Cable driven slideouts mechanism

cb1000rider wrote:
Inspection of these slide cables needs to be added to PDI checklists.

I don't think these are bad systems, I actually hear about more trouble from the Schwintek slides. Accu-slide has a dedicated support guy that is great and he'll help both consumers and dealers.

2015 Keystone 5th wheel. 2 of the 3 slides (all cable slides) have issues. Over 70 days in the shop now trying to fix.
* The cable wires are digging into the jamb-clamp (this is the inside aluminum trim piece). It's been this way since the RV was new. Accu-slide says the cables may touch when operating the slide, but the cable should not ride against the aluminum, otherwise it will eventually wear the cable - especially bad when running down the road.
* The main side tends to get out of center. It's actually scraping itself on the slide opening (aluminum to aluminum). This may be more about the RV manufacturing and limit-rollers or the slide itself being out of square.

If you buy an RV with these slides, make sure the wires come through the opening in the diamond-shaped hole. It's pretty easy to tell if they are cutting through the aluminum. I should have caught this on PDI, but it was my first rig with cable slides.

I'm not sure that this is an issue that can be resolved, but we're approaching out of warranty, so likely that will limit additional repair attempts (at least with Keystone).

A few photos:

Document with more pics and push like hell to get it fixed before the warranty expires.

Lyle

We have a 2015 Montana HC 305RL. The dining side slide out would make a loud clang at the end of the extension. The fascia backer was hitting the motor gear box. I have no idea what that means, just writing what was on my work order. It was fixed and no problems since. No other problems with slide outs.

Inspection of these slide cables needs to be added to PDI checklists.

I don't think these are bad systems, I actually hear about more trouble from the Schwintek slides. Accu-slide has a dedicated support guy that is great and he'll help both consumers and dealers.

2015 Keystone 5th wheel. 2 of the 3 slides (all cable slides) have issues. Over 70 days in the shop now trying to fix.
* The cable wires are digging into the jamb-clamp (this is the inside aluminum trim piece). It's been this way since the RV was new. Accu-slide says the cables may touch when operating the slide, but the cable should not ride against the aluminum, otherwise it will eventually wear the cable - especially bad when running down the road.
* The main side tends to get out of center. It's actually scraping itself on the slide opening (aluminum to aluminum). This may be more about the RV manufacturing and limit-rollers or the slide itself being out of square.

If you buy an RV with these slides, make sure the wires come through the opening in the diamond-shaped hole. It's pretty easy to tell if they are cutting through the aluminum. I should have caught this on PDI, but it was my first rig with cable slides.

I'm not sure that this is an issue that can be resolved, but we're approaching out of warranty, so likely that will limit additional repair attempts (at least with Keystone).

A few photos:

We have a cable slideout system in our Open Range. It is simple to maintain and repair if needed. Works perfectly. I prefer it to a gear driven system by far and I have owned both types. I have not had a hydraulic system but again I suspect that it would be harder to maintain or repair if needed.

We have a Montana High Country and LOVE it! It is much better designed than our previous trailers and gives us very comfortable living -- even when we stayed in it 7 mos. straight. We had one issue with one (of 4) slides leaving black pieces on the carpet -- from of the underside of the slide when it moved in or out. t was still under warranty and the dealer fixed it. We have no regrets whatsoever!

wborst,

We had 2 Carriage 5th wheels with the cable side systems and not one problem ever. One was used dozens of times a year for over 16 years the the other so much for 9 years. 100% reliable 100% of the time!

True that it depends on how the cable system was designed and built but even on the many RV forums, cable driven slideout system failures are rarely mentioned compared to gear/rack or pin gear/pierced hole rack systems. Hydraulic systems have the most forum threads by far as to problems with many seal leaks. The rack type systems seem to have quite a few failures due to wear or tooth jumping or dirt/objects etc getting on the slide rails and stopping the advance or retracting of the slide or burning out stalled motors/stripping/shearing the pin/bending the rack type problems. Also depends on how other slide systems are designed and built also and the stremgth/materials used.

Some manufacturer's do cheap out and the RV owner is left we the mess/issue because warranties are usually only for 2 years max and most are 1 year. Not very long at all! Buying used, most will already be long out of warranty. Most of the lower cost RV's use the cheaper slide systems in their manufacturing as you'd expect.

Buyer, beware!!!

I'm up a creek if my cable slides break.....all I know is that they "work", not "how" they work...

Vulcaneer wrote:
Cable slides work great until they don't work great any more. Then it is really very tough to find anyone that really knows how to fix and align them properly.

It's best that you learn as much as you can about them and learn to fix and align them yourself. Then you'll have no problems.

I must have gotten a big Lemon. I had problems with both of my slides. Very difficult to find someone knowledgeable and willing to work on this system. Access to the drive motor and cables is very limited. Each slide has a total of 8 cables. I have had other slides that were virtually trouble-free compared to the cable slides. Personally, I would never buy another RV of any type with this type of slide mechanism.

We have one small bedroom slide that utilizes the cables. After a year of full timing and traveling it has worked perfectly. I have two buddies that have different brand fivers than mine, they have slides that have the RR track system on the sides of their slides, they have both failed. One was in the shop for weeks and weeks.

I have 3 slides with the cable system on our 2012 Open Range Roamer. 3 seasons of use with not a problem. Works fine, fast and one thing I really like is all the mechanism is inside the unit on top of the slide and you can actually see it working. Have had no problems. It is such a simple system I cannot see what could go wrong.