cluwood56 Posted March 29, 2016 Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 Looking to by a motor home. I have always lived by the KISS moto (keep it simple stupid)! Any opinion on slides and what to avoid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avan Posted March 29, 2016 Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 The technology has been in use for over 20 years. Pretty much have the bugs worked out so don't worry too much when you by [sic] your MH. That would be my moto [sic] JMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carolaow Posted March 29, 2016 Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 Also appreciative of the kiss motto, I went slideless with my motor home purchase 20 months ago. No regrets. But then I do not need the floor space for just the dog and myself. With another person, I can see how that would be lovely to have. What I get in exchange for the floor space accorded by a slide, however, is extra storage--golden, in my book! It is all up to how you are going to be using your rig, how many people are going to be roaming around inside of it, and if you want to trade floor space for storage space. All good. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXiceman Posted March 29, 2016 Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 I would prefer an RV without slides, but, they sure increase the space. I do not care which manufacturer, you find, all slides will eventually break and/or leak. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2gypsies Posted March 29, 2016 Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 We've had two RVs during our 16 years of full-timing and didn't have any problem with the slides. Since we used public parks 90% of our time and boondocked two slides were our limit and they had to be on the same side. Trying to get parked amongst trees can be challenging sometimes and it's easier if you only have one side to worry about. We loved the slides and would never do without them. We had plenty of storage space. Good luck with your choice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk W Posted March 29, 2016 Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 As I am sure you have already noticed, the opinions of slides and their value is mostly a matter of personal experience and opinion. I happen to be one who has never owned an RV with a slide and I have managed to life nearly 12 years fulltime and have been RVing since 1972. But there are reasons for not having had one and if I were shopping for an RV to live in full-time today, I would most likely be looking at those which do have slides. As with any added appliance or amenity, the slides do come with some degree or risk for problems and even though it is true that many of the early problems are solved today, RV service shops continue to report the slide as one of the most common causes of service issues and we continue to see such problems discussed on these and other RV forums. To me, slide out's are a lot like power windows in an automobile, in that one really doesn't need them until you own a vehicle with them, but once you do so, it is hard to accept another without them. There is no question that the addition of slides has greatly increased the available floor space in any RV size when compared to one that does not have them. It is also very true that they are pretty reliable today and have fewer problems of leaks and such, but it is also true that when one experiences a slide that fails to retract while parked far from help, it can be a major issue and ruin your entire day. It is also true that adding a slide to any RV will increase the weight of that RV significantly and if you don't redesign the chassis and undercarriage that addition means less capability for adding cargo weight safely. The working mechanism also takes away from the storage space available and it does add to the needed maintenance for that RV. In addition, it boosts the purchase cost of the chosen RV by a pretty significant amount. The addition of slide can limit the ability to park an RV in tight spaces On the other hand, it also can mean that you can find adequate living space in a shorter RV than if you don't have them. And even a very shallow slide can make a major impact upon the open felling of an RV and increase comfort, especially for those with more than one person. No two of us require exactly the same amount of space so just how valuable they are depends very much upon who is looking. If you are shopping new, the vast majority of the mid to large sized RVs do have slides today, while many of the smaller and ultra light models do not. Even most class C units today do have slides and about the only major RV manufacturer that I think of who doesn't offer one would be Airstream, by Thor Ind. In my view, the quality level of RV that is chosen becomes more important if you choose one with slides than without and it is ever more important when shopping used as you look to older, more experienced RVs. There are brands of RV which I'd probably not buy anyway but that with slides I'd narrow the choices of make/model by considerable. In my view, the more amenities you buy (not just slides) the more careful you need to be if buying used and the more narrow I'd make the more brand selective I'd be for new. As with most things in life, there isn't an easy answer or a single one that fits everyone. The addition of one or more slides add to the livability and comfort of an RV but they do not come without any costs in money and maintenance. More buyers consider them a plus today than there are who don't want any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluwood56 Posted March 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 Thanks for the input. Since it will be my wife and I, with a dog I am thinking 2 slides max and nothing with water lines or gas lines! I just see too many issues that could come up! What about the slide toppers? How often should they be replaced? