Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 13, 2025 ...

A better slide?

January 08, 2020, 10:51:00 am

We've a friend who's considering fulltimeing with a class A MH. He'll for sure ask about our FT and what we like about it.. which are many items. But our '98 U320 is a non slide unit and we don't have any knowledge of them. Would it be a truthful statement to say FT makes a better slide than the competition? If so, in what ways?
Thanks in advance

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Re: A better slide?

Reply #1 – January 08, 2020, 03:11:28 pm

Hi Bill, three parts to the question here. The part of the coach that moves, basically a box with one side open.  The mechanism that makes the box move in and out and stay in place. And finally the weather seals.

Many coaches have slide boxes with gear racks and either on the sides of the slide box or on the bottom and electric gear motors on the side walls or under the slide.  Like any mechanism these depend on a coordinated motion to work well.  We know a fellow in TX with a pretty new coach with this type of mechanism that got screwed up on one slide and the room just moved out past the gear tracks and got stuck.  One of his BR slides jumped the track and got off by a couple teeth on the drive motor.  It went in and out crooked.  This type of slide usually has a wiper seal around the slide box to keep water from getting in when open and when closed the slide box has an exterior flange with a gasket that covers the opening.  You can recognize this type of slide seals by the pool noodle covers on each of the corners where people run into them when the slide is open.

Foretravel slide boxes are steel and aluminum with a wood and fiberglass exterior skin, insulation and a wood panel interior skin.  Some but not all have had adhesive failures between the fiberglass skin and the internal frame work or the skin and the insulation.  This is repairable when it happens. Not always cheap. Foretravel slides are flush to the outside of the body when retracted.

Foretravels use HWH slide systems to move the room and to create the room seal. 

All of them have an inflatable bladder (sort of like a bicycle tire inner tube) that inflates when the room is in or out and deflates when the room is set to move.  These use compressed air from the HWH air system uses for leveling the coach to inflate and deflate the bladder.

Foretravels use an HWH hydraulic system to actuate the mechanism that moves the slide.  In the 1999-2001 coaches the main living room slide uses an A shaped actuator at each end with a hydraulic cylinder in the A.  There is a coordinating hydraulic cylinder that keeps them moving together.  As the hydraulic cylinder in the A frame moves the legs of the A spread.  One leg is attached to the coach and the other is attached to the slide box and the slide moves out.  Going the other way the legs come together and the slide retracts.  When the room is all the way in or out there are 2 pins on the top and bottom that lock the slide in place and the seal bladder inflates.

This is how our 2001 works.  We have cycled the slide in and out hundreds of times with only one or two problems retracting, all of our own making and all fixed by just extending the slide, fixing the problem (usually a rug in the way) and retracting it again.

I cannot say how the BR slide works, we don't have one but the seal bladder is much the same.

In 2002 FT used an HWH system called a "Train" mechanism. From the schematics as far as I can see there is more mechanism to move the top and bottom of the slide together.  There are tracks and rollers on the bottom and a mechanical linkage between the top and bottom.  This was the only year FT used this mechanism.

In 2003-05 the used an mechanism that appears to be at each end of the slide in the coach itself.  This is just behind the dirvers seat (for a LR slide) and at the other end next to the cabinets.  This looks more like a a scissors mechanism that also moves the top and bottom of the slide box in and put in a coordinated way.  These floor to ceiling mechanisms take up some interior room when retracted but free up some room in the slide when extended compared to the 2001 design.

Any mechanical thing can have a problem.  I know folks with all three systems that have had mechanical problems, some pretty significant.  Slide seal bladders get holes in them and leak.  There is no good way to patch the holes so they have to get replaced.  We are on the original slide bladder in our coach.  Based on what I know we may be the only 2001 that has not replaced a bladder.  Almost every FT coach with a slide has replaced seal bladders.

We thought long and hard about slide/no slide.  Either way can be a good choice.  No slide floor plans are better suited for the space they have and work very well.  More of our FT friends have no slide coaches than slide coaches.  We ended up with a slide in a 2001 coach because everything else was what we wanted.  We had looked at several both ways and the extra room seemed appealing.  And now we really like it.  It adds about as much usable interior space as an extra 4 ft in length and it is all in the LR/Kitchen.  Our eating area around the J shaped dinette in the 2001 is easily big enough for dinner for four or an evening card game with a set of folding chairs.  We really like the extra room in the LR area too. When we are on the road from here to there we rarely put the slide out.  Works fine for us that way too. 

