Full Wall slide versus two smaller Slide-outs - which do you prefer?

[Milford 47]

One common thing about FWS is the hydraulic powered seen to have fewer issues

[mchero]

Originally Posted by Milford 47

Exactly!

Have had our FWS for 5 years, 50k miles w/o issue.
With all the oof real estate over slide I was able to flat mount 4 full size, high voltage solar panels w/o shading issues!

[1doodadd]

Without the Proper Size Header to support the roof and wall Lateral movement a full way slide is Doomed from the start IMO. Since a MH while being driven, is under constant movement, ( Earthquake ), the Lateral strength of the wall is compromised because of the undersized wall header. Looked under a full wall slide of a 2019 Newmar New Aire 33 footer with 9000 miles and could see that the bottom rollers were gouging into the wood floor because the weight of the slide. Overweight, and Under designed

[mchero]

Originally Posted by 1doodadd

Without the Proper Size Header to support the roof and wall Lateral movement a full way slide is Doomed from the start IMO. Since a MH while being driven, is under constant movement, ( Earthquake ), the Lateral strength of the wall is compromised because of the undersized wall header. Looked under a full wall slide of a 2019 Newmar New Aire 33 footer with 9000 miles and could see that the bottom rollers were gouging into the wood floor because the weight of the slide. Overweight, and Under designed

Doomed? LOL

No bottom rollers or wood. My FWS rides on three rails and slides across the top of our carpet. 5 years and 50 K miles w/o issues.

[chuckftboy]

I owned my first FWS coach in 2012 with no issues. The space and openness really sold me and put that pretty high on my want list so now I own another coach with a FWS. Still no issues. If I buy another, I will be looking for another FWS.

[Gdawgs]

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

Do you have any evidence for that? It's certainly not obvious [to me,anyway].

If it were just a cost reduction, then certainly no slides at all would be much less costly. Manufacturers want to sell their products, they respond to public demand.

[vito.a]

We've owned both a full wall slide coach and a coach with four slides.
It's like everything else, if you purchase a poor quality coach it doesn't matter how many slides it has. You are going to have issues. If you purchase a higher end coach that is well engineered, then even the full wall slide will work well. Our full wall slide was an electrically driven hydraulic system and we never had an issue. It always came in/out quickly without a glitch.

There are lots of stories and rumors about full wall slides. But most are about a "friends" coach or they heard it from someone else. Almost anyone that has actually owned one loves it.
My wife prefers the full wall slide because of the openness. It's about as close to a residential home as you can get in a motor home. When you walk into one for the first time it looks spectacular.
Click on the picture below and you can see what I'm talking about.

[Ed Headington]

You will always hear many differing opinions regarding full wall slides. We have had a full slide for 6 years and have had no problems with it. With our floor plan there is no choice, we have to have a full slide. When we messed up the slide (our fault), a call to Newmar to get the directions, and it is actually easier to adjust than our smaller slides. As others have said, I would not let the question of the full slide be a deciding factor, but rather the floorplan that you like.


Oh yes, our full slide is electrically powered too, and has worked fine so far for 6 years.

[Dutch Star Don]

Pretty simple.....those with full wall slides like them. Those who don't have a full wall slide have some type of issue with them. We've had all types of coaches and slides. I think I could live with either design. A well laid out four slide model would be fine with me. We currently have a three slide coach. The only thing that doesn't move (slide out) is the half bath.

One thing we like about our Newmar.....all the floors are flat and there all tile, no carpet on any of the slides. Newmar uses a large chain at both ends of the FWS, which pulls it all the way out, then a hydraulic pump lowers it 6" to a flat floor. It makes for a clean floor and design when open.

Since we have a sliding door that closes off the bedroom, Newmar could probably have just done four slides and used that door as the pinch point.

[justinpirie]

I was excited to own a FWS until we had issues with it. The system that controls ours is a mix of two manufacturers (Power Gear and HWH). We've had a motor and controller go out leaving us stranded with the slide out and had to manually hot wire to get it back in. Ours has gone out of balance and significantly damaged the interior and exterior (~$20k to fix). It's operated by three electric motors that are supposed to keep in balance with each other. If you have a Power Gear system, I wouldn't be caught without a programmer ($1000) or make your own retraction /adjustment loom.

Net-net as a FWS owner and speaking to my shop, I wouldn't choose a FWS again. There's just not enough structure there and RV control systems are frankly crap and expensive. I would much rather have four smaller slides that give the coach much more structure and slides that are less prone to issues.


I don't buy the argument that just because someone makes it, it's a good idea. My experience with the electric system has been that it's problematic. Of course, YMMV.

[Aerbusser]

Rexhall tried the full slide (T-Rex) and it ended rather disastrously for them.

[CSTARK99]

My previously owned Holiday Rambler had one slide on drivers side. It was ok, but once we saw our Tiffin with 3-slides, so much more room. Our 3-slides give us so much extra room, comfort, and bed space with couch pulled out for bed.

[Grandpa5x]

It depends on the manufacturer, we have an 18 year old Newmar Mountain Aire with a super slide (living room/dinette) on the drivers side with no adverse effects. It operates on a rack and pinion drive, extends and retracts very good, doesn’t leak and it has traveled 66K miles. I had a 27’ 5th wheel that had a 9’ slide that was hydraulically operated that if I was completely level(not even a half bubble off) it would twist and bind up and not move in or out, that ruined me on hydraulic cylinder operation. With multiple cylinders if one side starts to hang up on anything the other side will get the full flow of the pump. I worked with hydraulics over 30 years so I know how it works. It’s a cheap system compared to rack and pinion.

[nehog]

Love our hydraulic full wall slide. REally feels like it opens things up nicely.