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docj Posted March 29, 2016 Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 Since it will be my wife and I, with a dog I am thinking 2 slides max and nothing with water lines or gas lines! FWIW our MH has virtually its entire kitchen on a slide, gas, electrical, water, etc. In the 5+ years we've had it the only problem due to this arrangement was the need to replace the flexible drain line because it developed a slight crack, but it's worth noting that it is 16 years old so normal wear and tear can be expected. It's important to recognize that some MH's are better designed and built than others, but IMHO you shouldn't avoid specific entire concepts just because some manufacturers have difficulty executing them. With that approach you shouldn't even consider slides since some of them are trouble prone, and don't bother with hydronic heating systems because they require too much maintenance, etc, etc, In fact, just about every subsystem of an MH is a potential problem area; the only way to avoid all problems is not to purchase a MH in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat & Pete Posted March 29, 2016 Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 FWIW our MH has virtually its entire kitchen on a slide, gas, electrical, water, etc. In the 5+ years we've had it the only problem due to this arrangement was the need to replace the flexible drain line because it developed a slight crack, but it's worth noting that it is 16 years old so normal wear and tear can be expected. It's important to recognize that some MH's are better designed and built than others, but IMHO you shouldn't avoid specific entire concepts just because some manufacturers have difficulty executing them. With that approach you shouldn't even consider slides since some of them are trouble prone, and don't bother with hydronic heating systems because they require too much maintenance, etc, etc, In fact, just about every subsystem of an MH is a potential problem area; the only way to avoid all problems is not to purchase a MH in the first place. Agreed . Thanks docj . Now I won't have to type it . We have the same kitchen arrangement , totally in a slide . Our MH is also 16 years old . We've never had any problems other than a seal leak . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluwood56 Posted March 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 To be honest that is exactly what I want to avoid! I have been doing repairs on others peoples problems for 40 years! When I retire I want to avoid those issues! I'm looking at MH's already 10 years old! Imagine what they will be at 20! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluwood56 Posted March 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2016 To be honest that is exactly what I want to avoid! I have been doing repairs on others peoples problems for 40 years! When I retire I want to avoid those issues! I'm looking at MH's already 10 years old! Imagine what they will be at 20! Flexible gas lines scare the H--- out of me! Worked in the industry too long and have seen too many issues! Sorry no slide outs with gas for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WILDEBILL308 Posted March 30, 2016 Report Share Posted March 30, 2016 It is sad that so maney are scared of so little. I think if you want to be scared of something you should be scared of sleeping in a bead. Did you know thousands of people die in beads every day. I have had 2 classAs one class C and a 5th whell with out slides. You can't give me a RV with out slides. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluwood56 Posted March 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2016 Since everyone has a opinion on slides what I am looking for are brands that seem to have more issues. My brother bought an Alfa with 2 slides 2 years ago and has already had 2 issues crop up with the slides not working! What issues have any one seen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docj Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 What issues have any one seen! Six months into our first year of full-timing, we were about 60 miles outside of Sioux Falls when I noticed in my side mirror that my main slide was deploying while we were driving. We stopped on the shoulder and turned off the ignition so we could pull the slide in. No sooner had we gotten underway than it began to creep back out again. Needless to say it was a bit of a nerve-racking trip into town but by the time we arrive at our CG I had located a truck repair shop which thought it could deal with the problem first thing in the morning. It turned out that we had a busted hydraulic hose due to Beaver having not specified the proper hose during manufacture (something I learned later). By 3pm we were fully operational again and on our way and only $1k poorer. The bottom line was that the problem, although seemingly large, wasn't all that difficult to resolve. Now that the undersized hoses have been replaced by the proper ones, the chances of this particular problem reoccurring are small. However, that doesn't mean that at some time in the future the hydraulic piston that drives the slide won't start to leak, but, like most other hydraulic parts, it, too, can be replaced or refurbished. After 5+ years of full-timing, I've learned not to get too panicked over things that break. Usually, they can be repaired for a grand or two. We try very hard to maintain the engine and transmission on a schedule