Who has Prevost slides?

[merle&louise]

I recently contacted Robert Jones, Sales Manager for Prevost Car Co. regarding the slide outs on Prevosts. He informed me that 99% of their production is slide outs (not a real surprise). He also mentioned that Marathon, Featherlite, and American Carriage do not use Prevost factory slides (I assume they use Valid or HWH or some other manufacturer).

So my question is "Who do they use?" Could the owners of these converters help me out here?


Below is the email response that I rec'd from Mr. Jones w/Prevost Car.

99% of the new motorhome shells that we build will have slides. The normal reason for a motorhome not having slides is that it is primarily used on the road and not while parked. Note that Prevost builds slides for all motorhome converters with the exception of Marathon, Featherlite and American Carriage. These 3 companies always add slides to their motorhomes. The market is pushing us to offer more slide options.



I understand the frustrations with slide-out problems. Prevost is working very hard to minimize these issues. Our new slide-out design is mechanically better and I am not hearing about slides that do not go in and out on demand.



Prevost is always pleased to offer non-slide shells to the motorhome market. One big issue to consider is resale value. The non-slide motorhomes do not hold their value as well as the ones with slide-outs.



I hope this answers your question. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask.



Best regards,



Robert Jones | Sales Manager, Motorhome



Prevost

1951 Eastchester Drive, #E

High Point, NC 27265



Tel.: +1 336 812-3504 | Cell.: +1 800 981-7386 | Fax: +1 336 812-8679

[Coloradobus]

Tuga,

Marathon uses Valid slides in their multiple slided H3-45 coaches. Valid is out of British Columbia, Canada. They still use the Prevost factory slides in the XLII.
Featherlite and American Carriage owners can help answer the rest of your question. I think they both make their own, but I am not positive.

[dalej]

Tuga, are you thinking about spending some of your grandchildren's money? A question like that makes me wonder. :)

[merle&louise]

Jim,

Thanks for the info, were both of your slide coaches Valid slides?
It seems odd that Marathon would use Valid slides on an H3 and Prevost slides on an XL; but I'm sure that they had their reasons. Can you comment on which one is better or worse?


Dale,

I am not buying anything right now, just doing some investigating. At $3.25 per gallon for diesel I don't think that my grandkids will have much left over!:confused:

[Coloradobus]

Tuga,

Our 2001 Country Coach 2 slide in a 1999 shell had HWH slides. CC #60449 was one of 6 that Bob Lee had done this way. By the way, Marathon has 60441 on their lot as a trade. It is identified at X-7032. The slides in this coach were of a steel frame design and very heavy. Our coach rode and handled like a "beached whale." Beautiful, beautiful coach with it's prismatic paint scheme. But it had all kinds of issues, some not slide related.
Our 2002 Marathon XLII single slide had a Prevost installed slide. I know they say they have improved upon the slide design, gun shy maybe, we like our non-slide "H".
If we were ever to have another slide coach, it will be one under full warranty both from Prevost and Marathon and we will take it to Alaska, Yukon, and the NorthWest Territory in Canada. That way, they can come up and see how much a nuisance slides are when they don't work right. It will be their nickel.
At any rate, I have it documented at Marathon when a recently built (2006) NON slide XLII ( the only one) comes up traded, we want first dibs.

[jack14r]

Marathon and Featherlite on their XLII use Prevost slides.Prevost has updated their slide at least 3 times,the latest has a pin underneath the slide instead of 2 or 3 on each side.Featherlite introduced their superslide for the H3 in 2004 the big difference is that the bedroom slide is over 10 feet wide and a king bed fits.Marathon had to compete and about coach #1020 they had Valid build a slide over 10 feet for the bedroom also.The Prevost Car web site has a new brochure that shows their new slides for the H3,there are 2 versions one being over 10 feet wide.Prevost,Marathon,or Featherlite does not seem interested in updating the size of the XLII slides,maybe that tells us where they are headed in the future.The larger slides from Prevost can be seen somewhere on here in a new Parliament H3 shell.

