Kitchen Slide Heads Up

[captnrick3]

Originally Posted by t17wilson

I've been watching this thread since we've always heard creaking and popping when moving the kitchen slide in our 2014 Legacy. Last night out on our three week Canada trip we had a lot of trouble getting it all the way in. Now it won't go out at all. The gear appears to be stripped at the top of the rear. Aluminum rail shows some damage too. After hearing about the great Forest River customer service I made a call on Monday. Talked with one of the reps that I see frequently mentioned here. The only thing I got out of him was "sorry, your coach is out of warranty." While I had him on the phone I asked him about an issue I was having with one of the rear ladder mounts. He asked that I send him a couple pics and he'd see what he could do. Within an hour I sent him the pictures. On Thursday I sent him a follow up email to see if he had any ideas for me. Still waiting on a reply. Can you tell I'm disappointed in my first customer service contact???

I'm watching your posts to see how this comes out. I lost a slide motor when our rig was only a couple months old. After that mess, which was corrected using warrantee parts from FR, I bought and carry a spare motor and have designed a somewhat mickey mouse strap winch contraption that I believe will help set the slide in should a total failure occur our in the toolies some where. I have not had to test that setup, so I only "hope" it will work. We use our Legacy a lot, and I'm closely watching the wear on the slide tracks. That full wall slide is way under engineered, not much I can do about that but keep an eye on it.

[t17wilson]

It's now been two weeks and I've yet to receive a return call from Mitch. So much for my first impression with FR customer service. I have contacted a local dealer who is a certified FR repair facility. He has sent the Lippert rep pictures of my issue. His first reaction is that the complete mechanism needs to be replaced. Waiting to hear the final word but guess I'll have to file it with my extended warranty. That's what I bought it for but I don't like having to even pay the deductible for a problem that sounds like FR knows about and sometimes fixes for some customers.

[captnrick3]

Originally Posted by t17wilson

It's now been two weeks and I've yet to receive a return call from Mitch. So much for my first impression with FR customer service. I have contacted a local dealer who is a certified FR repair facility. He has sent the Lippert rep pictures of my issue. His first reaction is that the complete mechanism needs to be replaced. Waiting to hear the final word but guess I'll have to file it with my extended warranty. That's what I bought it for but I don't like having to even pay the deductible for a problem that sounds like FR knows about and sometimes fixes for some customers.

By any chance did you try Randy Houser at FR, 574 522-1583? He has been good in the past. Just curious, are your aluminum tracks on the slide actually stripped out? Has a motor, or both motors failed? Our kitchen slide has had many cycles and I am watching the wear patterns closely. I'm wondering if those tracks can be replaced without removing the slide once they are worn out.

[Blacknchromehd]

Mine is a 2015 360RB and so far no issues with the slide...we have the hydraulic system on the big slide and plates are all installed under the slide for the rollers. Mine was made in march of 2015 and we bought it July 2015....are the 360RB's having the issues as well?

[TKN 516]

I know that is is an on going post so I thought that I'd throw my stuff in as well. We got our 2014 in August 2016. Our big slide out it making the popping and creaking noise. We took it in because of the hot water not working (another issue) and asked them to take a look at it as well.
The aluminum grooves are damaged and will have to be replaced as well as the motors. We were told, not to put it out because we (repair favcility)almost could n't get it back in.
So we have the extended warranty thank God, but from this thread it sounds as if FR knows about this issue. So is it just random that they will actually help or repair this? We bought this Legacy because we thought that we were getting a great coach. Now not sure if we did the right thing now or not.

[captnrick3]

Originally Posted by TKN 516

I know that is is an on going post so I thought that I'd throw my stuff in as well. We got our 2014 in August 2016. Our big slide out it making the popping and creaking noise. We took it in because of the hot water not working (another issue) and asked them to take a look at it as well.
The aluminum grooves are damaged and will have to be replaced as well as the motors. We were told, not to put it out because we (repair favcility)almost could n't get it back in.
So we have the extended warranty thank God, but from this thread it sounds as if FR knows about this issue. So is it just random that they will actually help or repair this? We bought this Legacy because we thought that we were getting a great coach. Now not sure if we did the right thing now or not.

Still think you have a great coach, we are still very happy overall with ours after working out a few bugs. I still think the big slide is under engineered but it is what it is. Are you having yours repaired at the FR factory? And if so, is the extended warrantee helping with that? I would love to know what happened to the aluminum slide tracks. We have 21,000 miles and many slide cycles and there is some wear but ours are still hanging in there. I will be anxious to see if they put metal strips under your slide rollers to make it slide easier, I want to do that on ours at some point. I carry a spare slide motor and thinking about getting a spare controller as well.