fully compliant with manufacturer's recommendations because those are items where failures can mean $10k rather than $1k repair costs. Welcome to the wonderful world of RVing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluwood56 Posted March 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 Six months into our first year of full-timing, we were about 60 miles outside of Sioux Falls when I noticed in my side mirror that my main slide was deploying while we were driving. We stopped on the shoulder and turned off the ignition so we could pull the slide in. No sooner had we gotten underway than it began to creep back out again. Needless to say it was a bit of a nerve-racking trip into town but by the time we arrive at our CG I had located a truck repair shop which thought it could deal with the problem first thing in the morning. It turned out that we had a busted hydraulic hose due to Beaver having not specified the proper hose during manufacture (something I learned later). By 3pm we were fully operational again and on our way and only $1k poorer. The bottom line was that the problem, although seemingly large, wasn't all that difficult to resolve. Now that the undersized hoses have been replaced by the proper ones, the chances of this particular problem reoccurring are small. However, that doesn't mean that at some time in the future the hydraulic piston that drives the slide won't start to leak, but, like most other hydraulic parts, it, too, can be replaced or refurbished. After 5+ years of full-timing, I've learned not to get too panicked over things that break. Usually, they can be repaired for a grand or two. We try very hard to maintain the engine and transmission on a schedule fully compliant with manufacturer's recommendations because those are items where failures can mean $10k rather than $1k repair costs. Welcome to the wonderful world of RVing! Thanks! This is what I am looking for! Peoples honest experience! I can learn a fortune from that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeanderMan Posted April 2, 2016 Report Share Posted April 2, 2016 We're on our 8th RV now after 40 years of RVing. The addition of slides was a huge improvement in RVs, and in the beginning (90s to 2010 or so) they were simple and reliable. Manufacturers didn't seem to cut corners, and the hydraulic systems or electric motors were large and able to compensate if one side was a bit uneven. Our 2006 DP with HWH hydraulics has never failed in 8 years; it generates a massive amount of power to the slides. In recent years, however, the effort to cut cost and use smaller, cheaper components has caused problems. Visit the Winnebago site on IRV2, you see that over half of the owners of new MHs are having problems. The new slides are like an older Porsche sports car- if everything is perfectly tuned, they're great, but if one small component gets just slightly out of kilter, the whole system fails. My opinion, for what it's worth, is get a two-slide model that's ten years old. It will be reliable and the curb side, without slides, will give you a great patio area with your awning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce t Posted April 2, 2016 Report Share Posted April 2, 2016 We had a 'high end' coach. The slides were a worry from day one. Bedroom side only ever had one issue. A big one when a bolt sheared off. That was fun. However our kitchen slide was always a worry. It was long but only 18" deep. It always went out fine. Coming in though took several attempts. If it got out of line by the smallest margin it would jam up. The secret was to bring it in in several steps. We took the rig to HWH. They simply smiled and fixed it! They told us it was over engineered and had too fine a tolerances. After leaving HWH we camped up the road a few miles. The next morning the bedroom slide sheared a bolt. We had the slide stuck out. A phone call to HWH had us on the road back to HWH in short time. To replace one bolt took half a day. lucky for us we had looked for a motorhome that was usable with the slides in. Lucky for us we were near the HWH plant. The issue with our kitchen slide was too long a run of hydraulic hoses. And rams in the roof of the slide. It only took one to get out of wack and the @#! hit the fan. If we were out of level by the smallest margin and the coach had the slightest twist then the slide was going to cause heartache. We had a bus conversion without a slide. Never had an issue!!!!!!!! I can see why folks love slides. But in our case it was one of the reasons we sold our motorhome and swapped to a tent and hotels. (On one occasion we had a park ranger knock on our door. Told us to pull in our slides and go to the park restrooms. Tornado. (The one that got Joplin). Well the slide refused to come in. We left the motorhome and sat in the rest rooms. Everything turned out fine. But that slide didn't help). Nope. We're happy with our tent/hotel traveling. regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nana25k Posted April 3, 2016 Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 I can't imagine living without at least one living room slide. Our 5th wheel had 2 as well as a bedroom slide Our DP has a full wall slide with kitchen/ living area. We don't miss the bedroom slide and not having one does make working on our engine much easier. Of course when we had a tent camper I could have worried about it falling in on me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluwood56 Posted April 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 I see advantages and disadvantages. My KISS side says don't do slides. My mechanical side says you can deal with the issues and the move from a house to full time says you need the space! If slides really aren't