Slide-out jack stabilizers. Good or bad?

rjxj wrote:
What do manufactures say about charging batteries at 14.8 faults or equalizing it 15.3? they say your converters good enough energy to do everything as built you don't need to do anything to it. from reading up so many post it seems like a lot of stuff doesn't know celia sara lee go by the manufactures recommendation. I have a fifth wheel that was manufactured with 15 inch marathon tires it now has fire stones 16 inch

I'm always said every camper has good "quality" when used for the purpose which it was designed for."

It when we attempt to do things to our campers they were not designed for, that when things go wrong. Far to often we blame the manufacturers, when in reality, it is US who have misused it. The quote above is a good example. Granted larger tires may not hurt anything, but the manufacturers somehow determined what size was best. The charging system, converter on our campers are designed to handle a specific amount of load. Add extra batteries, solar panels, customize a bunch of electronics, or whatever, and all of a sudden, the electric system designed for the camper is now insufficient. So it get's changed. Then something goes wrong? Fault of the manufacturer? NO!

Same is true with stabilizer jacks, especially on slides. Granted, 99% of the time, it might not hurt anything. But that ONE time? Well.... You can't blame the manufacturer when the slide rail of that slide wall gets bent or broken.

To often we attempt to take something designed for a specific purpose and turn it into something other than that purpose. It's not the 'quality' of the product or the manufacturer's fault when it breaks.

My classic example... You purchase wooden kitchen chair that is designed to support 120 pounds. A 500 pound person sits on the chair and it collapses. Is that the manufacturers fault that the chair collapsed! No. The chair was designed for 120 pounds. The consumer miss used it and it broke.

You've invested a lot of money in your camper. Do you really want to attempt to alter the design and face a possible failure that warranty will not cover?

Just because a product is available via aftermarket does NOT mean that it is necessary, useful of needed.

Slide-out supports are one such product.

Simply a 'cure' looking for an 'problem' to fix........which doesn't exist.

What do manufactures say about charging batteries at 14.8 volts or equalizing it 15.3? they say your converters good enough energy to do everything as built you don't need to do anything to it. from reading up so many post it seems like a lot of stuff doesn't always go by the manufactures recommendation. I have a fifth wheel that was manufactured with 15 inch marathon tires it now has fire stones 16 inch. Also has an axle/spring flip. Battery box was enlarged from two gp24 to four gc2. Compensated by moving the spare tire crank up to the opposite side from the battery pack to rebalance. Not one size fits all by any means when it comes to RV's.

rhagfo wrote:

downtheroad wrote:
Slide-out jack stabilizers. Good or bad?
Bad.

X2
I wounder if most people understand that the slides in the out position, the weight is not so much supported by the arms, as the interior trim! That 6" wide molding surrounding the sides and top on the interior are what truthfully provide the support.

Yes indeed. Take the inner flange away and the arms would bend. As I mentioned, when its in and I walk on the edge of the slide all the force is on the outside top edge and trying to also tweak the rail and bottom edge out and up in a bending motion. There are a lot of things the manufacture didn't give us.

When people argue of why somethings are not included or improved on by the manufacturer people often say it's to keep costs down and competition. I do think you have the chance of damaging something if you mess up so the manufacture says dont use them. It's easier for them. People do all sorts of dumb stuff and that's not the wheel cock or the stabilizer or the unlatched pin locks fault. You could ague to not use a rear stabilizer in case the tires go flat and it twists the whole rig.

downtheroad wrote:
Slide-out jack stabilizers. Good or bad?
Bad.

X2
I wounder if most people understand that the slides in the out position, the weight is not so much supported by the arms, as the interior trim! That 6" wide molding surrounding the sides and top on the interior are what truthfully provide the support.

Slide-out jack stabilizers. Good or bad?
Bad.

fj12ryder wrote:
I don't know that I would go that far since stabilizers like JT Strongarms work very well and they mostly don't come factory installed.

JT's are for stabilizing the trailer from movement while walking inside the trailer. I've never had a slide out that wobbles uncomfortably that needs further stabilizing. If it is not sturdy enough to handle people sitting at the table then I'd opt for a different RV made better!

Slide stabilizers can easily add unwanted stresses to the slide since the trailer can settle, bounce etc and the slide would not be able to move with it. Especially true if a tire decides to leak. I've only seen stabilizers used on rather old trailers on rare occasions.

My owners manual specifically states that use of slideout support of any kind will void the warranty.

"If manufacturers and RV designers thought having stabilizer jacks on slides would work, I'm sure they would have them factory installed."

I don't know that I would go that far since stabilizers like JT Strongarms work very well and they mostly don't come factory installed. However, I've never used slide supports and never felt the need for slide supports. I suppose they could be useful on an older unit when you're going to have a lot of heavy people in the slide. Mostly not though.

You will find many that will post that it will damage the slide, but I haven't seen anyone post that they have had it actually happen. I would first look in your owners manual. Mine recommends them for long term use. If you can't find anything in the manual, I would call the mfg as they would know better than anyone here. I use them for month long stays or more.