Breaking camp, when to retract slide?

[SC_camper]

When we pull into a campsite, I level the camper, chalk the wheels, unhook from TV, run stabilizers down, then extend the slide. I do the opposite when leaving. But this is making the camp break down process longer. I wait for DW to finish inside before I retract the slide, then DW and DD stand around or sit in the TV while I retract the slide and finish hooking up.

Our old camper, without a slide, could be hooked up and ready to go while they are finishing the inside stuff.

I see rv's sitting on the dealer lots with slides out and nothing leveled or stabilized. Would it be ok to retract the stabilizers, raise or lower the tongue and hook to TV before retracting the slide? When does everyone else retract the slide during the camp break down process?

[Doug33]

Bring in the slide before I hook up the TV. It's the daggone antenna I sometimes forget to retract... 😉

[DustyR]

DutchmenSport wrote:
I do it exactly the same way you do. Our routine is identical. Pull in campsite, plug in electric, unhitch and level, jacks down, then slides out. Breaking camp, just the opposite, inside cleaned, slides in, then jacks up, and hitch. Yes, wife has to wait. Like you, our prior TT's did not have slides, so we could break camp a little faster. Now, we just take our time. We know what has to be done, so we make plans now to just do it ... and do it right.

Slides are never extracted unless the jacks are down.

X-2

I also during setup set the left side of the TT apx 1" higher to compensate for the suspension sagging due to the weight of the 2 slides.

[dodge_guy]

When leaving I put the slide in last. the little bit off level that it is (less than 1 inch) will not harm anything. been doing it this way for 9 years.

[christopherglen]

I out the slides out in rest areas, and truck stops without putting down the stabilizers, not really that big on an issue. I raise the stabilizers and hook the trailer (DW prefers pull through spots) then remove chocks, water, etc, and wait for DW to finish to pull power and close the slides.

[Lantley]

The important common sense thing to do is to move the slide while the unit is level. When arriving I don't extend slides until unit is level. When departing I don't retract slide until unit is level.
The sky will not fall if slide is moved occasionally while unit is not level, however I would not make it part of my normal routine to move slide when RV is not level.
The unit will seal better and be under less stress if it is level before slides are moved.
Speed,convenience and efficiency are all secondary considerations to the unit being level.

[spoon059]

I'm curious why you use chalk on your tires... maybe its a way of keeping UV light off them? I'm kidding of course, but the tool used to prevent your camper from rolling away is a CHOCK.

I don't see why you can't retract a slide last. The slide is parallel to the frame. If your trailer frame is out of level because its hooked up to your truck, then the slide should be equally out of level. If your frame is sagging without the stab jacks being down and preventing you from pulling the slide in then you have MUCH bigger issues to worry about than the slide.

My bride and 2 year old daughter set up and break down the inside of the camper. Meanwhile I set up and breakdown the outside of the camper. Our new camper will have a slide. I have every intention of breaking camp, putting mats away, lifting jacks and putting blocking away, hooking trailer to truck, draining tanks, unhooking electric and water and opening low point drains while the bride is securing everything on the inside. When they are done inside and we have done our final walkthrough before leaving, I will retract my slide and we will then do our final walk around of the exterior.

[Wishin]

Putting in the slide is one of the last things I do. About the only thing I do after that is pull off the leveling blocks if I used any.

[Oaklevel]

The stabilizers are not for leveling so it should not matter when they are put up. They are just to keep the trailer from shaking. I often put them up the night before we leave to if we are getting an early start. The main thing I do is pull the slide in before pulling it off the leveling blocks.

[SC_camper]

We didn't get an operation manual and haven't found one online. The tech that did our walk through didn't seam to know much more about camping than I do. We did our walk through with the slide out and no stabilizers down. All the lots we visited during our search had campers with slides out and no stabilizers down. We had it sitting in the yard with slide out no stabilizers while doing some "making it our own" mods. I don't see why it would be a problem while breaking camp.

I guess the reason for my question is 1) I just haven't been told what the "right" way was.
2) On our second trip, we retracted the slide after being hooked up. The slide moved in at the bottom and then seemed to get hung and the top didn't move. We operated the slide back out a few inches then it slide in as it should have. Our slide floor sits level with the camper floor when extended. It always moves the bottom of the floor first, to raise it above the camper floor, then the top starts moving in. I just don't want to mess something up because I'm doing it wrong.

[jjj]

I retract the slides just before getting ready to hook up while fhe trailer is still level.

[Redterpos3]

dee74 wrote:
We watch others break camp while we eat breakfast and for some it looks like they are auditioning for some type of rv pit crew 🙂

:B Hilarious!!

[Andy_F]

"I seriously doubt it matters when you bring the slide in. They sit on dealers lots with the slide out all the time and no stabilizers. Same at the Hershey show, IIRC. I've been doing it as the last thing before hitching up, merely for convenience sake, but I have hitched up and then run the slide in already. Doesn't make any dif that I can see. Maybe it matters what type of frame or slide you have. Anybody have definitive proof one way or the other?"

Same here--we've opened and shut the slide a number of times with jacks up and down. We open the slide on the road (when stopped of course) at stops where it's safe and no chance of hitting or being hit by anything. Never had an issue. I remember asking the dealer during our walk thru since I had never had a slide before this TT and he said to not worry about having the jacks down or up when operating the slide. Somewhat level is good I was told but not completely necessary.

[dee74]

At the campgrounds we like to stay in we have to hook up last. When you hook up you are out in the road so you need to hook up and move out of the way to be courteous. We never get in a hurry to break camp. We have our routine and just take our time. We watch others break camp while we eat breakfast and for some it looks like they are auditioning for some type of rv pit crew 🙂

[mosseater]

I seriously doubt it matters when you bring the slide in. They sit on dealers lots with the slide out all the time and no stabilizers. Same at the Hershey show, IIRC. I've been doing it as the last thing before hitching up, merely for convenience sake, but I have hitched up and then run the slide in already. Doesn't make any dif that I can see. Maybe it matters what type of frame or slide you have. Anybody have definitive proof one way or the other?