2021 GD Reflection 260 RD catastrophic rv purchase experience

[geotex1]

Sorry for your frustration and troubles, and thank you for your service!

Many of us have had problem with our GDs. If I rattled off the list for our troubles, you sadly would likely feel a lot better about bent axles (likely transporter damage if unit was new); likely loose self-tappers underside because if it was suspension hardware then that was your axle shop forgetting to torque it because you remove axle from the rig to straighten; and, the Schwintek!!

The Schwintek's are not rocket science but do require very good alignment of components, the right components, and synced motors (our complete assembly was replaced). I sincerely have to question the caliber of RV Tech you had working on it because it's no big effort to manually override the controller. Heck, the instructions are right on the controller itself. If the slide is binding, it's also no big deal to disengage the motors so you can push the slide box in by hand. There's one screw accessed from the outside for each motor and then you have to contort a bit to pop them up from the inside and unplug them to get them out of the way. Any legitimate RV Tech has this knowledge, and there should have been no reason to be stranded due to the slide. Moreover, and I am sorry to be so direct, but the unknowledgeable use and troubleshooting of the slide is what caused the damage and chewing up the track (aluminum shavings). The first misbehavior was a symptom of the motors out of sync/time. All should have stopped, the controller checked for error codes, and if ok there a few minutes spent looking up how to resynchronize the motors. Lippert, Grand Design, National RV Training and probably 2 dozen more have videos on doing this, it's in the slide system's manuals, and probably 20-30 forum posts. Caught early, it's easy to fix. Forced and binding, the motor gears tear up the tracks in seconds. Given you have a 2021 model it would not fall under Lippert's recall affecting 2022 models (next model years are already in production by the Fall of each year).

[FlyStar]

Thanks geotex1 for the good reminder on the Schwintek. Get off the button if it’s not working right! I will remember that going forward. The initial reaction to try to run it in and out when it’s binding is a strong one. The stop and go look at the controller diagnostics, not always the first thing you do. But should be. Good advice.

From what I’ve seen on the U-tube, I think you can also pop the motors up from the outside and put the screw back in to keep them up and disengaged while you recruit the neighbors to help with the big push.

What do you recommend if it’s stuck retracted? How do you get access to the screw holding the motor? Any good advice on that situation? Seems pushing it out to get access, with the motor mechanically engaged would put a big stress on things. Even if it could be done.

So far my Schwintek slide has been the most reliable of my three slides. I had the big in frame slide fail in the retracted position on my first outing with the rig. Took the dealer 3 months to fix but has been OK since. The Schwintek glides in and out smoothly every time. So far. Love that thing. Ha.

[NB Canada]

Thanks geotex1 for the good reminder on the Schwintek. Get off the button if it’s not working right! I will remember that going forward. The initial reaction to try to run it in and out when it’s binding is a strong one. The stop and go look at the controller diagnostics, not always the first thing you do. But should be. Good advice.

From what I’ve seen on the U-tube, I think you can also pop the motors up from the outside and put the screw back in to keep them up and disengaged while you recruit the neighbors to help with the big push.

What do you recommend if it’s stuck retracted? How do you get access to the screw holding the motor? Any good advice on that situation? Seems pushing it out to get access, with the motor mechanically engaged would put a big stress on things. Even if it could be done.

So far my Schwintek slide has been the most reliable of my three slides. I had the big in frame slide fail in the retracted position on my first outing with the rig. Took the dealer 3 months to fix but has been OK since. The Schwintek glides in and out smoothly every time. So far. Love that thing. Ha.

Mine works smoothly as well but I have always held the button long after the slide stops making any noise

My understanding is that you just have to disconnect the harnesses at the controller and this will allow the motors to move freely. I didn’t think they needed removal. Once in the position you want it then reconnect and this locks them

[geotex1]

Thanks geotex1 for the good reminder on the Schwintek. Get off the button if it’s not working right! I will remember that going forward. The initial reaction to try to run it in and out when it’s binding is a strong one. The stop and go look at the controller diagnostics, not always the first thing you do. But should be. Good advice.

From what I’ve seen on the U-tube, I think you can also pop the motors up from the outside and put the screw back in to keep them up and disengaged while you recruit the neighbors to help with the big push.

What do you recommend if it’s stuck retracted? How do you get access to the screw holding the motor? Any good advice on that situation? Seems pushing it out to get access, with the motor mechanically engaged would put a big stress on things. Even if it could be done.

So far my Schwintek slide has been the most reliable of my three slides. I had the big in frame slide fail in the retracted position on my first outing with the rig. Took the dealer 3 months to fix but has been OK since. The Schwintek glides in and out smoothly every time. So far. Love that thing. Ha.

Stuck in is actually the easier scenario. Locate the controller and unplug each of the motor harnesses and then with the help of set of second hands push the slide out - slowly, steadily, and evenly. Popping the motors free is really necessary when the slide is racked within the opening in order to release the bind and minimize tearing up the track rails.

[JonandAnn]

Thank you all. Yes Grand Design was contacted by email, along with Lippert and LazyDays on 8/20/22 and 8/21/22 with pictures of the unit with the slide out and with the metal shaving on the tracks and after 14 days of getting the slide in, by a mobile rv guy, albeit with a 6 inch gap at the top. The only update is LazyDays called and said they lost the paperwork for the title and are now working on it and to expect the title in about 3 weeks from the DMV🤦**♂️

Very sorry to learn of all the problems you're having. I strongly encourage you to send your GD email to Christine Holland
[email protected]

She's the Customer Relations Manager and has been nothing short of fabulous. We were on the return leg of a 15,000 mile trip from San Diego to the northern tip of Newfoundland when our roof membrane peeled back in New Brunswick. As soon as we crossed the border, I called GD but the guy I spoke to said the roof was out of warranty (we have a 2020 Solitude), despite the two years of complete inactivity due to COVID. While on hold waiting for the guy, I also sent an email through GD's customer service website. Christine happened to see the email the next day as she was reading the tech guy's comments. She called me and said GD would pay for the reroofing and a few other minor things that I had also noted. She also arranged for us to take a factory tour during our eight-day layover.

