Slide Outs - is the juice worth the squeeze?

[GON]

As I am researching RVs, starting to see talk about slides outs having functionality problems.

So I have to ask- the extra living space must be nice- but with mechanical breakdown, weight, etc- do slide out benefits outweigh their issues?

 

[MSCH]

you know what GON? I've had 3 RV's with slide outs and never had a problem with one of them..
I think if a person travels light and often and doesn't stay in one place more than overnight
and practices minimalism, they could survive without slides
but if you spend alot of time in a RV it can get real small if you dont have slides

slides are one of those things that adds weight and complexity
but pretty nice to have.
also worth saying most larger RV's have them nowadays so trying to find one without slides
is going to limit your choices.

 

[GON]

you know what GON? I've had 3 RV's with slide outs and never had a problem with one of them..
I think if a person travels light and often and doesn't stay in one place more than overnight
and practices minimalism, they could survive without slides
but if you spend alot of time in a RV it can get real small if you dont have slides

slides are one of those things that adds weight and complexity
but pretty nice to have.
also worth saying most larger RV's have them nowadays so trying to find one without slides
is going to limit your choices.

Thanks sharing what my takeaway is "sliders pay dividends when staying in a RV for a longer period of time.... an RV can get cramped over time- and the sliders assist in reducing the cramp feeling...."

 

[Azjeff]

With your preference of buying salvage vehicles and restoring them in mind, I think the odds of having slide problems would be greatly increased if you'd buy something that was in any kind of impact. I suspect people who have problems with them never do any preventative maintenance. Knowing what I know now if we were to buy another trailer I'd try very hard to not get one with the Schwintek slide system. Google it to see what it is. I over maintain it hoping it won't fail.

 

[ctechbob]

I kicked around the question so much before I bought our no-slide. In some ways, I regret not getting one, but at least for this first one I thought it was the right choice. I'm not afraid of the maintenance aspect of it, I was more concerned with the 'getting stranded somewhere and the thing won't close'.

Granted I know that is an edge case, but the way my luck usually runs.......

The 'next' camper will probably have one. I'll probably get something without bunks and more geared towards couple-camping.

 

[Azjeff]

In our 21' box the 8' slide makes a difference in the feel of the space. It has the fridge and a couch in it. I like to keep the fridge loaded lightly, she fills it up. Just wish I trusted it more.

 

[Wayne]

I think if a person travels light and often and doesn't stay in one place more than overnight
and practices minimalism, they could survive without slides

Our 30' Airstream didn't have slides and we found the more time we spent in it, the smaller it got. We sold it.

if you spend alot of time in a RV it can get real small if you dont have slides

I like the choice of words, "real small". I totally agree.

I suspect people who have problems with them never do any preventative maintenance.

Agree. I found that spray-on dry graphite keeps our slides working perfectly.

Dry graphite spray lubricant for slides

I was using white lithium spray grease on our slide arms, but there was enough binding that we broke a shear pin at a truck stop in Iowa. Turning the slide in with a crescent wrench wasn't all that much fun! We were going to New Horizons to get a couple things fixed, so we had them fix the...

rvthe.us

 

[Azjeff]

The video shows how to lube the Schwintek slide. It also shows how it works. That small silver cylinder just above the bearing block is the motor that drives the shaft with the gears that engage the rack. It's a high torque motor and there's one on each side of the slide. They're controlled by an ECM that regulates the rpms and you sync the motors by holding the in/out button down for a couple of seconds after the slide stops it's travel in or out, it reads the amps or something. I keep the sides of the slide waxed and the seals conditioned with silicone to keep them slippery as well as the sliders on the bottom. It never goes in and out smoothly, the motor rpm is erratic as the slide moves. The ECM has LEDs on it to tell you fault codes and a manual override button, I couldn't find the ECM, called Grand Design and they couldn't tell me where it was. Finally found it behind a piece of paneling under the vanity totally hidden. I think the whole thing is under-designed for what it does.

Hope this link works.

 

[ctechbob]

The video shows how to lube the Schwintek slide. It also shows how it works. That small silver cylinder just above the bearing block is the motor that drives the shaft with the gears that engage the rack. It's a high torque motor and there's one on each side of the slide. They're controlled by an ECM that regulates the rpms and you sync the motors by holding the in/out button down for a couple of seconds after the slide stops it's travel in or out, it reads the amps or something. I keep the sides of the slide waxed and the seals conditioned with silicone to keep them slippery as well as the sliders on the bottom. It never goes in and out smoothly, the motor rpm is erratic as the slide moves. The ECM has LEDs on it to tell you fault codes and a manual override button, I couldn't find the ECM, called Grand Design and they couldn't tell me where it was. Finally found it behind a piece of paneling under the vanity totally hidden. I think the whole thing is under-designed for what it does.

Hope this link works.

I haven't done much research, is there a planetary gearset attached to the bottom of the motor? I'd almost think there would have to be. Don't know how you'd get enough twist out of a 12v motor, high torque or not.

 

[Azjeff]

You are correct. There are 300:1 and 500:1 motors.

 

[dnewton3]

I prefer not to have a slide-out. But that's because I don't "live" in an RV; I only sleep in there and change clothes. The rest of my time is spent outside. I certainly would agree that if you intend to spend a lot of time inside or have a big crew, the slide is pretty much a "must have" these days.

As it's an electro-mechanical device; the more it cycles, the closer it gets to death with each cycle. So if you deploy it and then "camp" in one spot for two weeks or more, then that open/close cycle only happens once for the two weeks. But if you move around a lot, then that cycle is much more frequent relative to the length of stay. If I were to ever have one, it would need to be one that allows use of the RV without deployment; I'd probably not open it for a one-night stay when traveling. But it would be nice once we arrived at a destination. I just find that for my use, it's not something I "need" badly enough to warrant the cost and complexity.