[Five-O]

The larger Prevost dual slide with the superslide in the stateroom have been pictured for awhile on the Millennium website. I saw Parliaments triple slide picture but Millennium has been showing the new bedroom superslide two slide for awhile now. I have seen 3 of their Hs finished with the dual superslide and they are impressive. I looked at them when looking buy choose Marathon. If I keep looking I am going to make a trade. I just love the look of Millennium's interior as does my wife and with the superslide the bedroom area looks very nice. Marathons triple slide and quad slides are taking the look of a center isle Class A floorplan. But that is too be expected when you go to 3 or 4 slides. We really like the superslide 2 slide Prevost model. To us that is enough and you are able to still maintain some curves in the floorplan. Furthermore, as I think has been mentioned here; is that the Marathon slides are not very deep. So to just say I have 4 slides with nothing but just a center isle floorplan is not what we want. You also lose the pantograph(think I am spelling that right) doors on the exterior passenger side. Again we were impressed with the Prevost superslide 2 slide bus. I am sure there will be many who want their new triple slide H but what you gain in the bedroom and what you lose in floorplan space with that extra slide coupled with a more expensive price, I just dont know if it is worth it. After typing this I think I have convinced myself that I need a Millennium. I guess I have MMF...Mad Millennium Fever.

[merle&louise]

Jim,

Thanks for the information; it sounds like you are still very bitter regarding the trouble that you had with your slide buses. I can't question that, I think if I had had as much trouble and aggravation as you have I would feel the same way about slide coaches. So far it looks to me like the "early slide coaches" are to be avoided. I would like to hear from owners who have later model slide coaches regarding their problems; specifically Prevost slides vs non Prevost slides.

Jack,

Does your Liberty have slides and if so how have they worked? Are they Prevost factory slides?

[rmboies]

4 just dont know if it is worth it. After typing this I think I have convinced myself that I need a Millennium. I guess I have MMF...Mad Millennium Fever.

heehee, I had to chuckle when I read this :D

Tuga, one of our Vantare's had HWH slides and both of our Millennium's have Prevost slides. We never had an issue with the HWH and have not had an issue with the Prevost slide either.

The Prevost slide in our '03 Millennium has the tapered locking pins. I am not sure what is in the '05 Millennium--likely the same? It was interesting reading Prevost's response to your inquiry....particularly how they view the re-sale value--the must not have consulted Jon:eek:

[merle&louise]

Five O,

I am with you on the 2 slide coaches; 4 slides are too many. The front salon area is too crowded when both slides are in. I saw Loc's Millenium at Birdland Coach Services in Houston the other day and it is beautiful. Loc is also a 2 slide guy. I have seen Bob & Debi's 03 Millenium S/S and it is really fine. Millenium does a beautiful job on the inside. I also like the 8.5 KW generator that runs off of the DD.

Debi,

Thanks for your reply, it's nice to hear from an owner who has had slide coaches from two different converters. Does Bob hold a world record for having owned the most Prevosts?:D

Do you know if Vantare cuts the hole in the shell and then installs the HWH slide or does Prevost?

[garyde]

Hi Tuga. Featherlite does their own fabrication from scratch on their slides.

[jack14r]

Tuga,My 05 Liberty has Prevost factory slides,I wonder from an structural standpoint if any other slide would meet Prevost strength and quality.I have not had a single problem with my slides.I agree that the new superslides in the H seem to be the way to go.I don't know about American Carriage but in the last several years all XLII slides are Prevost that I am aware of,I wish that they would put the superslide in the XLII.

[rmboies]

Debi,
Thanks for your reply, it's nice to hear from an owner who has had slide coaches from two different converters. Does Bob hold a world record for having owned the most Prevosts?:D

Do you know if Vantare cuts the hole in the shell and then installs the HWH slide or does Prevost?

