Cable driven slideouts mechanism

wborst wrote:
I am considering the purchase of a Montana High Country with the cable drive slideouts. I would like some feedback from owners who have experience with these systems. Are they as reliable as the salesman says? This is the only thing about this brand that gives me pause.

Thanks for any feedback you have to offer.

Bill Borst

I had them on my 2011 Cougar High Country and had lot's of problems with them. First a bad motor on the main slide. Trailer was still in warranty so took it to the dealer. The same motor was no longer made! What? The trailer is less than 1 yo and the motor is already unavailable! Okay, no worries, we'll (the dealer) fabricate some new brackets and install a different electric motor. They did that and the slide was never the same.

No one, the same dealer or 2 other repair facilities, could ever get it properly aligned. The cable was cutting through the metal brackets in the trailer wall. I spent over $2,000 of my own money with continued attempts to align it and it was never right again. One of the main reason I got a new trailer.

I was never comfortable that they would not fail me on a trip somewhere.

I have a buddy with a Montana High Country and he is starting to have the same issues.

Now I guarantee there will be a huge number of owners who have cable slides that are going to pipe up and tell us how wonderful their cable slides are and that's okay. I will never have them again myself.

Thanks for the input, Paul. That is exactly what I was afraid might happen. I have heard of this before but the salesman I spoke with indicated this was a problem that's been successfully addressed.

Let's see what other have to say.

I had them on a previous rig (Big Country). They were used with the lighter bedroom slide. Never had an issue and I liked how they worked...faster & quieter than the other hydraulic driven slides in the coach.

Not sure if I was buying new I would get them again...no particular reason other than what I have read here. I would be more concerned with Schwintek systems personally.

My system is on a Prowler with a 15ft living room slide, which is sometimes overloaded with "stuff". I bought the Prowler 10yrs ago used and had to take out slack in the cable on the first trip. After that it has never given me any problems. It is slow and steady and works with out complaint if the front to back level is pretty close. Side to side level does not seem critical but it likes to be level on the rollers front to back.

So my advice is the system works but you may need to tune it up. On mine that was a simple procedure involving a socket wrench, two cable clamps, and some gloves to handle pulling the slack past the clamps. It is a very simple system to work on if you needed to.

I have that slide mechanism on our bedroom slide. We have had no issues. Operates very smooth. I was concearned at first but now I am very happy with it.

We had a problem that was addressed during the PDI - the kitchen slide cable system was making an unusual "scraping" noise. The tech readjusted (loosened) the cable slightly... no problems since then. The camper is approx 4 months old.

The two front living room slides on my Cardinal are cable slides and have not had one bit of problems with them. On the other hand the other three slides are hydraulic and I have had trouble with one of them since new. I have to keep adjusting it to get it to close properly.

We have a 2013 Montana High Country with three slides. Snow birded with it last winter and moved the slides out and in 4 or 5 times a month in the summer with no issues. Our only warranty issue was an overheated light fixture that needed to be replaced. I think that someone installed the wrong bulb, because I've inspected all the other light fixtures and none show the burning/discoloration of the defective fixture.

wborst wrote:
I am considering the purchase of a Montana High Country with the cable drive slideouts. I would like some feedback from owners who have experience with these systems. Are they as reliable as the salesman says? This is the only thing about this brand that gives me pause.

Thanks for any feedback you have to offer.

Bill Borst

We have the cable system in our Suites, we've only used it one season but it has worked great so far.

In the fall of 2012 we went to Goshen to take a tour of the Keystone Montana Plant, the guy giving us the tour told us most of the industry was going to cable systems (they were building the 2013's at that time) and that they were as well. When I asked him why he said efficiency and weight. He was right, looking around at other campers mostly all of them are using those cable slides for the bedrooms. I know it's lighter, not sure it's more efficient, probably cheaper, oh wait "more affordable". Good luck

Dan

Bill, I have had an Open Range since May of 2008 and have had no trouble at all with any of our 3 slides. The cable system will take around 200-250 pounds per slide off the weight. Here is the link you can copy and paste. www.norcoind.com/bal/products/oem/accuslide/index.shtml Good luck in your decision on these but more companies are going to them.
If folks are getting cutting then one of two reasons for that can be
1) Improper adjustment or 2) The slide was jigged out of square when the framework was put together and welded. This will also cause rubber cutting.