Slide-outs remind me of automated ice-makers in consumer refrigerators...
It's not a question of "will it fail?", but "when will it fail?"
My luck? It'll be on a rainy-ass day when I'm trying to pack up for a 10 hour drive, and the battery for my drill has died, so I have to crank that sucker in by hand, if the drive rack works at all ...

 

[Azjeff]

I don't think there are many trailers that are fully functional with the slide in. They're not meant to be. We can't get to the bedroom, my sister can't use the kitchen, someone else can't get to the bathroom, etc, etc. You bring up a good point about a slide failing, it's best to know how to get the thing back in and secured before it fails and have whatever is needed.

We spend more time inside after dark than I'd like it seems. Many of the campgrounds we were at this past year didn't allow a campfire, and our one dry camping trip was during a fire ban period.

 

[Wayne]

As it's an electro-mechanical device; the more it cycles, the closer it gets to death with each cycle.

This is true, but with thoughtful care and feeding, slide mechanisms can last a long time. In my opinion the benefit of having so much more room with slides far outweighs the fact that they will slowly wear. I will take more pictures of my slide arms when it warms up a bit and demonstrate that will some TLC, they can last almost indefinitely.

 

[MSCH]

what Newton said applies to every electro mechanical device we operate... some of them have better design life's built into them than others but eventually everything will fail, if it operates long enough.
front slide on my RV is the electric motor type, but the rear slides are opposed hydraulic pistons..
which tie right into the electric over hydraulic self leveling system.
in the Lippert manual with the system it says it has been tested to operate 6000 cycles..
in my head I know it is just something else that can break but hopefully it never happens where it is a problem.

old school would have been like my pickup camper I had way back. had a small water tank and sink, that had a manual pump to get the H2Ostuff into the sink.. it drained overboard as there was no gray tank... no toilet... no refrigerator, just an ice box and a 2 burner propane stove.. I think it has one electric light..

but same is true of vehicles... and option creep... I have a Ram Tradesman, which is the so called bare bones models, which still has electric windows, power lock, backup camera, auto transmission, tilt wheel, etc whereas I just spent the day in my buddies F250 Lariat which has all the same things but leather seats aluminum wheels shiny stuff and bunch of electronic annoyances like electric seats and any other doodad you can think of... my truck doesn't have the built in trailer controls, but that F 250 did... and since we were pulling a trailer with the F250 every time we hit a bump we got an electronic ding saying the trailer was disconnected...

 

[GON]

Appreciate all the comments in this thread. As a possible new RVer, a few super critical take aways that I simply didn't think of.

Two biggest take aways are the rv gets small really quick when living in the RV over time, and that risk is involved in getting the slide out to slide in when getting ready to travel again, and one can't travel when the slide out is stuck out.

I have never spent the night in a RV, ever. I have spent many nights in the truck, and hundreds, of nights sleeping on the ground without a tent. I simply have zero knowledge of rv living. All I know is I have zero desire to ever camp/sleep outside, ever- unless the grandsons ask me...

 

[Azjeff]

Maybe think about baby steps in your RV adventure? Jumping in the deep end with a 36' salvage 5th wheel might not be the best route. Most people work their way up through different sizes and complexity levels. You certain have the skill set to own one and keep it operating. They're just mostly cheaply built cabins on wheels...

Slides aren't something to be afraid of, understand how yours works and fanatically maintain it. Do you plan to travel for months or live in it while you build a house or ? We were out over 30 days/6600 miles last April/May in our 21' box with small slide with our 2 50 lb dogs and it was fine.

 

[MSCH]

I wouldn't buy a salvage trailer... not when so many old unused trailers are sitting around just waiting to be had.
what matters most is if the unit is structurally sound, any other stuff can be repaired. Anybody that owns one of these knows they always need something dealt with..

I don't know where GON lives but I suspect states like CA, AZ, TX and FLA are the end of the line for half the RV's in the USA
so that is where I would look for one. If a person is worried about the cost of fuel or going long distances they probably shouldn't be in the RV game to begin with.

like Azjeff said,yeah, it is worth starting out in a smaller simpler unit, even if it is only to figure out if you like to live the life..
plenty of units out there get used a couple times and spend the rest of their life sitting somewhere.. like a storage yard or a back yard or driveway.

that guy I just hauled the RV with yesterday, he has a 40 foot Montana sitting on a sight near Moore Haven FLA, and he already told me he is selling the thing as is right where it sits as soon as he doesn't want to do the RV thing anymore. He's never going to move it again.. There are a bunch of them like that.. many of them waiting for the heirs to the estate to sell them.

 

[Wayne]

I have never spent the night in a RV, ever. I have spent many nights in the truck, and hundreds, of nights sleeping on the ground without a tent. I simply have zero knowledge of rv living. All I know is I have zero desire to ever camp/sleep outside, ever

I promise you a night in an RV is much better than sleeping on the ground. Unless you have a mattress like our Airstream had, terrible and had no cushion after only 100 nights sleeping on it. I don't envy the next person that bought the trailer.

unless the grandsons ask me...

Then you will do it enthusiastically

 

[Wayne]

Cruise around on RVTrader and see many hundreds of almost new RVs that people are trying to get rid of. You'll be amazed.

 

[MSCH]

I promise you a night in an RV is much better than sleeping on the ground. Unless you have a mattress like our Airstream had, terrible and had no cushion after only 100 nights sleeping on it. I don't envy the next person that bought the trailer.



Then you will do it enthusiastically

I've replaced the mattress in the last 3 RV's I purchased with a real mattress.. that piece of air covered fabric that looks like a mattress but feels like a picnic table that comes in most RV's is generally just for looks..
Generally right after I bought the trailer and after the first use.