Tuga, to our knowledge Vantare cuts their own slides in place. Millennium normally orders theirs from Prevost.

I have no idea if Bob is the world record holder for having owned the most Prevosts but I would be willing to bet he holds the record for owning the most within a short time frame!! I worry that when he gets up to the point of owning a new one he will have no place to go:eek: I see the '99 H3 Vantare we owned is up for sale on Prevost-Stuff.....it was a nice coach...no slides but beautifully done.

Hi to Karen, her Mom and Debbie :-)

[merle&louise]

Gary,

Thanks for the info on Featherlite. That is amazing!:D

Jack,

I'll bet those super slides are awesome inside. Glad to hear that your Liberty slides have been trouble free.

Debi,

Thanks for the info on Vantare slides. I'll tell Karen, Debbie, and Marilyn hi for you.

It is good to hear from everyone on this slide issue. Personally, I feel that having Prevost factory slides is better than having the converter just cut a hole in the bus and do some bracing and then install the slide room. Maybe I am wrong but it just seems like it would be a better fit. I guess the true test would be to actually see how both processes are done.

I wonder why the H3 has Valid slides and the XL's have Prevost slides? Do different divisions of Prevost make H3s and XLs?

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread, I appreciate your input.:)

[gtoccalino]

06 american carriage 14'x30" in salon ;14x24" in state ;42000 miles ;no problems designed and install byA/C :)

[jack14r]

Tuga,I think that both Prevost models come out of the same plant.When Marathon orders a H3 shell they contract with Valid to install the Valid slide at the Valid manufacturing plant which by chance is in Canada as well.I have seen the Featherlite slide being built and it is not just a cut and install,they beef up the structure to support the slide,I have heard only good things about the Featherlite slides.Newell only uses Valid slides and they have had great success after they worked out the seal problems.I have not heard about a lot of problems with the newer slides from any manufacturer lately.

[garyde]

The engineering that any of the converters do should be kept in context to the overall conversion as well as the slides. Featherlite was one of the first to do their own, and they had cooperation from Prevost. From a service point of view its an advantage to have Prevost slides , they have more Geographic locations, & they warrenty their products even to third owners.

[rff105]

We recently had some issues with our Featherlite slide but they were owner induced and lead to a domino effect of issues. I hope that someone can learn from our mistakes if you happen to be traveling in the north during a blizzard, I know not likely. We learned that snow, ice, and freezing rain don’t go well with slides. The slides went out well fine at 10 AM at 40 degrees in the rain but did not come in so well at 9 PM in 15 degree wind driven snow.

I think our problems began when the canvas awning over the slide froze solid, and when the side retracted instead of rolling into the drum it folded and fell into the top slide seal. Because the top of the side was held out by the awning and possibly some additional ice build up around the sides of the seal the pins at the top of the slide were not going into the pin pockets. I find out later in my investigation that the position sensors on the rails at the bottom of the slide were thinking the slide was completely closed and triggering the next step in the closing sequence of engaging the pins. These pins were hitting the side of the slide about ½” short of the pin pockets, I found out later from Featherlite that the pin motors will run continually until their limits are reached when the slide switch is held. This eventually burnt out both 24v pin motors.

We also found the repeatedly changing the direction of the slide without completing the cycle is a very bad idea. The rail synchronizers eventually lost track of their position for what I think was a combination of problems including the cold temperature and not completing the cycle. The slide eventually got out of square by as much as 4” and had to be manually persuaded back to square. The synchronizers on the Featherlite are little wheel sensors that ride along the rail and detect the position of the slide relative to the other sensor. However, they only detect relative position of the rail not absolute, so if one wheel slips on the rail for any reason it will lose track of where it is relative to the other slide rail. This is why it is not a good idea to stop the slide mid cycle. The small differences in position introduced with each reversal of direction eventually get amplified to being very out of square. I also think the wheel sensors had a tendency to slip on the cold steel. Featherlite did upgrade the wheel sensors to their newer design but I have not had a chance to investigate them yet.

