replacing, then the gear box needs to come apart by grinding the welds, then welding back together when done. I replaced the 5/8" shaft as the roll pin holes became worn larger but I made the replacement from common 5/8" round steel from a place like Tractor Supply. See photos of Power Gear mechanism that was used in the 2008 Dolphin 5335.
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Old 03-18-2021, 01:10 PM   #28
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Thanks for all the follow up answers an suggestions I was hoping to see a picture of the retro kit which eliminates the brass gear box , looks like I will have a new shaft made an install the micro switches . Thanks Rick
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