Slide outs

[Oakland Mike]

Has anybody tried to build a slide out? This is my biggest concern about a DIY motorhome. I really want one, but I think it may prove to be too much for me (not really sure why). I am interested to hear if others have tried it.

Mike

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

.....never done it...but a guy has his truck at W&M Enterprises in Lawranceburg Indiana has his moved by hydraulic power off the truck....linda' an interesting idea.....don't know if it has been delivered yet....geof

I went through the 5 truck conversion manufacturers in the Elkhart area in late May.

Even the companies that build a steel frame conversion build their slideouts with aluminum framing, I believe 1 inch tubing.

All the ones I remember used a electric motor driven slide mechanism.

[rwrr001]

www.hwhcorp.com

They have the slide mechanism

[Oakland Mike]

Nice,

Muchos gracias for the link, it went straight to the favorites.

Mike

[jts]

i got my slide from liftco in elkart it came with the opening frame and floor with motor for opening and closing. it basicly glides in and out with support arms in and out it doesn't touch the floor at all it was around 7' with 27" travel and cost around a 1000 bucks when i toured showhauler it was the brand they were using if you want any type of resale value don't build a truck with out a slideout
http://www.liftco.net/

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

....a guy in Ky that was selling his Showhauler was having the second motor put in his....IIRC the first was done at the factory and they were to send the second to him so he could install it himself....he is in the Racing business and works for Toyota....he is a maintenance-installer-millrite so he should know what he is doing- I don't know if his Showhauler is still for sale....Rusty Jones Mototsports....real nice Showhauler and the guy is first rate....geof

[RBlack]

I'm about to start my own conversion on a 1992 Freightliner and find the slide out to be my biggest fear. Thanks for the help. I love this site. I owned a trucking company for 5 years and have a cabinet business now, with lots of experience in metal working. I'm excited about the project. Any more pointers on slides out would be awesome.

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

go hydraulic cylinders for in and out with a takeoff at a pto....power in and out and no binding if you use a steel slide or channel well lubericated....geofkaye

[Jimm]

Why not do a "slide back" - something that extends the back end eight feet or so when deployed?

It's practical with these front-engine rigs. You could have a main bed that extends backwards out from under a pair of side-by-side bunks or something...

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

....vey possible though it would cut down on interior room during travel as the addition would have to slide on the inside.....see Randy Butlers pix...he makes about the same thing for truck cabs-very inovative.....and you could use his drawings/pix to make up your suspension under the box as well....he has a real interesting seal around the back of the slide very air and water proof....I was so impressed at his ideas and prototype.....geofkaye

We've down a half a dozen different methods of slideouts. We have used several off the shelf brands and a few variations of our own. The first thing I will say is that hydraulics should be out unless you personally have a lot of experience with them. Unless you're using a secondary mechanical alignment system, you will need at least two rams to try to get it in and out straight every time. It takes a lot of effort and valves to make sure that the two rams are working together perfectly. Once you pick up the power pack, pistons, valves and hoses you're gonna be into it for a minimum of $1000. Then you got to worry about support arms and bearings. Further to that there is the inevitbale leaks and seapage.

If you're just running a small (14 x 3') slideout go get the HWH system. It comes with everything you want and need and tells you how to put it together. If you breakdown on the road pats should be close by at the local RV dealer.

If you really want do your own The best way to go would be a bearing guided arm system. Weld some teeth to the arms and power by a shaft with a couple of pinions on it. A strong 12VDC gearmotor is sometimes hard to come by with the right final drive speed so either use an HWH or Atwood motor designed for the job or get a winch motor and adapt it. Winch motors are louder but they take a beating and have a lot of torque to get the job done. Many of the other 12VDC gearmotors available have really weak reduction systems and sometimes don't handle the jarring of starting and stopping that well.

We build a lunch trailer that has opposing slideouts 40' long with 8' of extension. The slideouts actually extend a full 8' first and then lower 4 to 8 inches which gives you a mobile lunch room 24' x 40' with a completely flat floor. Our prototype used a hydraulic pistons to raise/lower and hydraulic orbit motors to turn the extension drive shaft. It was a nightmare at the end of the day and now we strictly use 1HP 120VAC drive motors for extension and Joyce Jax screw jack system for raising and lowering. The slideouts are driven by 3 gearracks mounted to the bottom of the slideout. 2 More gearracks are mounted on each end and this is all driven by connected shafts. This side racks hold the slideout from tipping as it goes in and out and we use no other arms to hold the slideout up. It's a great system which allows us to build gigantic slideouts without massive supports. Since the gear rack is always in contact with the slideout the slideouts interact with the structure of the trailer and actually help to eliminate as much twist and sag in the body. We use this system on all our slideouts these days regardless of size, but it does carry hefty price tag.

I'm sorry if I rambled off there, I was just trying to qualify my opinion on the HWH system. Go get an off the shelf system from HWH or Liftco, it'll save a lot of headache.

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

......the one slide system I saw in Lawrenceburg looked like the slides from a Snap-on tool box ....only larger...much larger and were on each end of the slide out....the hydraulic cylinder just moved the weight of the slide....it was quite large and heavy.....the slider system did the actual alignment of the slide.......seemed to me that the only time that the slide alignment is critical is then it reaches it's furtherest or closed position....OTT there seemed to be some play involved but upon close or full open they kinda wobbled back and forth a little......I saw a Military trailer that had slides.....they called it an "EXPANSIBLE VAN, TRAILER" pulled by a 5 ton tractor....they were hand crankers....or driven by 24vt electric wrenches....BUT they were very well designed and fool proof with generator and air conditioning....I don't know if they are still in inventory or not we had one at our Ft. Knox recycle yard for years and now it has been scrapped out as it was aluminum-[viet nam style]......geofkaye