I have a 2007 Holiday Rambler 40' with large opposing slides in living area and kitchen. It is equipped with lock bars in the front area. Are they necessary? When secured tightly they are causing the decorative frame and seals to start separating from the wood veneer. When we tried to loosen tension one of them fell and almost hit me in the head. Our mechanic says they are not necessary and slide rooms will not deploy when traveling. Need some advice from folks that have similar MH configuration.

We have slides and we use the bar. It is not necessary to over tighten the bar to make it effective, but the fact that it is in place. If your bars unwind then you might try to tighten the screw and nut assembly somehow.

You should have the bar up there, it's a safety feature. While under normal circumstances the slide will never move it's always good to protect your investment and the people around you on the highway. You should only be extending the bars until it's snug above the slide, then an extra 1/4 turn. If it's damaging anything it's too extended. Do not forget to remove the bar before you extend the slide! You will wreck the fascia or the wall. I'm an RV mechanic, I'll tell you right now that fixing a fascia is easy, we had a guy who's slide did end up slightly popping out in travel though. That was in no way an easy fix, we had to replace the entire slide room out of pocket for him.

I have 2 slides one is over 23 feet long and has automatic slide locks but the other is about 7 feet and never had any type of slide lock or bar. Haven't had a problem in over 24,000 miles and the last 4000 were on some pretty bad roads. On my old Newmar, the slide was 10 feet and never used them because they were hard to lock down. No problems with that slide either. Both have PowerGear systems. I would probably have used them more if it was a Lippert system.

This question comes up often. IF YOU HAVE SLIDE LOCKS, THE OEM DETERMINED THEY WERE NECESSARY. Slide locks, depending on the type slide room and mechanism are required. Some pull in the top flange to get a positive weather tight seal(Newmar is one as a LOT of others). Some pull in to keep the room from vibrating and moving(not extend but wiggling) in transit. Regardless, the OEM's would NOT build/pay and install locks if they were not needed. They are rarely used to stop extension in transit. Not all slide rooms require locks, but if you have a unit that has them, then use them. Doug

06 Monaco Knight,purchased new.Never used the locks in 50K miles so far. I was told when we did the PDI you do not need to install unless you have a mecanism failyre.

Opposing Slides Lock Bars | Good Sam Community

11 Replies

pappaone
Explorer
Mar 29, 2015
If you ever have a slide come out when going down the highway at 60 + MPH you will start using the locks. One morning as we were breaking camp and the wife was putting in the bedroom slide she said it made a weird noise, not hearing it, I really didn't think much of it. Later we were headed East on I-80 and I passed a semi as I was looking to go back into my lane all I saw was white.. The noise she had heard when the slide went in was the shear pin shearing off which let the slide move out since I didn't have slide locks at that time. I sure do now and use them all the time. Just remember to remove them before opening the slides.

Rich
DSDP_Don
Explorer
Mar 28, 2015
You can drive without them, but for me, it helped to keep the noise down. On our previous coach, it used one slide lock bar directly behind the driver's seat. If I didn't use it, I could hear the large slide moving around.

On the switch to the large slide that used the lock, I painted a red dot on the switch to remind me to remove the lock and move the seat forward.
JR45
Explorer
Mar 28, 2015
Boy, I would hate to have a "senior moment" with the bars in place:S
JR
RamonaJ
Explorer
Mar 28, 2015
Thank you all for your advise. I think we will use the lock bars. Perhaps my husband has been extending them too far against the slide-out frame.
RamonaJ
Explorer
Mar 28, 2015
RuralAlbertan wrote:
You should have the bar up there, it's a safety feature. While under normal circumstances the slide will never move it's always good to protect your investment and the people around you on the highway. You should only be extending the bars until it's snug above the slide, then an extra 1/4 turn. If it's damaging anything it's too extended.

Do not forget to remove the bar before you extend the slide! You will wreck the fascia or the wall.

I'm an RV mechanic, I'll tell you right now that fixing a fascia is easy, we had a guy who's slide did end up slightly popping out in travel though. That was in no way an easy fix, we had to replace the entire slide room out of pocket for him.
rgatijnet1
Explorer III
Mar 28, 2015
On my Monaco coach the slide locks can be placed so that they press against the aluminum frame on the slide rather than the wood trim. The locks help to keep the top of the slide tight and help to stop slide rattling and noise. The mechanism is at the bottom of the slide so without the locks, the slide top can move slightly while going down the road.
TempatureContro
Explorer
Mar 28, 2015
06 Monaco Knight,purchased new.
Never used the locks in 50K miles so far. I was told when we did the PDI you do not need to install unless you have a mecanism failyre.
dougrainer
Nomad
Mar 28, 2015
This question comes up often. IF YOU HAVE SLIDE LOCKS, THE OEM DETERMINED THEY WERE NECESSARY. Slide locks, depending on the type slide room and mechanism are required. Some pull in the top flange to get a positive weather tight seal(Newmar is one as a LOT of others). Some pull in to keep the room from vibrating and moving(not extend but wiggling) in transit. Regardless, the OEM's would NOT build/pay and install locks if they were not needed. They are rarely used to stop extension in transit. Not all slide rooms require locks, but if you have a unit that has them, then use them. Doug
chuckftboy
Explorer
Mar 28, 2015
I have 2 slides one is over 23 feet long and has automatic slide locks but the other is about 7 feet and never had any type of slide lock or bar. Haven't had a problem in over 24,000 miles and the last 4000 were on some pretty bad roads.

On my old Newmar, the slide was 10 feet and never used them because they were hard to lock down. No problems with that slide either. Both have PowerGear systems.

I would probably have used them more if it was a Lippert system.
RuralAlbertan
Explorer
Mar 28, 2015
You should have the bar up there, it's a safety feature. While under normal circumstances the slide will never move it's always good to protect your investment and the people around you on the highway. You should only be extending the bars until it's snug above the slide, then an extra 1/4 turn. If it's damaging anything it's too extended.

Do not forget to remove the bar before you extend the slide! You will wreck the fascia or the wall.

I'm an RV mechanic, I'll tell you right now that fixing a fascia is easy, we had a guy who's slide did end up slightly popping out in travel though. That was in no way an easy fix, we had to replace the entire slide room out of pocket for him.

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Opposing Slides Lock Bars

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