Slide System ?

[Ddubya]

Originally Posted by Thunderman

My 2 slides are now 15 years old. about 5 years ago the hydraulic line for bedroom slide began to leak I replaced the line with a much better product fro auto parts store. Two years ago the hydraulic line for the living room slide began to leak. I replaced this one also with product from auto parts store. This year both cylinders went out at the same time. I thought this to be unusual but they both work at the same time. I had both cylinders rebuilt locally at a cost of $450. for BOTH cylinders. Quite a savings compared to new cylinders. No problems with the motor, I do stop for a few minutes after the first slide id out. Hopeful the motor will remain somewhat cooler.

You are lucky that they could be rebuilt. The new ones from Lippert have crimped ends and cannot be rebuilt, only replaced with the same POS.

[Mikendebbie]

He is referring to the cable gear box over the slideout (see pic). Those have been known to leak oil on the slideout roof. This pic looks like it has the catch pan installed under the gear box (found the pic on this forum - many threads on the subject)

[Renegade1LI]

Having four cable slides with gear boxes that leaked has not swayed my opinion that I prefer electric over hydraulic. Once the drip pans were installed I cleaned the bubbles with alcohol, dried them with a heat gun & roller & they are invisible. Being in construction & dealing with heavy equipment I know hydraulics very well, its not if they will leak its when they leak. I doubt Montana is using anything near the quality that Cat or John Deere uses & there stuff eventually leaks. Knowing that its made by Lippert makes it even worse, Lippert to me is the Harbor Freight of camper parts suppliers, some stuff ok but most not so good.Ill stick with electric, cheap & easy to fix or replace.

[cgeis48]

We had a new Montana about 10 years ago, the hydraulically operated bedroom slide would not come in as we prepared to leave a campground at a small Utah town. Repairing it was not an option. Keystone Customer Service could offer no help other than, "we can refer you to a dealer". Dealers typically are too busy to help you. That was no help, so I called the manufacturer - a tech walked me through a method to retract the slide and then had me do a couple of steps to determine the failure. He sent the correct part to the next RV Park and UPS delivered the part. I installed it and we were happily back on the road for the rest of the summer. The lesson is: CALL THE PART/SYSTEM MANUFACTURER WHEN A FAILURE OCCURS - even if your rig is out of warranty. They are the most knowledgeable and the most helpful- Keystone won't send you a repair part no matter how dire your situation.

[Mikendebbie]

Originally Posted by cgeis48

..He sent the correct part to the next RV Park and UPS delivered the part. I installed it and we were happily back on the road for the rest of the summer...

Just curious - what was the part that had failed that they sent you a replacement?

[beeje]

Originally Posted by Mikendebbie

He is referring to the cable gear box over the slideout (see pic). Those have been known to leak oil on the slideout roof. This pic looks like it has the catch pan installed under the gear box (found the pic on this forum - many threads on the subject)

I will take my 4 hydraulic slides any day over that mickey mouse looking motor/cable/chain drive looking contraption (that leaks) they use to move the slides.

[cgeis48]

Hydraulic Ram in the bedroom slide.

[CrazyJohn]

Just make sure you don't store a bunch of stuff on top of the slide outs when they're recessed. If you do, you'd better get it all off there before extending them. There COULD be trouble if you don't.