Has this ever happened to you? You’re ready to leave your campsite. Checkout time is upon you. Everything is packed up. It’s time to push the button that retracts your slideout. But, Oh, no! Nothing happens when you do! The slide out is stuck in its “out” position.
You check everything to figure out what could be wrong. You try a few things, but no luck! You once read that when this sort of thing happens you can retract the slide manually, but you can’t remember how to do it. Or you’ve got a bad back and you know getting down under the slide and messing around with it could be very bad news for your spine.
So what do you do? The park has been packed every day since you arrived, so you know the camper who has reserved the spot you’re currently in will be along soon.
This is not good, right?
Has this ever happened to you, or something similar where your slide (or slides) was stuck and you couldn’t continue your trip on schedule? If so, after responding to the poll, please leave a comment and tell us your story.
Schwintek!
Schwintek; sounds like swingset. I decided early on, after I fell out of the swingset that I would never trust anything that sounded like that again.
Slide currently is inoperable. Because of the RV design, we can still use the entire coach, just cannot put the slide out.
Fix it this winter season.
A gear broke on one side of our hydraulic living room slide. We were just starting on a month long excursion to Northern Ontario and were not going to stop!
I did a “MacGyver” fix by disconnecting the shaft that ties both gears together. We then moved the one operating slide about 6 inches at a time and using a wrench to manually move the opposite slide. A pain in the you know what, but we kept on going and I replaced the gear at the end of our trip.
Our 20 year old RV slide broke in August. We had a warning in that one day it took a while to pull in but we thought we may not have been parked level. Then 2 weeks later it just would not come in. We learned this
1 Know how to pull your slide out in manually. It took us a while to find a helpful you tube 2 Do not ignore the first warning signs and do not put your slide out again. 3 We ordered a new slide out motor from velesstore.com The part number was easy to read on the old motor. Veles store seemed to be reasonably priced, quickest and most helpful. I will say my husband is a mechanic but he found the slide fairly easy to repair.
We never had trouble with our slides, but our steps wouldn’t go in after a heavy rain storm…turns out rain got into the step motor compartment…we had to thoroughly dry it out and my husband caulked every opening he could find….Been working great since.
I answered no however we almost were in that predicament when the slide did not go out when arriving. Thankfully our motorhome tech support pointed us in the right direction of bad contacts in a relay.
We were one day out of Houston on our way back to Reno when the slide stuck out. Rats. After a couple of hours of not knowing what to do, a Mcgyver kind of guy staying at the park said he could get us on the road. He cobbed a temporary repair on our rack and pinion slide and away we went. He advised us NOT to use the slide for the rest of the trip (four more days). Luckily, we can use everything except the TV with the slide in, but it was a bit cramped. There was an upgrade to the slide mechanism which we had done. No more problems.
The dealer was testing everything for delivery & found an issue. They told us to delay a day in coming to pick it up (1800 miles) so they could take it back to the factory to get it fixed.
Exactly as described in the article. Camp host couldn’t have cared less, wanted us to move it with the slide out. Mobile tech got it retracted but the damage was done. Endless problems with Schwintech, although L**** Mfg is building units with slide out raised off the floor, about 8″ or so, and sidewall flexing is a well known issue with their trailers for years. You can actually see the bow in the wall with the slide retracted.Just imagine the leverage that on the side wall as you’re bouncing down the road! Search for that on their owners forum. That’s the real problem.
Wow, I never imagined a third of all respondents would report slide issues. It begs a question of why.
Poor fit, poor maintenance, poor design, poor operating conditions, poor component quality?
I’ve heard many slide components have very specific fit requirements that are intolerant of wear but wow, I never envisioned the odds being 1 in 3 of getting bit!
Not an issue – was able to crank in the slide manually, and continue on with our trip. (Had to dig out the manual to figure out where the manual crank point was, but other than that – all good.)
Not a slide, but an auto-leveler that would not fully retract. Still tricky to tow. Had to dredge up an appropriate length/size socket extension bar to manually raise the jack. After doing a system recalibration (pulled out the manual), everything started working again.
Our delay is a minute or two. Bed slide is Schwintek. About 25% of the time it starts to move and then stops, flashing light indicates “short in wiring”, doesn’t matter whether going in or out. I moved the brain box to outside of the bed pedestal, so it’s easy to lay on the floor and do the override “press 6 times & hold”. It has always worked after the override sequence. Then it may operate normally a few times before having a hiccup.
After the second failure we now have a TT without a slide.
Had a slide not retract due to a relay failure. Had to wait a day to get a tech to come out and repair. Unfortunately for us we happened to be staying at an expensive RV park in Malibu CA and cost us another night’s fee.
The motor that drives the hydraulic pump that moves our front slides failed once when we were about to leave a campground. The last slide to come in stopped about half way in then wouldn’t move either direction. Manually trying to retract the slide didn’t work either. Called a mobile RV repair guy & he showed up within 45 minutes. He confirmed what I saw….he had a motor-pump assembly in his shop which he installed. The front slides worked better than before so this worked out well.
Kitchen Slide was a Schwintek,, and we were on a remote ranch in Montana. We tried everything we could to get the slide in. Followed instructions from the manual, still no luck. Moved the trailer with the slide open to an RV Park just off the highway where we could get telephone signal. We were lucky to find a Mobile RV tech from Billings MT to come to us more than 100 miles from Billings. $1000. later he got the slide in but not fixed (which is what we wanted). Drove home and my husband ordered the parts and fixed it. We have now sold that trailer and the new one does NOT have a Schwintek slide.