Anyway after about 1 ½ hours of trying to get the cycle to complete so the green light would come on. I gave up and finally tried to engage drive on the transmission, and what do you know it worked. The owner’s manual says the transmission would not engage if the cycle was not complete, we had the slide in completely but I could visually see the pins were not engaged. Without any other options we drove home in the blizzard conditions safely, and I was quite impressed with the H3’s handling and stopping in the snow. It was a little difficult to get it going, and with how quiet the engine is, you really had to watch the tack to know how much you were spinning the wheels, but after you got it up to speed it maintained very well.

After getting the coach back into the warm garage and having a night to sleep in it I started to investigate how the slide works. I found the electrical schematics, located all the side and pin sensors, and the main control module. Although it does not mention anywhere in the owner’s manual I found in the electrical schematic on the transmission cut-out relay a designation for “transmission override switch – bay 6L”. I eventually located the toggle switch in the rear electrical bay that is unmarked and does over ride the bays control over the transmission. We just happened to be lucky that either the previous owner or the factory had left it in the override position or we would likely have not gotten home that night.

We took the coach to Featherlite last week and they replaced both pin motors, upgraded the synchronization sensors, and re-aligned the slide for about $2400. I feel I have much better knowledge about how the slide operates and what its limitations are, and I feel we could make most repairs ourselves if needed in the future, but it was an expensive learning experience. I came across a lot more information on Featherlite slide than I posted here that is probably specific to Featherlite so if anyone has any Featherlite specific questions they can drop me an email or just post. I tried to keep this post general to issues that could occur with any manufactures slides.

[truk4u]

Richard,

Great post... I saw a guy in a campground with a new Beaver get on top with a broom and knock ice off the awning toppers so he could close the slide. No wonder the plastic machines have rear ladders!!!

[merle&louise]

Great post Richard! I love that paint job! :D
Aside from retracting the slides during a blizzard have you had any other problems? I am assuming since you have an H3 that your slides are Valid? How have your inflatable gaskets held up? Have you had any pin problems?

Gary, I agree I believe that the Prevost slides are the way to go from a service stand point.

Jack, it is good to hear from someone who has actually seen the installation of the Featherlite slides. I am happy to hear that the frame is beefed up to handle the stress of the slides moving in and out. I sort of guess that it was reinforced but it is nice to hear from someone who has actually seen the process from start to finish. Glad to hear that no news is good news regarding the newer slide coaches.

gtoccalino,

Thanks for the response; it is good to hear from an American Carriage owner. A 14' bedroom slide must really be nice! Are you planning to attend any POG rallies - I would love to see that bedroom slide. Glad to hear that you are happy with your 06 American Carriage bus. Are you slides Valid or HWH? Could you post a picture of your bus?

[Petervs]

Hi Tuga,

Sure was a good idea for you to post this thread so we can get some real world experience tales on slides. I am still very satisfied with my no slide coach!

I did want to add a bit of technical design info. Most plastic coaches have a very heavy and strong C channel frame that makes up the backbone of the chassis. The 'house' is built up on top of this structure. If slides are installed holes are cut in the sides and mechanisms are installed to operate the slide which "push" against the chassis when they are opened and closed. Some kind of seal is added so the weather stays out when the slides are both in or out.

Now, on a Prevost shell, the structure is completely different. The body of a Prevost is a truss like structure made up of many smaller members and without the heavy channel frame. If you were to cut a large hole in the side of this for a salon slide, you would severely weaken the structural integrity of the shell. This is why Prevost resisted doing it for so many years when the rest of the industry was installing slides in everything. And when they finally did build slides, they incorporated the huge multi pin locking devices when the slides are closed. These pins reinforce the shell to gain back the integrity lost by cutting the hole. You will not see this type of design in plastic coaches because they do not need it.

