hydraulic vs. electric slideouts - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Dixie · RV-Dreams Family Member

hydraulic vs. electric slideouts

Ray & Wendy · RV-Dreams Community Member

Just to add to the confusion, some companies (NuWa, etc.) use hydraulic on the big slides and electric on the small slides, even on the same 5th wheel.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

While I haven't physically looked at hydraulic systems on slides, to me it would make sense that they would be better than the electric system on my 26 foot fiver.

On my fiver, a motor turns a shaft, that with the use of two connecting pieces, turns the gears to move the slide in and out. Each of those connecting pieces (square tubing sliding over round shafts and connected with bolts) has a bolt at each end of the connecting pieces. Thus, I have four bolts to keep an eye on. So far, I have had two of those bolts break, leaving me with the need to replace them before I can operate the slide in either direction.

Fortunately, in each of those two cases, the first bolt (the one closest to the motor) is the one that broke. That causes the entire operation to stop. Had it been on a bolt on the second connector that broke, then one side of the slide would have tried to operate while the second side couldn't have. That could have caused a slide to get misaligned and possibly damaged.

If the hydraulic system utilized full reach cylinders, there are no moving parts other than the hydraulic fluid through the cylinders. If there are more than one cylinder per slide, the main concern would be that all cylinders operate at the same time so as to have an even movement of the entire slide. Again, if one of the cylinders didn't work, it could cause misalignment of the slide.

While the hydraulic system could entail a leaking cylinder or hoses, that could be quite messy, depending where the leak would be.

As for the electric, one would need to make sure that one had extra bolts that were heavy enough to not keep breaking.

My dealer told me to get Grade 8 bolts, which are much stronger than "normal" bolts which are Grade 5 or less. Now, having said that, check with the dealer or manufacturer to see if they recommend that the bolts be capable of "shearing" should there be a serious misalignment of the slide operation. If shearing is desired, then stay with lighter bolts.

In my case, both times the bolts broke, there was not any misalignment of the slide that caused the bolt to break.

Dixie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for your opinions. Maybe it doesn't matter but seems like one would be better and have less problems.

Hopefully I will get some more opinions. For some reason when we ask a question on this forum we only get a couple responses but who knows maybe its the question?? blankstare

Dixie

Ray & Wendy · RV-Dreams Community Member

My thinking is that hydraulic slides are used on the bigger slides because of the weight and that electric slides are used on the smaller ones to keep expenses down when the extra power is not necessary.

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'm not sure which one is "better", and I'm not sure anyone on this forum (or any forum) could answer that question. First you have to define better. Less failures? Faster in/out? Less expense to replace? Easiest for DIY to work on? What is better?? And who has the actual data to define it in any category. Anything that is not based on actual statistics is just opinion.

Second, why in the world does it matter? You don't pick a 5er based on the type of slideout technology. So it is irrelevent to even consider it, IMO. Others might disagree, but I would totally ignore the issue. There are far too many other items that ARE relevent that need consideration. This will just muddle the selection IMO.

Dixie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Jack

Thanks for your opinion. I sure do like your website and have gotten a ton of information on it so I do value your opinion a lot.

Matter a fact, I even thought maybe you should go into the business of

helping new fulltime rvers design and set up their fifth wheels based on their profile preferences and usage. It looks like you stay up to date on all the new technology and better equipment. Being new at this we want to get it right the first time and there are so many things to consider it can be overwhelming.

Well it was just a thought but you would obviously be very good at it.

In the meantime we will just keep reading your website and others and take notes. As far as the slide outs I will keep an open mind.

Thank you again and if it is alright I may email sometime directly to ask you something more as we get closer to our choice of fulltime rigs.

Mel

Jack Mayer · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'm happy to give my 2 cents worth for free...but thanks for the vote of confidence. Feel free to email me if you like. I'll definately give you my opinion on any options/equipment that you are looking at. I do try to keep up with things.. we are always building our "dream rig" - at least on paper. Lots of the choices ultimately boil down to $$. I prefer email to the forum PM.

DZ · RV-Dreams Family Member

We've had both, our first Excel was electric and our new one hydraulic. I asked the RV techs at RV Sales in Moriarty the same question. They didn't say either was better, just that since going to hydraulic they were seeing less rigs coming in with slide problems. We had a shaft on our old one break where it transitions from round to square. Luckily a mobile repair tech came right out and welded the shaft and we had no more issues with it. With our new rig we had one of the big slides missaligned, and a roller on the bedroom slide too low and binding. We just had both those things repaired. I guess what I'm trying to say is expect problems with either one and if you don't have any, be grateful

Acorn · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well, to take this a step further, have any of you had experience with slideouts that bow, or do not operate correctly?

There is a lot of discussion on the Carriage/Cameo Yahoo Group right now about this -- and again, we're wondering if this problem is unique to certain makes and models of fivers?

Linda

-- Edited by Acorn at 12:13, 2008-12-15

thebearII · RV-Dreams Family Member

Our 5th wheel has a 15ft super slide in the living room area, (couch and dining set) slides out 4ft.

This is accomplished with an electric motor turning a screw connected to the center of the slide. There are two guide tubes towards the end of the slide out to make sure the slide tracks properly. The whole slide out rides on four wheels. The 5th wheel is 15 years old, the slide has been used an average of once per month.

The slide in and out only takes about a minute, the motor doesn't seem to be working hard in either direction so it appears to be a good setup. The motor is the same as used on the tongue jacks of most travel trailers so it's capable of lifting a lot of weight.

Only problem so far was, one of the wire nuts came off of the connection at the motor. I was able to fix while packing up to leave a campground. Only delayed by 15 mintues.

The other slide in the bedroom area is a little wider than a queen size bed and slides out about two feet. No problems with it. The storage comparment under the bed is full of canned goods, small appliances and other stuff. Again the motor doesn't seem to be working hard.

RanCar · RV-Dreams Community Member

What is the most common problem with slideouts? Also, do they freeze open in winter?

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

We had one that just stopped working. Turned out the motor mount had broken. Thankfully it failed when the slide was in.

We just left Milwaukee where we had below freezing temps and snow for about a week before we left. We were worried that the slides wouldn't come in, but were pleasantly surprised when they came right in after brushing off what we could.
We did get a fair amount of water inside though when the snow and ice melted.

thebearII · RV-Dreams Family Member

Our slide out motors and screw drive unit are located next to the fresh water tank which is enclosed and insulated plus heated. So there is little chance of those components being affected by freezing weather.

The slide out rails and guides are exposed underneath the slide but protected from direct rain or snow by the trim hanging down from the slide. I'm guessing in below zero weather, I might have to knock a little ice off the slideout guide system before retracting the slide.

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

Larry,
I was referring to the snow and ice buildup on the top of the slides interfering with the rubber moldings and jamming up.

thebearII · RV-Dreams Family Member

Fred,

I was answering RanCar's concern about freeze up and my mind naturally went to the mechanism.

I never even considered snow and ice build up on top. That's what I get for being a native of Southern California. We've only camped in snow about 8 times during the past 34 years of travel. Only actually snowed on us four times.

Of course there would be a build up of snow on top..... I guess all this sun, all of the time has fried my brain. confuse