Large Schwintek Slides and Leveling

[Todd_P]

I have not seen this mentioned before so figured I would share. I have gone through a considerable amount of testing and maintenance to get the large Schwintek slide of my 278BH to operate smoothly and reliably. One critical pair of measurements I have found that must absolutely be as close to equal as possible before using the slide is to ensure the side of the trailer immediately before and after the slide are exactly level and square to each other.
As my trailer has an auto level system, I use the following steps to reset the zero of the system:

1) Grab a 3' level and set the leveling system to allow for manual adjustment.
2) Get the trailer as close to level as possible while making sure the front to rear level is perfect
3) Move the level to as far forward on the floor as possible and fine tune the forward level using only the front jacks.
4) Move the level to as far rearward on the floor as possible and fine tune the rear level using only the rear jacks.
5) From outside, check the level of the side of the trailer immediately forward and rearward of the slide room and adjust the jacks as necessary to ensure they are equal to each other.
5a) front jacks to adjust sidewall forward of slide and rear jacks to adjust sidewall rearward of slide.
6) Finalize the zero calibration process of the leveling system.

Setting the zero point of the leveling system in this manner has ensured that the framing of the large slide opening is square and has eliminated the binding and straining within my slide system. Even after reworking the entire system last winter I was still having some issues and this solved them. When I operate the slide now it runs very smooth and the motors emit a even high pitch whine with no indication of loading up or strain; total current draw while the slide is moving is only around 3.5-3.8 amps as shown on my battery monitor.

I hope this helps some of y'all having issues.

[Randy Zahn]

It's great that you have it figured out but it sure seems like alot of steps to get it right for some folks

[Lonestar]

Great info. Thanks for your work.

On steps # 2 and 3 are you measuring "side to side"? If so, it looks like in step # 5 if an adjustment is made, you are going to throw those adjustments off.

[Todd_P]

In step 2 I make sure it is level front to rear and closeish side to side. Steps 3 and 4 are for side to side leveling.
And in step 5... yes it can throw off the leveling done in 3 or 4 slightly but the goal here is to make sure the sidewall framed opening for the slide room is square and even to itself which has alleviated the binding of the tinker toy Schwintek system on our trailer. We haven't noticed or felt any comfort or out of level sensation doing it this way but more importantly, our slide operates reliably now.

ETA: Also, you are not trying to square the sidewall to earth level only to keep the sidewall even to itself. For example, if you were using an angle finder and the wall in-front of the slide out was at +3deg and behind was at -1deg you would adjust them so they are equal to each other.

[mpking]

I've also found with my 2800BH, that if I DON'T put the stabilizers down, the slide runs easier. Then Stabilize AFTER the slide is out.

[NoPeeking]

I've also found with my 2800BH, that if I DON'T put the stabilizers down, the slide runs easier. Then Stabilize AFTER the slide is out.

Not challenging, just wondering why that is?

Mike

[Guest]

In step 2 I make sure it is level front to rear and closeish side to side. Steps 3 and 4 are for side to side leveling.
And in step 5... yes it can throw off the leveling done in 3 or 4 slightly but the goal here is to make sure the sidewall framed opening for the slide room is square and even to itself which has alleviated the binding of the tinker toy Schwintek system on our trailer. We haven't noticed or felt any comfort or out of level sensation doing it this way but more importantly, our slide operates reliably now.

ETA: Also, you are not trying to square the sidewall to earth level only to keep the sidewall even to itself. For example, if you were using an angle finder and the wall in-front of the slide out was at +3deg and behind was at -1deg you would adjust them so they are equal to each other.

The frame is very flexible where one time the door of our Imagine was scraping due to frame flexing and suspension settling. As a result, I changed my strategy since the suspension settling was putting too much pressure on the stabilizers if they were lowered before extending the slide.

The method I use is to level side to side with my level mate pro while leaving the slide side 1/2 inch high, chock and disconnect from the truck. Level the front then extend the slide. Follow up by lowering the stabilizers to stabilize only.

This method allows the extended slide to compress the suspension on that side which results in less pressure on the stabilizers and frame.

Jim

[Lonestar]

I wonder if down the road we are going to find that using the auto-leveling system can distort the frame. I talking about those times when it almost has to lift the tires off the ground to get level.

I'm kinda uncomfortable about this, and still use 2x8's to get real close to level before auto-leveling. I'm probably completely off base, so hope some of you engineers will comment on this.

[Toy4Rick]

In our 2022 2500RL, the dealer specifically told me to level, stabilize then slide... this has me re-thinking that and do slide first then stabilize

[Guest]

I wonder if down the road we are going to find that using the auto-leveling system can distort the frame. I talking about those times when it almost has to lift the tires off the ground to get level.

I'm kinda uncomfortable about this, and still use 2x8's to get real close to level before auto-leveling. I'm probably completely off base, so hope some of you engineers will comment on this.

Lonestar,

From my Mechanical Engineering background and opinion.....

Your rig is designed to be mainly supported by the axles and hitch for the abuses of over the road travel. While I do not have first hand experience with the auto leveling system (I've seen it), I would recommend that the tires remain in contact with the ground to aid in the overall support of the rig. Using supporting blocks under the wheels on the low side in extreme conditions would be helpful IMO. This method will allow the suspension system to contribute in the overall load on the rig.

Your use of the 2x8s to aid in support is wise.

Jim

[Guest]

In our 2022 2500RL, the dealer specifically told me to level, stabilize then slide... this has me re-thinking that and do slide first then stabilize

For a small slide, this would be fine. For a large slide and especially slides with kitchen appliances, I would respectfully disagree with the dealer. My Imagine will compress the suspension and the rig will lean up to 1/2 inch when extending the slide. Other rigs may be different based on mass and suspension spring rates. It would be good to level a rig on a hard surface, extend the slide and measure the offset the extended slide puts on the suspension. This measurement can be used to built this offset into leveling when on a campsite and before extending the slide and following up with the stabilizers.

Jim

[TedS]

This process may differ between TTs and 5thwheels.

[Guest]

This process may differ between TTs and 5thwheels.

Ted,

Performing the check to see how far the slide moves the rig off level before extending the stabilizers would answer that question.

Jim

[Jlawles2]

I've also found with my 2800BH, that if I DON'T put the stabilizers down, the slide runs easier. Then Stabilize AFTER the slide is out.

This works because the slide can force the frame to flex on the front jack. 3 points are always more forgiving than 4 or more when it comes to equalizing stresses.