Slide Mechanism on 2018 models

[srappleby]

We have had a 2014 Legacy for several years and are thinking about getting a newer unit. We have been very happy with our unit except for the full wall, drivers side slide. The schwintek mechanism is very under-engineered for this application and has given us problems regularly.

Looking at a few 2018 Legacys and have a few questions.

-What type of mechanism moves the big slide?

-Specs say it has only 5,000 lb tow capacity, not the typical 10,000 lbs on most diesels. Is this correct or an error in the specs?

Thanks in advance to those 2018 owners who can help here.

Steve

[Lincman983]

The full wall slide is an Equalizer hydraulic system. It has 2 hydraulic rams. The Legacy transmission is only rated to tow 5,000 lbs due to the 2500MH Allison transmission. The bigger Berkshires XLTs can tow more due to having the bigger 3000MH Allison transmission.

[Favfour]

I have a 2018 340BH. The big slide is hydraulic, did have a cylinder go bad but not too bad of a fix. I had the same concern about towing. I. called Freight Liner. When the chassis came from freight liner it has a 10k tow capacity. Due to the GVWR is 28k and GCWR is 33k Forest River put on a 5k tow capacity.
Same exact chassis as Thor palazzi and Thor left it at 10k, but if you at at GCWR you’d be over weight.

[srappleby]

Yeah, my 2014 Leagacy has a tow capacity of 10,000 but it has the same 2500 MH trans with an engine with slightly less hp and torque. GVWR is the same, too. Guess someone just decided to be more conservative in their rating and I should see the same, if not slightly better performance when towing the Jeep with a 2018 compared to my 2014.

Thanks

[captnrick3]

We love most things about our 2015 Legacy but like you, I hate the schwintek for the full wall slide. I've even sent some of the stripped out motors and gear boxes to Lippert just so they can see what happens when engineering mis calculates. I have studied some sort of retrofit, but quickly realized that is not likely to happen. Pretty much stuck with it. At least I've gotten good at tearing all that apart quickly.

Originally Posted by srappleby

We have had a 2014 Legacy for several years and are thinking about getting a newer unit. We have been very happy with our unit except for the full wall, drivers side slide. The schwintek mechanism is very under-engineered for this application and has given us problems regularly.

Looking at a few 2018 Legacys and have a few questions.

-What type of mechanism moves the big slide?

-Specs say it has only 5,000 lb tow capacity, not the typical 10,000 lbs on most diesels. Is this correct or an error in the specs?

Thanks in advance to those 2018 owners who can help here.

Steve

[srappleby]

Yes, sadly, I too can change out a motor in only a few minutes. We had the entire mechanism replaced for the second time this summer when the thing failed while traveling in California. Fortunately for us, FR Parts department happened to have one in stock and over-nighted it to us so, we were only delayed four days.

Toward the end of our trip back home, the slide was slowly “sinking”, eventually so low that the trim would drag on the floor. Water found its way into the plywood floor of the slide and rotted It’s in the RV Hospital right now getting a floor transplant. Lol. Hopefully, our 2014 can last another couple of years so that she can complete the last nine US States with us.

Steve