[dmwoody]

I should update everyone on this thread as my last post regarding my slide(s) was more than a year ago.
As I last left you, I took my 340KP into Poulsbo RV to have the aluminum plates attached to the bottom of the kitchen slide because of the roller ruts. They installed beautifully, and it operated smooth - that is until I took it up the road for the next trip. Operated fine until the front end decided to stop about a foot out. P***ed me off!. Took it back in, and got the call from Poulsbo telling me the slide opening wasn't square, so the motors weren't operating the gears in the tracks correctly, allowing the slide to bind. The tracks were getting eaten up as I described before. Poulsbo contacted FR and Lippert, and convinced FR the rear motor mounting channel attached to the MH wall (seal strip) had to be squared with the slide, and convinced Lippert all tracks and motors gears needed to be replaced. The top of the rear motor channel was moved a half inch closer to the slide, while the bottom remained in it's original location. Like the slide opening was a half inch out of square at the top rear. Hope this all makes sense. After the repair, with the kitchen slide open, and looking at the rear end of the slide from the outside (see pic), you could see where the top of the seal strip - holds the rear slide motor - was moved forward towards the slide. They had to paint the now exposed unpainted side of the MH. All works great now. Smooth and mostly quiet.

And then I had the front motor in the bedroom slide go bad while in (broken wire at the motor). Did you know you have to dismantle the closet there to replace it? You do.

[TKN 516]

Thanks Captnrick and Dmwoody. I believe that I am going to reach out to FR and see what assistance I can get from them. I will let you know what I found out.
Thanks for the pics as well. It helps to see what someone else's coach looks like too.

[t17wilson]

Here an update on our kitchen slide issue. After waiting for over two months for a local dealer to hear back from Lippert we bit the bullet and returned our unit to the dealer in SC where we purchased it (275 miles away). They agreed that the upper rear of the opening needed to be shimmed in order to prevent the gear and rack from being damaged from improper meshing. They promised to work it in as soon as they could and keep us updated. On Monday it will be 3 weeks. I sent them an email a week ago asking for an update and have received nothing! Motor home service seems to be the pits everywhere. Yes, the slide is under engineered and it pisses me off that Forest River knows about the issue and has corrected it on the 2015 model but won't fix the 2014 (unless you catch them on a day they are in a good mood apparently!) Rant over! But still have the issue. LOL

[CRL1]

Originally Posted by t17wilson

Here an update on our kitchen slide issue. After waiting for over two months for a local dealer to hear back from Lippert we bit the bullet and returned our unit to the dealer in SC where we purchased it (275 miles away). They agreed that the upper rear of the opening needed to be shimmed in order to prevent the gear and rack from being damaged from improper meshing. They promised to work it in as soon as they could and keep us updated. On Monday it will be 3 weeks. I sent them an email a week ago asking for an update and have received nothing! Motor home service seems to be the pits everywhere. Yes, the slide is under engineered and it pisses me off that Forest River knows about the issue and has corrected it on the 2015 model but won't fix the 2014 (unless you catch them on a day they are in a good mood apparently!) Rant over! But still have the issue. LOL

What dealer may that be? Got ours at Bob Ledford's in Greer, SC . Left it there for warranty work for a month, don't think they bothered to do much with it till we gave them a date that we were coming back down to pick it up. Completely missed the 3rd page of our list, tried to work on it while we waited 3 hours before beginning our trip back to Delaware.
They were supposed to get back to me about some unresolved issues but haven't heard from them.

[aeroshots]

Good luck with them getting back with you. My advice is, if you can correct the issues yourself...do it.

[TKN 516]

So here is what has happened with our kitchen slide.
We took it to get it fixed. I gave the shop three weeks to get it corrected then I was coming back to get it. We had a trip planned the next week to Camp Freightliner. Very cool class if you get a chance to go!!! Learned some stuff too!!

Ok slides... So I called FR service and he told me that he would help my dealer to get my coach back in business. I gave the number to them. I was promised my coach back on Friday. They only missed it by two days!! They worked with FR, measuring and ordering the correct parts. It is now fixed!!!

I am a happy camper!!

So I give a good shout out to the folks at Campers Inn in Smithfield.
Also thank you to Mike at FR!!

Now if we can get the stinking hot water to work properly. I will be very happy.

[t17wilson]

Left the thread for a while but we did get the slide realigned at the dealer and it has been working properly. At least until this last trip out! Had trouble the last couple of times getting the slide to return all the way in. Checked under and found that the plywood is wet and damaged causing the slide to sag and the motors to cut out while the slide is still about 3 inches out. I'm guessing this is due to the stress and the motors are thinking that it's all the way in. I have an extended warranty but not sure if it covers water damage. Being a 2014 I have little faith that the factory will be of much help. Any suggestions? From reading the posts here I may be better off taking it back to the factory even if I have to pay to get it fixed. My wife called our dealer yesterday to ask them if they thought it would be covered by the warranty and they just told her that we should call the warranty company, so they weren't of much help.

[captnrick3]

Originally Posted by t17wilson

Left the thread for a while but we did get the slide realigned at the dealer and it has been working properly. At least until this last trip out! Had trouble the last couple of times getting the slide to return all the way in. Checked under and found that the plywood is wet and damaged causing the slide to sag and the motors to cut out while the slide is still about 3 inches out. I'm guessing this is due to the stress and the motors are thinking that it's all the way in. I have an extended warranty but not sure if it covers water damage. Being a 2014 I have little faith that the factory will be of much help. Any suggestions? From reading the posts here I may be better off taking it back to the factory even if I have to pay to get it fixed. My wife called our dealer yesterday to ask them if they thought it would be covered by the warranty and they just told her that we should call the warranty company, so they weren't of much help.

