Level with slides out?

Post your general and technical information, questions or responses in this forum. Viewing messages is open to all with no registration or log-in required. Prior to posting a new message or a response to an existing message, registration or login is required. Please do not post FOR SALE or WANTED ads in this section!

Moderator: bfadmin

Post Reply
Lmaniac7
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2016 8:59 pm

Level with slides out?

Post by Lmaniac7 »

Hello all,

I apologize if this topic has been addressed before. I have a 2016 Imperial Royal with LCI Automatic Levelers.

Should the slides be in or out when leveling? There is no manual for these levelers in the manual bag I received at time of purchase.

Thanks in advance.
Lia
harrisgowing
Posts: 338
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2008 5:30 pm

Re: Level with slides out?

Post by harrisgowing »

We have HWH levelers and slide and also no info on the slide. When I was talking to HWH when our levelers failed, I asked this same question. The answer is, there is a difference of opinion and it probably doesn’t matter. In fact, so long as the coach is level, I am told that the slide can be used without the levelers. We did this for a month while waiting to get our levels repaired. But, if the coach is not very level with or without the levelers deployed, you should not use the slide. The mechanism can “hang up”. Makes sense. We have had numerous problems with our 2015 coach so we have a lot of experience having stuff repaired! Latest issue has been a leak over the back window onto the RSB which appears to have come from the seam where the backup camera is installed. We caulked and it is fixed for now at least.

Judy Harris
Chuck and Judy Harris
Oliver and Monty, the Cavaliers at the Rainbow Bridge; Timothy Dickens, the Cavalier puppy
2004 RSB
2015 Royal Splendor
Santana tandem bicycle
User avatar
Roger H
Posts: 653
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 7:48 pm

Re: Level with slides out?

Post by Roger H »

Take heart, Judy... you could have spent $150k for an Airstream trailer and on delivery had a list of 70 problems, only half of which the dealer can fix, and of the other half, the factory needs to be involved and the factory at Jackson Center can only fix half of those, leaving 25% completely unresolved.

Despite that we’re “orphans” now, without factory support, these are probably still some of the least-problematic RVs on the market. Mine is 12 years old now, and I’m doing some seam sealing and replacement of normal wear items like the water pump, the water heater pressure relief valve, and likely now the step controller. I’ve had to chase down a couple of roof leaks too, but all in all, I’ve got a LOT more miles per repair than I ever got with my twenty years of Airstreams.
'06 Born Free 32 RQ Kodiak Chassis
(Former: '01 Born Free 23 RK)
Dinghy: '16 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon with a Blue Ox Aladdin tow bar.
Traveling with Sir Winston and Lady Rae (Cavalier King Charles Spaniels)
harrisgowing
Posts: 338
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2008 5:30 pm

Re: Level with slides out?

Post by harrisgowing »

Roger, we totally agree, especially with respect to the older model Born Free coaches. Our 2004 RSB was practically trouble free. The newer coaches have many “improvements” which lead to more repairs. The repair places we have visited over the last 2 years confirm that there are more problems on the newer coaches regardless of the manufacturer. Fortunately, we have found some very good repair places. Alliance in central Florida just south of the Villages is very good. You stay in their campground overnight with hookups for free and they knock on your door at about 7:30 in the morning. Our levelers were fixed on the camping site and we were gone at 10 in the morning. Our experiences with Camping World have been mixed and they appear to be more expensive.

Judy Harris
Chuck and Judy Harris
Oliver and Monty, the Cavaliers at the Rainbow Bridge; Timothy Dickens, the Cavalier puppy
2004 RSB
2015 Royal Splendor
Santana tandem bicycle
Lmaniac7
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2016 8:59 pm

Re: Level with slides out?

Post by Lmaniac7 »

Thanks for the reply, Judy.

We, also, have had a host of problems on this unit. At this point, we have had all the shades replaced (came with motorized, switched to manual after the motors failed), one light control panel and a second one is defective currently, bedroom AC had to be replaced, one floor tile came up from the movement of the slide, our awning still does not extend without me having to pull on it (it was also replaced), fantastic fan remote crapped out, Katskin seat seam came apart on passenger seat.