If we were looking we would prefer a slide but all else being the same a no slide coach would get strong consideration.  Most folks that are really anti-slide are worried about the additional mechanical issues that may come up.  Many of them have never had a slide  to know what some advantages they add.

If you are looking look at as many coaches as possible. See for yourself how the slides work. Try to envision your day to day life in a coach with and without a slide..

No good or bad choice here, just your choice.  Sort of like tile floors or wood.

My opinions and direct observations here.  Probably others out there as well.

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Re: A better slide?

Reply #2 – January 08, 2020, 04:00:55 pm

Wonderful response Roger. I will pass it on.
Thank you

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Re: A better slide?

Reply #3 – January 08, 2020, 07:23:51 pm

I would add that one difference between FT slides and other brands is that when the slide seal needs replacing, a FT is more involved (early years requiring complete removal of the slide) whereas another brand in some cases you can replace the seal yourself if you're handy.  I believe Dan observed that the typical lifespan of a FT slide bladder, since it is rubber just like a tire, is about 7-10 years.  I don't know how often one has to replace a seal on another brand.

And a tidbit, I believe Renegade uses the HWH bladder system on their Ikon (top end of their lineup) coaches.

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Re: A better slide?

Reply #4 – January 08, 2020, 08:09:57 pm

I have had both a 2 slide FT and two non slide coaches. If I was building a new one it would not have a slide. You gain a bit if floor space in the LR but in he bedroom you get additional cabinets. So if I was going to get one slide the bedroom works out best. 

You lose 18 inches of storage for each slide min so it is not as efficient.

So I have owned a 2 slide coach 10 years and 7 years with no slide. My current coach I have now has no slide

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Re: A better slide?

Reply #5 – January 09, 2020, 12:43:36 am

With a bedroom closet slide you lose overhead cabinets on either side of the bedroom and about 4" of space between the bed and the wall on the passengers side.  Closet space moves into the bedroom where it may not be as convenient.  With the closet slide retracted you have little if any room between the bed and the closet doors.

A bedroom slide with an EW bed in the slide is pretty nice.  Usually cabinet space and closets at the rear of the coach and on the pass side wall.

You just have to be aware of how the space is used and how you are going to use the arrangement if you get a coach with one of these BR slides. 

Our 2001 LR slide adds about 20 sq ft of LR space.  A significant increase.  If you want a no slide coach theybare few and far between after 2000. Check Ted and Karen's 2001 36' no slide U270 or Scott and Carol's 2001 42' U320 with an EW bedroom slide (this used to be John S's coach).  2001 was a good FT year. Most others were too.

Look at as many as you can.

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Re: A better slide?

Reply #6 – January 09, 2020, 02:21:48 am

When looking at coaches I debated slide versus no slide and after reading through much of these forums I decided on a no-slide coach. And I'm happy with that I like my coach. But when we were at ladies driving school in nacogdoches, got a chance to go and Carol and Scott's rig, and did like the extra room it gave. But then I've heard horror stories about people not able to drive because they're slide didn't retract all the way, and the thought of that big hole maybe not supported quite the same, and possibly a intrusion of water into the RV, makes me feel that I made the right choice. But Roger made an excellent point and I think it really is a matter of personal preference. It's a lot of downsizing for someone going from a 2500 square foot house to a 40-foot by eight foot RV. Those extra feet that the slide gives, can mean an awful lot to some people I guess. The other thing to consider other than the maintenance issue, is that when I was looking a non-slide coach was considerably cheaper than a slide coach. I think on the tune of $20, 000 or more dollars and for that amount of money I'll stick with the non-slide. Before I bought into four travel and class a motorhomes I considered a truck camper. And the only way I was going to get into one of those full-time was with a two or three slide truck camper. But since I wanted to use it on a 4x4 pickup and head up into the mountains I knew that there would be issues right off the bat, up in the mountains unable to pull the slides in I could just see those slides falling out and rolling down the mountain laughing out loud. I've had enough issues with the leveling system to know that these air systems can be kind of finicky at times.

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