Sounds to me like the slide will have to be removed to have the bottom replaced. I think your idea of taking it to the factory might be good. I wonder if it is possible to upgrade the slide mechanism while it is there? Personally I am not a fan of the in wall slide system on that large of a slide, but it may not be possible to change, not sure. I would hate for a local dealer to be removing my entire slide.

[VinceU]

Seem the factory is your only reasonable answer. I would confirm with a agent as to costs and repair time. Since this condition was beyond your control, they very well spring for at least part of the cost. It won’t be cheap but they are best equipped to perform the repair.

[ocabs]

Hi everyone,

So I am about month in a year long family trip. I bought our sr300 a month before leaving, had it inspected by what I thought was a reputable shop.
I always thought the kitchen slide made a lot of noise, with groaning, moaning and popping, but I figured it was normal. Now I saw this thread and went under the slide to notice that the weather barrier was sagging, cut in certain spots and that areas of the slide floor are rotten. In some places, the rollers must be going right through where there was once healthy plywood. Now I don't want to use the kitchen slide anymore as I'm scared it won't come in properly at some point.

So...I understand from reading this thread that calling FR and arranging for a factory repair would be my best bet. That being said, I am now in TX and I still have 9 months of road tripping planned (!). Does anyone know of a good shop in TX (San Antonio?) that would be able to take on this kind of repair? I'd be willing to leave the RV for about a month from mid-December to January...which would leave them enough time (hopfully!).

I know this thread is pretty old, but it seems like it's the best place to hear from people who have been through this already.

Thanks!

[Mons02035]

I drove my legacy from Florida to Indiana to have first river fix my 2 slides. Both had water damage but the factory said that only one was rotted and the other was fine. They lied. Shortly after leaving the plant the bottom of the other slide was rotted out bad. All in all, forest river was terrible to deal with. I believe I dealt with Mitch Wirt who I was not thrilled about at all. He forgot I was coming and made me wait so he could goto the dentist. Then when I picked it up a month later he forgot then too. I eventually dumped my legacy and told Mitch that I would never buy another forest river product again and that I’d speak my experience any chance I got. Forest river is a terrible terrible company. I took it on the chin white that POS legacy and went into a Tiffin. 1000 times better. You get what you pay for. I’d recommend NOT brining your coach back to Forest River, it’s a waste of your time. Find a good repair company. Of at all possible, run away from forest river. For the record, I have owned a forest river travel trailer and a class A pusher. Both were POS’s. I have owned a keystone travel trailer which was ok. I have now owned a Tiffin phaeton and a Winnebago View. I loved the phaeton but needed to downsize. The View is pretty good. I have never had such a miserable experience than I did with forest river. I almost just gave up on RV’s because of it. The issues I listed above are only a few of the problems I had dealing with forest river, I’m not going to vent it all here but those are just the highlights.

[ocabs]

Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately, I am stuck in this situation and for now, I need to find the best solution and keep our trip going.

If anyone has successfully tackled this problem, please get in touch!

Cheers

[Mike Currie]

I very recently purchased a used 2015 340KP with 25K miles.

My first outing was for a 3-day, immersive RV Training session. Three nights in different campsites, two days of driving training.

The first night I hooked up to campsite water and was unable to get hot water out of either the kitchen or bathroom faucets, or shower (gerrard tankless water heater). Then we noticed water seeping out from under the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. It only leaked, however, while the hot water faucets were on (no leaking with cold water).

I turned off the campsite water supply and switched over to the internal fresh water tank. With the fresh water tank I was able to get hot water and no water was leaking while the hot water was running.

The next morning when my instructor showed up I asked him what he thought. Turns out he is also a mobile RV mechanic. He looked under the sinks and immediately said "those are the wrong type of clamps on all the water lines - that's why it's leaking."

Since every clamp on every hose was the same, and there was no evidence anything had been upgraded, it seemed evident they were factory installed.

He mentioned that I should get a pressure regulator for future campsite hookups since they seemed to be ok with the lower internal water pump pressure.

He had no idea without digging deeper as to why the hot water worked with the tank but didn't work with the outside water line.

Anyway, in following the comments in this thread over the many years, the source of the water leak seems to be a mystery. I thought checking the hose clamps when being used with higher water pressure and/or hot water running might be a worthwhile suggestion.

BTW, I haven't tried the pressure regulator yet or explored why hot water only works with the internal fresh water tank. Working through the more simple projects first and just keep my fresh water tank filled for now.


On a non related issue - my instructor also gave me another quick fix for another problem. My black water tank always showed 2/3 full, even after emptying - He told me to dump two 20-pound bags of crushed ice down the toilet. After driving around all day it evidently scrubbed off whatever was sticking to the contacts. The meter reads accurately now.

[formerFR]

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