Knock on wood and fingers crossed…25 years owning slide RVs and no delay required yet. Two instances with a little trouble, both battery related, but got the slides in.
Never had to use it, but our first RV with a slide (hydraulic) had a simple recovery system. Turn the hydraulic valve to release the fluid. Then, on the inside, hook up a ratchet mechanism they provided to an eyelet under the couch in the slide and to another eyelet on the other side of the RV, and ratchet it in. Close the valve. I estimate it might have taken 5 minutes to get a heavy dysfunctional slide in with that setup.
Why don’t manufacturers think of this stuff anymore? Oh yeah…a few $$$.
One of the things we were looking for when we bought our used motor home in 2009 was NO Slides. So we have never had a problem with slide-outs. I do know several friends who have had slide-out issues.
I’ve never had to slide out of my RV either. I just open the door and step out.
Schwintec? They work as designed. Our slideroom stuck out at a busy hot spring resort the morning I was supposed to leave. Other guests were moving in in the afternoon with no open spots for overflow. I was able to override the system per instructions on the controller. What I learned in my situation is amp out your slide motors every time you extend or retract the slideroom, this evens out the room and squares it up in the RV house. I also have gotten familiar with the sounds the slide room makes going in and out when it is working properly. If there is a different noise, look for it and correct it. The slide motors are commodities. Replace them in pairs, they wear out equally, maintenance.
Never had a slide out RV for that very real possibility.
We’ve had 2 problems with our schwintek slide. Once with the slide awning, where we discovered was installed incorrectly and another time with the slide itself. One of the wires leading to the motor worked its way loose. My husband was able to repair both issues without impacting our travels, but it was pretty scary at first. I voted “no”, but could easily been “yes” if we had to take it to a repair shop for either issue.
AT least 5 times we have had to wait for a tech or parts and you may have guessed it, Schwinkek. Would never buy another unit with Schwintek !!
In the 11 years I’ve owned my 4 slide out Phaeton, the only slide problem we’ve encountered is the passenger side rear electric slide not wanting to go in or out when on a 30 amp shore power. Start the engine and it works just fine. I know that usually points to low battery voltage, but it did it even after I replaced the batteries. As long as it works with the engine, I’m not worried about it.
I won’t own anything with a slide out.
Ah! An Airstream snob… LOL jk Bob 😉
I’m a retired mechanic. My way of looking at it is the more features you have, the more that can break. I paid $300 for an old, one owner MH 8 years ago. It’s 47 years old and just has the basics and they’ve needed little attention.
Clarify delayed. By less than an hour I call an inconvenience more than a delay. We’ve had several things that caused an alteration of plans but never a slide issue. Perhaps asking if you’ve ever been delayed by weather could be a survey question. We operate under the understanding that our plans are written in sand, often they do shift a different direction.
A couple of times it took a couple of hours to get the slide in, so I voted No.
Our only delay from a slideout malfunction was a broken cable on the wardrobe slide of our Rockwood fifth wheel. A mobile RV technician happened to be visiting a friend in a toy hauler across the road. He and his friend came over, pushed the slide in manually, replaced the cable, reinforced the motor base with a diamond plate scrap he had in his van, drilled four holes in the diamond plate, bolted and lag-screwed everything back together, and gave us a very reasonable bill for 3 hours of work (on his weekend day off!). One extra day in the Las Cruces RV park site was not a problem.
YES, once took some time to discover the park brake switch did not release so slide out would retract. bought new switch.
We had to have our slide’s cable mechanism tightened. It became loose requiring readjustments and because it was a cable we had to have it adjusted by a professional.
In 2017 our 1999 Excel 35SEO had a failure to close issue at an overnight stop in Baker, Nevada. A very small town. To facilitate the repair I needed a 12″ piece of 1″ square steel tubing & two 1/4″ holes to replace the worn out drive pinion shaft coupler of the living room slide. This town consisted of a Post Office, an elementary school, and a bar/grill at the campground. As I drove around the little town looking for a hardware store, I noticed a small sign on an outbuilding of a residence. It said “Blacksmith”. He fabricated the part for me and asked for $20 – I gave him $40.
Great story.👍 Thanks, Dick. Have a good evening/night. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Thank you, RV Travel! 🙂 Yes, we did, once. But it was unlikely how you might have expected. Our slide toppers froze and, when we retracted one of the slides, the topper fabric failed to roll up and store properly. A second attempt had the same result. We extended the slide and waited. Soon the sun was high enough, as was the temperature, and the slide toppers rolled up properly when the slides were retracted. Ultimately, we departed an hour later than planned and have not had the problem again. Have a great weekend and safe travels! 🙂
Sho nuff…a not so grand design lemon fiver.
A four hour job took a week to fix our slide out.
My slide broke a few days before I was going to a campground. I keep my camper in a storage lot due to my HOA not allowing campers in the driveway. I go to the camper a few days before I leave to make the bed and start the refrigerator. I was able to cancel my camping reservation and get 80% of my reservation price back. It took 2 weeks to get it fixed because the RV mechanic had to wait for the parts to come in.
We did have a short delay of just one day, while hubby went under, sanded a bit and lubed up what needed lubing. 6 years parked at the beach did some rusting and wear and tear.