Has this ever happened to you? You’re ready to leave your campsite. Checkout time is upon you. Everything is packed up. It’s time to push the button that retracts your slideout. But, Oh, no! Nothing happens when you do! The slideout is stuck in its “out” position.
You check everything to figure out what could be wrong. You try a few things, but no luck! You once read that when this sort of thing happens you can retract the slide manually, but you can’t remember how to do it. Or you’ve got a bad back and you know getting down under the slide and messing around with it could be very bad news for your spine.
So what do you do? The park has been packed every day since you arrived, so you know the camper who has reserved the spot you’re currently in will be along soon.
This is not good, right?
And let’s be honest—this isn’t just a minor inconvenience. A stuck slide can throw your entire day (or trip) into chaos, especially if you’re on a tight travel schedule or the campground is fully booked. Suddenly, you’re troubleshooting under pressure, hoping for a quick fix while watching the clock and wondering how long the next guest will wait before knocking on your door.
Has this ever happened to you, or something similar where your slide (or slides) was stuck and you couldn’t continue your trip on schedule? If so, after responding to the poll, please leave a comment and tell us your story.
MORE POLLS YOU CAN TAKE:
- If gas prices stay high—or rise even more—will it affect your summer RVing plans?
- Do you have a favorite RV trip of all time?
- Have you ever driven with your RV to Alaska, or do you plan to?
- Has a sewer valve or hose ever broken or malfunctioned while you were dumping?
- Do you swim in campground pools?
RVT1254b
“Not Yet” should be a choice.
Rally in Perry Georgia was great! Lots of vendors and good seminars, Had a good time.
I avoid RVs with slide-outs
No, I searched for my Motor Home so it didn’t come with Slides hence no problems. If I ever had to replace it, I don’t know what I would do as the current coach is 31 years old and there aren’t too many newer coaches made without slides unless you go to the bottom of the pile.
Just the opposite, we arrived at a campground, my slides would not go out. My hydraulic system was dead could not raise front of fifth wheel to unhook from truck. It was a simple fix, a bad fuse hidden in front compartment, I replaced with auto reset.
Made an overnight stop at a abandoned fuel station in Texas off the I-10. Should have parked under one of their overhangs but did not. It rained during the night but then woke up to subfreezing weather. The water on the toppers was frozen. Got most of it off two of the three slides except for the large roadside slide. Brought it in as far as It would go without damaging anything. Drove the entire day to our next stop at San Antonio. By then it had warmed up to just above freezing and I could get the remaining ice off of the slide.
Very LARGE bedroom slide wouldnt come in (motor failed)on the day we were scheduled to leave. Our awesome RV service owner and his son came to our site and forced it in and braced it so we could vacate our site and travel home. We had to stay an extra night. The Park Ranger put the couple in another site until we could vacate. We were very thankful for the RV Service help and the Park Ranger. Not a position I want to be in again!
Yes, with the Schwintek slide on our GD 5th wheel on our 3rd trip. One of the motors was bad. We were able to push the slide in manually and with help from the other motor. Contacted GD and they sent us a new motor (arrived in 2 days) and reimbursed us for the labor of a mobile tech to install it. We haven’t had a problem since.
For any new-to-me RV, one of my first learning tasks is the emergency retract procedure. Thankfully, in 27 years of RVs with slides, I’ve not had to perform those procedures, but if it happens, I’m ready.
Friends of ours were on a long road trip and the stop can on their through-frame slide basically got sucked into the frame. They had to have a mobile tech repair the slide mechanism and it wasn’t cheap.
Thus far I haven’t had any slide room issues myself but I still prefer an RV without slides. It’s just one fewer thing that can go wrong in something that’s hand-built in a big fat hurry.
Now ask about stabilizers/levelers that won’t retract.
Our slide motor went kaput but luckily we found a mobile repair person and he was able to get a motor and replace it. We didn’t have a trip delay.
Slide wouldn’t go in all the way. Turned out to be a wire connector/construction debris that made it into the track after 9 years all over. Sure took its time!
Yes, this year I was about to travel thru Big Bend NP in Texas when I started having issues with the slideout. It wouldn’t work at all sometimes. What I’ve discovered is that one cause is that the battery was low (had put the frig on battery while driving). So after being parked all night with power it worked. Another time the issue was that the trailer was not level enough. I worried about boondocking which can cause lower battery. After I spent 5 days in Big Bend I went to a friend’s outside of San Antonio and found a RV repair guy who took a good look at it and saw no problem with the motor. His opinion was that most of the issues were with the battery. So far that seems to be true.
Shortly before we were to start our drive from Colorado to Indiana to pick up our new class A, the dealer called asking us to delay for a day so they could take it back to the factory to fix a problem with the main slide.
We absolutely enjoy our 2009 Newmar Ventana with a full driver’s side slide-out, a family room slide-out and master bedroom slight-out. We had a problem with the control button for the drivers side slide-out and I called Newmar’s 800 number. The Technician told me how to use the buttons on the controller in the basement. It was so easy and worked flawlessly! I ordered a new button, they mailed it to me and it was all good! It is a good idea to learn how to do that in an emergency.
Schwintek, about says it all !! Stay away.
Not too much of an inconvenience… I just had to manually crank the slide in – took a couple of minutes to find the manual crank spot, and it was an easy fix. Not sure why it happened, but it went in and out no problem for years after? Almost like the motor was “stuck” in a dead spot.
We have a Class C with two slides; one contains the folding bed and the other the fridge and a couch; when retracted it blocks access to the stove/oven and microwave. Our issue was that the slides would not extend. As such, we could not sleep in our bed nor could we cook. Fortunately we had a toaster oven and could reheat a few of the meals we had prepared. I called the manufacturer hotline, but was unable to resolve the issue while we were on the road. It took us another three days to get home, cutting out about the two remaining weeks of our vacation.
We have had slides fail on our current Newmar Dutch Star but in both cases they would come in but would not go out all the way. No problem with continuing the trip, and the coach is still livable with slides out on only one side.
Had our slide not come in once. The problem was the park brake switch stuck so manually pulled the switch actuator out to get the slide in. Put on a new switch and no more problems in 8 years.