a big issue why do people have problem with them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat & Pete Posted April 4, 2016 Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 What is the ratio of the number of slides in use to slide 'issues' ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFDR3116 Posted April 4, 2016 Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 Our MH is a 2000 and as DH indicated the kitchen ( not refrig) is in the slide. That is on the drivers side. There is a small bedroom slide opposite which does not infringe on the patio area. We also have more storage than we need, so the absence of a slide would not benefit us in any way. Ours are electric slides. We have owned it for 6 yrs now and have had no problems. The creeping slide issue I have read about, are with the hydraulic slides, and many times it is a hose that is leaking, a valve that needs to be replaced, or a maintenence problem that has not been taken care of that is the cause, not the slide itself. I would NOT want to live full-time in a motorhome without slides. The thing I would avoid is a refrigerator in a slide. Ventilation issues contributing to cooling problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEEPOHOLIC Posted April 4, 2016 Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 I dont like slides with the storage buckets attached to them, sure its easy to access them hanging from the bottom of the slides, but the amount of storage space you lose makes them worthless to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docj Posted April 4, 2016 Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 If slides really aren't a big issue why do people have problem with them? The problem with making judgments based on internet discussion posts is that you get a rather distorted view of reality. Many posts are made by people who are upset by one thing or another about their RVs. There is absolutely no reason to believe that these posts represent an accurate depiction of consumer sentiments on these topics. They are nothing but the sentiments of individuals who are unhappy about something. Most likely, for every negative post about some feature of some RV there are many more customers who are either perfectly satisfied or at least aren't anywhere as upset. Don't forget that the RV marketplace is a several hundred thousand item per year business. So there are literally millions of RVs on the roads in North America. On forums such as this one you get to read at most dozens of complaint threads with posts by a dozen or two individuals. That is not random sampling and you shouldn't draw any generalized conclusions from what you read. The most you can probably say is that some slides are problematic and the more you increase the complexity of an RV the more likely you are to have issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch_12078 Posted April 4, 2016 Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 If slides really aren't a big issue why do people have problem with them? In relation to the many thousand of RV's with usually multiple slides sold each year, I think you'll find the overall failure rate is quite low. As with any electro-mechanical system of course slides add potential failure points, but from the relatively few slide problem posts I see on multiple RV forums, I'd say the average MTBF appears to be quite long. My own now 15 year old coach for example has a 14' slide, and to date since new, the only slide repair has been the switch I replaced a couple of years ago when it was becoming hard to press. That took all of $12 and about 10 minutes to fix. The bottom line is that yes, slides do add failure points over no slides, just as a water heater adds failure points over no water heater. But I think most of us that have slides have found the convenience of the extra space well worth the potential maintenance costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk W Posted April 4, 2016 Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 Most likely, for every negative post about some feature of some RV there are many more customers who are either perfectly satisfied or at least aren't anywhere as upset. If you know anyone who works in a larger RV repair facility, ask them if they consider slides to be a major repair issue. It has been several years since I last did so, but when I did that, perhaps 5 years back I was told that slide problems are far less than #1 among reasons for a shop visit, but that in terms of billed costs they would still rank at or near the top because repairs usually cost a lot. It might be interesting to ask several large shop managers their opinions on that issue today. The way that I see it, slide problems do seem to be less frequent than in the past, at least for newer RVs, but if you do experience problems with a slide it is probably much more difficult to deal with yourself. With most problems you can take the RV to a shop, but if your slide is extended and will not retract, you are probably stuck until you find some way to get it back in. All of life is a matter of choosing what risks to take and which ones are worth the problem. There must be more buyers who prefer to have a slide since the RVs without them seem to be less common today, or at least the RV manufacturers believe that to be. None the less, we still have choices and what is important is that the person who buys the RV likes his choice and if he is happy with his choice, our thinking that we wouldn't want what he choose does not make him wrong. The very best RV is the one that you like and it is a mistake to buy based upon the opinions of others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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