# Third Schwintek failure on a fifth wheel traced to room geometry, not the drive

The off door side room had eaten two vertical gear racks and a motor pair in 26 months. Two prior shops replaced the racks and reset the controller, and the failure returned within a season each time. The room was binding on one side because the floor at the front corner had taken water from a failed window reseal and dropped roughly 6 millimeters.

## Vehicle

36 foot fifth wheel, Lippert frame, two in wall slide rooms

## Operations performed

- RV systems evaluation, room cycled under power through full travel with the controller read
- Moisture readings taken on a grid across the slide floor and the adjacent sidewall
- Window frame pulled, butyl bedding renewed, and the failed reseal corrected at the source
- Slide floor section replaced, framing scarfed, and the room shimmed back to square
- New Lippert vertical gear racks and motor pair installed on the corrected geometry
- Controller taken through its full learn routine, then cycled twenty times under observation
- Wiper and bulb seals renewed on all four edges after the room was square

## Outcome

The mechanism stopped failing because the load that was destroying it was removed. The owner had been quoted a conversion to a through frame hydraulic system by another shop, which would have cost roughly three times this repair and would not have addressed the water path that caused the problem.

## Numbers

- Price band: $750 to $7,500
- Calendar time: 3 business days to 2 weeks

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Source: https://ocrv.club/case-studies/schwintek-room-out-of-sync-on-a-fifth-wheel
OCRV Center, 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887
Phone (949) 799-3387. Email info@ocrvcenter.com.
Serving Hacienda Heights and the surrounding area. 18.4 miles, 24 to 38 minutes via SR-60 west to Fullerton Rd, then south to La Palma Ave.
In shop work only. All estimates are priced and credited against an authorized repair.