Manual slide

[poncho62]

No...I dont mean what to do when the electric slide conks out, I mean that my slide on my 1999 Springdale 5th wheel has no electric motor....its cranked out from the outside with a crank. I bought this trailer as a fixer upper a couple of months ago. I looked for a switch to put the slide out, no such luck....just a hole on the outside and a crank......Anyone else have a manual slide like this?...I have been reading the forum and only mention of electric/hydraulic slides.

[diugo]

I can't imagine a trailer would be built with a slideout but no motor. Only a looksie under the belly can tell for sure. I know that in my old '93 Excel, the slideout switch was located under the sink, of all places.

[poncho62]

No switch, no fuse labelled slide.....I looked under the slideout, there is just the big screw that turns with the crank. I dont want to be tearing all the mesh off underneath there to look for a motor, which I am sure there isnt one

[Ken / Claudia]

I had a 1996 Hyliner 40ft park trailer with 2 slides that were hand turned to move them. I purchased it on property and never moved the slides. I sold it in 2008.

[JRTJH]

In about 91 or 92 putting slides in RV's became popular. There were slides before that, but not many and only from a very few manufacturers. Back then there were two kinds, tip outs and slides. The tip outs had curved roofs so they could fold into the main body of the RV. Didn't last long, a few crushed people, some pinched fingers and people started insisting on slides. They had cranks (usually through a hole in the skirting) to hand crank the slide out. Remember, back then, almost all tongue jacks and stabilizer jacks were also manual. Only the "luxury" rigs had electric tongue jacks.

It wasn't until about 1997 or 1998 that electric slides became pretty much standard on the "high end" RV's. In 1999 Springdale was the most inexpensive entry line RV in the series. I am not suprised that there was no electric slide, or as they were called back then, "powered slides"

If you look along the skirting on the opposite side from the slide you should see a 1" hole down close to the bottom. That should be where you put the extended hand crank (probably about 4' long) to connect to the gearbox to extend and retract the slide. If the side skirting is relatively short (high up) you may only have a 1" hole in the chassis frame rail to put the crank in.

Don't forget, back then you needed slide jacks to put along the top of the slide to hold it in during travel. The slides had a habit of "creeping out" as they bounced along the highway.

[poncho62]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Don't forget, back then you needed slide jacks to put along the top of the slide to hold it in during travel. The slides had a habit of "creeping out" as they bounced along the highway.

Thanks for that....I had to make up a couple of pieces to wedge in above the slide because it does that when traveling....glad to see its normal.
THe crank hole for mine is in the slide itself, outside.....has a short handle

[Chipsahoy]

Our first RV was a 1999 Aljo fifth wheel. It had one slide that was cranked out as you describe. The slide out housed the couch only so was not that heavy. The trailer came with poles that when the the slide was closed were placed at the top of the slide between the facia and the interior wall. I rarely used the poles and never had any problem with the slide moving out.

[poncho62]

Mine contains the couch only too. Its only about 6 ft long, so not very big. Shown here sleeping for the winter.....just above the wheels