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Hello Fiends,

 

We are not camping right now so this isn't an emergency but we do plan to leave in less than a month and are having trouble.  We picked up our MH from having the oil changed and when returning it to our storage unit, we needed to put the slide out to do something.  Pushed the button and the slide moved a second or two and then a very loud noise and the slide stopped.  We tried it several times.  Tried pushing, pulling, angling...nothing.  Our rear slide works fine and it does not sound like an electricity problem as the noise is LOUD at the point that the slide stops - it sounds mechanical.

 

As I mentioned, we leave in less than a month - for the Fort so that I can compete in my first 5K (woo hoo) and our RV dealership has been bought by... Camping World.  They were already exceptionally slow with service - can you imagine what it will be like now?  I'm thinking our rig will not be ready in time...oh man.

 

It's a 2016 Forest River Georgetown.  Any thoughts?!!!  My husband has a done a lot of research but we can't figure it out.  Thanks!!!

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Hmm, sounds very familiar. Tom Johnson Concord?  That is our dealer and their service is incredibly slow and they were bought by CW.

 

We were having slide issues - not going in all the way, very loud pop when going in. That is our big slide which is hydraulic.  

 

So, the time ours didn't go in all the way, we were camping and Mr. CJH was prepared to drive it back like that. I told him we should put the jacks up and try it. He thought that was hogwash, but sure enough when we put the jacks up, it went in all the way, but with a really loud pop.  

 

We made an appt. to drop it at the dealer and then waited 3 or 4 weeks for them to start working on it, then 2 or 3 weeks to pick it up.  They said they lubed it and that was it.  Of course we put it out when we took it back to storage and it made a loud pop again.  I don't think we heard it or it was as bad when we left the Fort on NY day.

 

Mr. CJH just said if it pops when it stops it's probably a problem with the tracks, but he is not a mechanic nor did he stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

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You might want to ask your question on the Forest River forums. They have lots of folks who have been through just about anything that can happen to a MH or trailer. You might also try calling Forest River to see if they have any mobile repairmen qualified for warranty work in your area. They are frequently easier to get timely work scheduled than the brick and mortar RV dealers.

 

The forum can be found here:  http://www.forestriverforums.com/forums/

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A lot of units depend on the 12 volt system to power the slides, check to make sure you have a good charge on the batteries, I know this sounds strange but can't hurt. Second the Forest River Forums board.

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You might want to ask your question on the Forest River forums. They have lots of folks who have been through just about anything that can happen to a MH or trailer. You might also try calling Forest River to see if they have any mobile repairmen qualified for warranty work in your area. They are frequently easier to get timely work scheduled than the brick and mortar RV dealers.

 

The forum can be found here:  http://www.forestriverforums.com/forums/

This is brilliant.

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An update - After finding a way into our dealership, someone took a look at Big Bear (our motor home :rolleyes:) and determined that the gear box and some other part are broken.  Because there is such a huge backlog of service work and because of the switch to Camping World adding to gumming up things, we cannot get an appointment until March.  Even getting the rig looked at took a favor being done for our salesperson.  As it stands now, I will have to cancel our FW ressies and try to book a house somewhere near Disney that is pet friendly.  My husband called other dealerships in the area and they are not willing to take us.  He has also spoken with a Forest River regional rep but no one seems to have a solution for us.  Very disappointed in a brand new motor home having a dud slide...

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Sorry to hear, that is a pain. 

Have you tried calling the warranty department at Forest River directly? We had some problems with our dealership and I called Gulfstreams warranty department directly and they said we could take it to any rv repair shop if if they were not authorized with Gulfstream already. The shop would have to diagnose the problems and send the warranty department a list of what they were going to do and then warranty would verify if the would pay or how much, before the shop could start work.

Again that was with Gulfstream not sure if Forest River will do the same or not and it may end up being more of a pain but then may get it use able faster.

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Will the dealer give you a loaner?

Will the factory pay the difference of your reservations cost between the Fort and whatever else you need to rent?

Between this site, a PUP site I go to and a couple of the "other" Disney camping sites, it seems like buying a new RV/TT/PUP is NOT the way to go.

I think someone on another site is currently fighting with Forest River over taking the unit back because of all the defects and the poor way the dealership has attempted to do repairs.

it's really a shame, you have a new RV that cannot be used for at least 3 months, but the lender will still want their monthly payments.

Sounds like the US RV business has gone down the crapper, inferior products and no way to get them repaired.

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, jayco1 said:

Don't most slides have some sort of emergency slide out cranks? (Ours does) Could you use it once at FW and save your vacation?

That's a good thought (just so they wouldn't have to cancel their trip).... wonder if that could work.

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Call Georgetown's warranty manager directly. Explain to her/him your issue, upcoming trip, and concern over the speed of Camping World's service department. If you're willing to front the money, you can likely get reimbursed for a different repair facility/mobile RV tech (though, often times with mobile techs- the cost of the service visit is on you but the manufacturer will pay for the repair and parts).

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52 minutes ago, Travisma said:

How heavy is the slide?  I would imagine it's fairly balanced and slides easily because the motor/gearbox probably isn't too big.  Is there a way to get to the gearbox and disengage it so you could manually pull/push the slide in and out?

Then what would stop the slide from coming out when they are traveling?

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9 minutes ago, Travisma said:

Not sure, but I would imagine there should be some sort of safety latch in case the gearbox failed.  Would have to look it over. Just offering an alternative to try to keep camping instead of sitting idle for a few months waiting for Camping World taking their sweet time fixing it.

Good point.  We have hydraulic slides with a manual override.  Guess that's something we need to check on.

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8 minutes ago, CCIntrigue...aka Gwen said:

Good point.  We have hydraulic slides with a manual override.  Guess that's something we need to check on.

I'm not familiar with camper slides, just imagining the way I think they would work compared to other mechanical items I've work on over the years. Didn't think about hydraulics, was thinking more on the line of a gear and track system.  Usually there's a way around getting something to work if it doesn't want to.  It may not be the proper way, and it may not be pretty. 

 

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Then what would stop the slide from coming out when they are traveling?

For one of my slides (I have 3 different kinds of slides), there is no manual override except for pigs like the dickens. For that one, the manufacturer says to get a 2x4" and cut it 1" longer than the depth of the slide from the trim to the wall and wedge it in place.

I've had to do this once. That was less than fun.

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On 2/4/2016 at 0:54 PM, ependydad...Doug said:

Call Georgetown's warranty manager directly. Explain to her/him your issue, upcoming trip, and concern over the speed of Camping World's service department. If you're willing to front the money, you can likely get reimbursed for a different repair facility/mobile RV tech (though, often times with mobile techs- the cost of the service visit is on you but the manufacturer will pay for the repair and parts).

Done this myself one time when we had the hybrid. Our awning arm piston got stuck while coming in and bent one of the arms causing the other one to jam and lock up. Called Forest River who put me in touch with Coachnet which Forest River provides free of charge for one year. I paid for the tech to come out and cut the whole awning off and remove the arms. Bill was around $350 which included his 2 hour round trip to get to me. Faxed the invoice to Forest River and had a check in 2 days for reimbursement. They were good to deal with.

 

The dealer on the other hand to get it fixed....3 weeks to get it in. They had it for 4 months after that. Since then that dealer was bought out by CW and they have my sisters TT now. Funny thing is that they have had it since September and it still isn't fixed. They are calling again monday on a status update.

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