Lately there has been a lot of debate regarding the Schwintek Slide system.

I’d like to start by saying that the Grand Design Imagine Trailer that we currently own (2017 2950RL) is the first Travel Trailer that we have owned that has this particular slide system. While we have not had any problems with it yet, I’m not a huge fan. Why? Well, for one thing, popping the motors out for replacement is not an easy task and pretty much impossible if the slide room is retracted into the trailer when you experience a problem. This is because the screw to remove the motor is on the outside of the unit and the slide has to be out (at least partially) in order to perform that step.

Other issues include:

  1. Not having a way to manually retract or extend the slide room without disconnecting the motors
  2. The requirement that the slides should never be partially extended
  3. The slides can get out of sync and need to be re-synced.

Now the Schwintek system has been around for quite a while, so one might assume that is a good thing. However, many folks have had failures, sometimes multiple failures. These problems can be due to a number of issues; the slide out of sync, the motor being bad, or a fault in the wiring etc.

There is no doubt that these slides work best when the slide is not heavy…and that is not the case in our trailer.

So what is the recent Schwintek debate about? Well the debate revolves around maintaining the slide. For years Lippert Components (LCI) has told owners, and even created videos teaching owners how to lubricate their Schwintek slides. They only recommend one type of lubrication for their slide system and that is PTFE.

CRC PTFE LUBE

The debate now centers around whether this slide system should be lubricated at all. It seems at a recent Grand Design Rally, the attendees were told to never lube the schwintek system. Someone also stated that the Lippert Representatives said they were not sure why the Lubrication videos were still on-line. To be fair, I wasn’t at the Rally so I’m only relaying what I read on line. So being very curious about this I decided to call Lippert myself to find out what was the real scoop on lubrication.

The Customer Support person that I talked with told me there has been no change in their stance on lubrication. He also said that if there had been a change away from lubrication there would have required a large meeting to get everyone on the same page.

So, regardless of what you may have seen on-line, please make sure you continue to lubricate your Schwintek system but only with the PTFE lubrication that Lippert Recommends. If you choose to use another lube you will probably gum up your slide system by attracting dirt.

As I mentioned I am not a big Schwintek fan, but the alternatives you have to replacing it are limited; but if you are curious check out VROOM slide systems. They do an expensive replacement which has many advantages over the existing Schwintek Slide System.

For now, I will continue to lube my slides and hope for the best. To watch Lipperts’ video on Schwintek lubrication click here.