While I realize the aforementioned problems are with products made by other companies, it is very frustrating to have to handle all of this without the intervention of Born Free. The dealer we purchased from is 4 hours away on a good day. Additionally, we haven't even owned this unit for 2 years, and for what we paid could have bought a house. For that kind of money, I shouldn't have had all these problems...bottom line. To make matters worse, we live on Long Island where it is close to impossible to find anyone to work on it.

That is why I want to be sure to use levelers/slides properly..... I would like to avoid problems if I can.

Thanks again to all the wonderful members for having helped with other concerns we have had along the way.

Safe travels!
Lia
User avatar
Roger H
Posts: 653
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 7:48 pm

Re: Level with slides out?

Post by Roger H »

Lmaniac7 wrote:...

While I realize the aforementioned problems are with products made by other companies, it is very frustrating to have to handle all of this without the intervention of Born Free. The dealer we purchased from is 4 hours away on a good day. Additionally, we haven't even owned this unit for 2 years, and for what we paid could have bought a house. For that kind of money, I shouldn't have had all these problems...bottom line. To make matters worse, we live on Long Island where it is close to impossible to find anyone to work on it.
...
Lia
Lia, I can empathize with your plight, believe me. RVs and their systems improved significantly both in quality and in comfort until about the mid-2000s. Until then, existing systems had generally been improved in efficiency, and/or simplicity, but a propane water heater was still a propane water heater. TV antennas improved in signal-gathering ability, but used the same form-factor. Tank sensors weren't perfect, but they were better than having to peer into the toilet to see the tank levels. Generators and propane systems were simple, and pretty efficient over-all. It was about the mid-2000s that manufacturers entered the race tow "wow" consumers with the latest and greatest in new gadgetry and technology; TVs that raise and lower into a cabinet, power blinds, power couches, satellite systems that follow a satellite while you're on the road, complex 12v systems to replace propane, and more and more slides. It was in the late 2000s that manufactures began to include non-essential technology as "luxury" items. Things that really didn't need to be automated, but that they did just because they could, and those "features" added to the sales pitch.

On my 2006 coach, I have a power awning with a wind sensor that is supposed to raise the awning when the windspeed hits a certain number. There's apparently not a single unit of this awning out there that still works as it should (mine included.) I also have an electrically raised and aimed TV antenna that was prone to failure and that is no longer manufactured. So far, so good with it though. Other than that, my coach has more in common with 1996 coaches than 2016 coaches for technology... and I appreciate that because there's little to fail, and when something does fail, I can generally suss what failed and do the repairs myself.

I watched the Born Free coaches get slides, power shades, and generally more and more complex systems (to be fair though, they were only "keeping up with the Joneses" as all other "premium" manufacturers were doing the same.) Unfortunately all those really cool whiz-bang features are also failure centers. I'm not sure how many of those 2014-systems will even be repairable when those coaches reach the age of mine (now 12 years.) I'm pretty sure that retro-fitting something for those failed, unrepairable systems will be expensive and difficult as well.

I'm also a member of a B-van forum where people are spending up to $200k for a Sprinter-chassis b-van with these HUGELY complex and expensive 12v battery systems and without propane at all... and reading about all of the various problems they're having with THEIR vans is daunting. I have less than half of what some of them have invested in their B-vans in my '06 Born Free 32RQ AND my '16 Jeep JKU towed (that I bought new) together.

I'm not sure there's any kind of moral here other than while I'd LIKE to have a newer coach, I'm not sure that even if I could afford the coach that I could afford the repairs it would require. I certainly am not able to do them myself as I don't even understand the technology. I sure hope that you get yours to the point that it's relatively trouble-free.

I have to go out and fix the flush valve in the Thetford Style Plus porcelain bowl toilet in my Born Free now. Again. For the third time. *grin*
'06 Born Free 32 RQ Kodiak Chassis
(Former: '01 Born Free 23 RK)
Dinghy: '16 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon with a Blue Ox Aladdin tow bar.
Traveling with Sir Winston and Lady Rae (Cavalier King Charles Spaniels)
Post Reply

Return to “General and Technical Information, Questions, and Responses”