Anyone ever drive off with a slide out left out?

Just get a "Wide Load" sign for your front bumper. You'll be fine ....

Drove off with the door awning out once, but not a slide.

On our previous coach we were returning from the service facility which was about 80 miles from storage. It was getting late as we arrived back at the storage garage and I needed to get something out of the back closet so I opened the rear driver's side slide.

Guess what? Yep, from being tired and it getting dark (winter time), I forgot to retract the slide. Slowly I start to pull into the garage and 'crunch'. I stopped immediately and realized what I had done. I got the sickest feeling in my stomach.

Thank goodness all that happened was that it bent the trim at the front edge of the slide (no slide mechanism damage). I called Monaco the next day and they directed me to one of their repair facilities. I had to leave the slide out about 3-4 inches so that the metal wouldn't scratch the side-wall paint driving it about 80 miles to drop it off.

The damage was fixed and a pricey learning lesson. Our current coach will not move until the slides are in (safety switch on the transmission).

So, yes, slide extended once!

Safe travels,
MM.

Not a slide, but...
Drove about 3 miles with the door awning extended...
Drove about 60 miles the front Generator slide extended...

No damage either time, lucky I guess!

On my present MH, if you release the air brakes the slides come in, jacks come up, and steps come in. You better be prepared!

tinkerer wrote:
On my present MH, if you release the air brakes the slides come in, jacks come up, and steps come in. You better be prepared!

What kind of motorhome do you have? Never heard of that.

On our current coach, there is an emergency switch in the electrical bay compartment behind the rear passenger tag axle. If for some reason we have to move the coach 'pronto', the switch releases the transmission safety switch.

(The story goes...) Prevost install a safety release switch years ago when someone needed to move their coach because the coach next door was on fire and couldn't move fast enough and their coach burned too.

MM.

Yes. With first coach steps should have retracted but didn't and I did impact a concrete barrier on the highway. Must have been a glancing blow as all it did was ruin the rug on the step. Second coach drove off with bedroom slide extended and pulled over after a block or so. Current coach drove off with door awning & made it to the interstate before we retracted it. Been very lucky on all counts.

Over the last 13 years of full timing, I've seen several people on the road with slides open. One guy and his wife looked to be 80 and they passed me (two lane road) going the opposite direction so quickly I didn't have time to wave or point. Oh, well. Once saw a 5th that had 4 slides and two of them were sliding out than back in at corners.

So I've seen it happen, never done it myself. But have left the antenna up a couple times, and the door awning extended when I moved the RV inside a park once. Once left the 18' patio awning out and tried to drive away (doh!), only drove a few feet though. Once drove a few feet in gravel with the toad's tranni in Park and another time drove a couple miles with the tow bar installed wrong...car was weaving back and forth.

Twice over the years have driven away forgetting to unplug or disconnect the hose. Embarrassing.

My brother drove away once with his towed car in Park and ruined the engine. $5000.

Once the local security guard backed by the city's finest chased us off the parking lot where I was going to race a triathlon in the morning. We went to the local Wally World lot, where I parked, then realized the slide was out.

I've seen folks move their rigs with slides out, in a park for a campsite move, but never on the HWY.

I suppose it happens, but with slides open there's no way to use the mirrors for lane changes or clearance navigation ... that alone kinda puts the pasky slide right square in your vision. That said, when it does happen I guess it's obvious the driver made it that far and never used the mirrors.

And yes .... I was about a block from my home and when I turned a corner I noticed a 30ft power cord following me. :)