Slide reliability - Are they reliable?

logsfam wrote:
Years back I had 1995 5th wheel it had problems with the slide rollers and seals, etc. due to this I have been reluctant to get anything with slides. However I now find myself wanting another RV and plan to do a lot of boon docking. Moving ever few days or so. It seams that it is very difficult to find many units without slides so I am wondering do the units after 2004 or so have better slide mechanisms? Are they dependable enough to slide in and out on a continual basis?

I would appreciate hearing of your experiences and concerns. Thanks.

Good to think about this subject. Before you buy any rig go through the manual procedure to retract a slide as part of your PDI. And do this for every slide as they may use different technology. You do not want to have an extended slide that you cannot retract.

Also with the slides retracted check for access in the rig. Can you live with some areas that can't be accessed? How about just more difficult? One poster said he couldn't use the bathroom with the slides in. :S

What if you are parked on the street at a friends and can only use the slides on one side? How about a rest stop where it may not be a good idea to put out any slides?

With all of the slides out is the outside storage access restricted?

Slides depending upon the design can be reasonably reliable. But they certainly have failures. Toppers, seals, hydraulic systems, electric systems, calking, water entry, etc. And slides need to have DC power, AC power, water, drains, propane, etc and all of that has to be designed for a moving slide.

My experience: Lipper hydraulic pump leaked and killed the motor. I had read how to retract but not tried (big mistake) and the directions were wrong and the pump design was flawed and could not be manually retracted. Eventually I got the slide in and Lipper replaced the pump with a new design. And my Lipper hydraulic hoses are starting to leak and will need to be replaced.

Drop down slide jammed when the plastic skid broke. Replaced the skid with SS.

Bedroom slide bed box (inside) floor was being gouged by the 2 rollers (not the slide rollers). Removed and added metal skids. The same slide may now be showing signs of delamination on the outside floor due to poor Monaco design. Further checking and adding metal skids (none exist now) are on the bucket list.

Flawed CareLess topper design caused all 4 toppers to become cut and replaced. I haven't yet got a satisfactory solution to the cut issue but working on it.

I wouldn't be w/o slides and they usually last through the warranty before maintenance will begin. :B