As we were on our way from the east coast back to San Diego, we were able to take the rig through Middlebury, IN where the GD factory is located. This was very short notice for them, so GD wasn't able to book a repair slot in their repair facility, but Christine made arrangements for us to drop it off at another repair place in Middlebury, Royal RV, who did a great job and worked within our time constraints. The only thing they weren't able to do was to fix a broken weld on our big slide (because they couldn't get the needed parts in before we had to leave), but they did a temporary fix which worked without any problem all the way back to SD. Now that we're back home, Christine will be lining up a local repair place to get the parts and fix the slide.

I hope this works out as well for you as it did for us. Please keep us posted.

[Jerryr]

Very sorry to learn of all the problems you're having. I strongly encourage you to send your GD email to Christine Holland
[email protected]

She's the Customer Relations Manager and has been nothing short of fabulous. We were on the return leg of a 15,000 mile trip from San Diego to the northern tip of Newfoundland when our roof membrane peeled back in New Brunswick. As soon as we crossed the border, I called GD but the guy I spoke to said the roof was out of warranty (we have a 2020 Solitude), despite the two years of complete inactivity due to COVID. While on hold waiting for the guy, I also sent an email through GD's customer service website. Christine happened to see the email the next day as she was reading the tech guy's comments. She called me and said GD would pay for the reroofing and a few other minor things that I had also noted. She also arranged for us to take a factory tour during our eight-day layover.

As we were on our way from the east coast back to San Diego, we were able to take the rig through Middlebury, IN where the GD factory is located. This was very short notice for them, so GD wasn't able to book a repair slot in their repair facility, but Christine made arrangements for us to drop it off at another repair place in Middlebury, Royal RV, who did a great job and worked within our time constraints. The only thing they weren't able to do was to fix a broken weld on our big slide (because they couldn't get the needed parts in before we had to leave), but they did a temporary fix which worked without any problem all the way back to SD. Now that we're back home, Christine will be lining up a local repair place to get the parts and fix the slide.

I hope this works out as well for you as it did for us. Please keep us posted.

The OP hasn’t replied in almost a week. Looking at his/her previous posting https://www.mygrandrv.com/forum/show...050#post429050 he bought the unit as a used RV. It may not have any warranty since he’s 2nd owner and it’s likely over 1 year old.

If that’s the case Grand Design doesn’t have any responsibility to do any repairs. It would be up the the dealer who sold it to stand by the RV if they sold it with some warranty.

[Ryorke]

I too won't re-hash what others have said. Our is a 2014 RLS 337. I won't bore you with all the details. The biggest mistake I made was not keeping all the documentation, because ours was definitely a lemon and could have gotten a bit of relief in Ca., if I would have hung in there, but got busy moving so I just fixed the frame, tires, slides, suspension, little by little. Hopefully GD and Winnebago will get this corrected. It looks like you have really kept good books, you might want to check out lemon laws in NM...
All the best, Ric

Reflection Woes
2014 RLS 337
2014 Silverado 2500 Duramax

[Second Chance]

I too won't re-hash what others have said. Our is a 2014 RLS 337. I won't bore you with all the details. The biggest mistake I made was not keeping all the documentation, because ours was definitely a lemon and could have gotten a bit of relief in Ca., if I would have hung in there, but got busy moving so I just fixed the frame, tires, slides, suspension, little by little. Hopefully GD and Winnebago will get this corrected. It looks like you have really kept good books, you might want to check out lemon laws in NM...
All the best, Ric

Reflection Woes
2014 RLS 337
2014 Silverado 2500 Duramax

New Mexico's lemon law covers:

"A passenger motor vehicle including an automobile, pickup truck, motorcycle or van normally used for personal, family or household purposes with a gross vehicle weight less than 10,000 pounds."

Rob

[Hiwayman]

Geotex1
I own a 2022 that was purchased new on 5/5/2022 and had the same issue. However, we had already followed all the synchronize directions in the manual , stopped as soon as it didn't go out evenly and still had a huge problem!
on our trailer we have the crank for the manual in out of slide conveniently located in the front bay. However, there is no hole in the frame to access the slide system to use said crank! As far as disengaging the motors? first you'd have to be able to get at them, second on ours, it did no good because the bottom gear housing was misaligned and wedged into the track causing the shaft to twist and the whole thing bound tight until the shaft was cut!
So, our story goes like this. Taken back to dealer on 6/12/2022
Many hours spent on phone calls, e-mail and more phone calls to grand design with the result of finally getting all the replacement parts to the dealer by 8/12/2022 So, two months without our brand new camper in the height of camping season!
Many, Many excuses by grand design about world shortages and parts shortages Yada, Yada, Yada.
Bottom line? the parts are made within a 20-minute drive of grand design, nothing to do with world shipping problems. They refused to give us a loaner, Oh, we don't do that. They refused to take parts off the assembly line for out camper. ( 2023's were coming off the line with the exact same parts)
Our dealer, Bullyan RV in Duluth MN was fantastic. our trailer was repaired within one day of receiving the parts!
[Portion deleted] That's my rant and now I'm done!!

[NB Canada]

[Quote removed]

That crank is for your stabilizers or spare tire likely not a slide out but without knowing your make and model it is impossible to know
Schwintek slides don’t use a crank and you just need to access the module not the motors