Slide floor load limits? - Dutchmen Owners
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Old 01-14-2015, 04:16 PM   #1
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Slide floor load limits?

I have a 2013 3850RL. The front edge of my bedroom megaslide won't close flush to the unit and a local repair facility claims that our conversion of the coat closet (back end of the slide) into a pantry has overloaded the slide floor. I call bulls#1t! The home-grown, multi-drawer pantry, fully loaded, can't weigh more than 100 pounds. Does anyone know of a weight limit for loading the Schwintek slides? There is nothing in the [electronic] owner's manual.
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Old 01-15-2015, 12:55 AM   #2
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Bedroom Slide Limit

We have the same model/unit as yours (2012). There are several previous threads regarding numerous failures of the bedroom slide in our model. The "weight limit" assessment by your repair facility is a joke. Frankly, the Dutchmen's engineering and design is flawed as the slide is far too heavy and long for the two puny Schwintek electric in-wall motors at each end. This is the situation (weight problem) before you even put anything in the dresser and hallway cabinets. I have had several bedroom slide failures to include a catastrophic failure of the hallway end motor tearing out and sparking from the interior wall. That one required a several month factory repair. That is likely why Dutchmen quickly discontinued our floor plan. Sadly, not much you can do but lubricate (silicone) the tracks and lower gear block mechanism so the slide can hopefully self adjust as it struggles to close each time. I have our RV tech inspect, lubricate, and make sure the parts that are supposed to move - do so at the beginning of each season. Still have to sometimes push on the front end of the slide to get it closed. Seriously thinking of dumping this unit and getting the new Arctic Fox 35-5Z as soon as I can afford taking the financial bath.

Mark
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Old 01-16-2015, 08:25 PM   #3
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Your "catastrophic failure" of the slide motor suddenly makes me nervous. The wife and I are brand new full-timers and plan on being very mobile. A failure like that while in some out-of-the-way corner of the country would be a show-stopper. (I'm upgrading my fire extinguisher, right away.) Luckily, a call from the local repair shop says that all repairs are covered under my Route 66 Network, extended warranty, and I told them to return all replaced parts to me. I can't replace the unit as I now operate only on Social Security and, besides, I've sunk a lot of money into DIY upgrades and I don't want to do them over again.
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Old 01-16-2015, 10:22 PM   #4
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Question: Instead of going by people's 'word of mouth' opinions, why not just...

* call Dutchmen, and ask what the load limit on their slide out structure is... and,

* then call Lippert, and ask if there are any load limits are on their Schwintek units?
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