See the picture which I have posted before for details on the truss design.

http://www.prevostcar.com/DB/gallery/XLIIBusShellIntegralStructure_1l.jpg

I would really like to see the engineering behind the Valid or other slide designs to see how they maintain shell integrity.

So, aside from the above, my preference is for no slides for the following reasons:

A non slide is plenty big for 2 people
We often stay in places where opening the slide is not practical
While on the road, with slides closed the inside is often cramped
Less weight
Less mechanical issues to worry about
Less likelihood of squeaks and rattles developing
Never need to climb on the roof to remove snow, leaves, etc.
Less first cost

[Jon Wehrenberg]

The debate on slides can rage on, but the buyers of new conversions are voting with their wallets.

I am in full agreement with Peter and I am very curious about the long term history of a slide coach. I believe the current Prevost slide shells are built with the truss that used to sit atop the axle frame sub assemblies now being between the axle sub assemblies. This of course keeps the structure that supports the coach lengthwise between the wheels and allows slides to be added without compromising the frame member. The downside is that access to and useable storage becomes an issue.

But we have many slide coaches now on the road, many versions, including the four thus far from Prevost, and as the shells age and get miles on them it can be expected that the maintenance costs will soon become an issue. Unspoken is how a Prevost that has been in an accident is restored to its original strength and condition, particularly when you consider the original frame is jig welded for the highes possible dimensional accuracy.

So far I am underwhelmed with the reliability particularly when one considers the high price of admission to a new conversion with slides. A coach costing what a Prevost does should be trouble free, and when I hear of owners making multiple visits to Camp Prevost for adjustments and repairs and upgrades my willingness to buy one with slides is zip.

[Loc]

Tuga,

So far, I am very pleased with the slides. They don't make noise like I had expected (our Fleetwood sounded like a bowl of breakfast cereal with its slide out constantly going snap, crackle and pop). The bus drives great even on very rough roads (you are familiar with those living in Louisiana). I have only had one incident so far. Right after I got the bus (three days after driving it home from New Hampshire), I took it to Prevost in Dallas for some work (met Hector there). After spending the night in the parking lot, I was preparing to bring the coach into the repair facility for work when I could not get the front slide to come in. I immediately got a sinking feeling in my stomach with a vision of $$$$$$$'s in my head for the repair! The green light that illuminates when the slide is being retracted or extended would only flash. After a minute, I realized that the level low switch wasn't in the DRIVE position. After placing the switch in the DRIVE position, all was fine and the slide retracted.

Loc

[Denny]

Peter,

At the risk of starting a POG war, I agree with you, and many others, about slides. My previous coach was Foretravel U320, one of the better upper line plastic coaches, and I had nothing but problems with the HWH slide. Foretravel's structure is very similar to Prevost and they were one of the last major players to add a slide to their units, much like Prevost, because the structural integrity was sacrificed.

Well, after four visits to Foretravel and three trips to Iowa to the HWH factory, I became convinced that a slide is not necessary. What do you gain? A little more wasted floor space. These vehicles were designed for transportation not ballroom dancing.

After six years of owning a slide coach, I now own a non slide Prevost and do not miss the slide at all. To me, there are two types of slide owners - those that have had trouble and those that will have trouble.

If I wanted the extra wasted space that slides provide I would buy a 5th wheel.

Denny

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I can easily answer why a slide coach has merit as long as maintenance does not become an issue.

When we were using our coach for trade shows and seminars a slide made little sense. We weren't in one place long enough to justify having slides, and except for weekends in a campground, we were only parked long enough to present a seminar or do a trade show, and then we were on to the next stop.

But our use now is different. When we do go somewhere we are there for several days and sometimes even a week. A slide will not give us more seating, more storage or more furnishings, but it will give us a little more space. It is not much, but the coaches we have been in with slides just feel like you are getting more.

For us there are still not enough benefits to justify a slide, but slides are clearly here to stay. Those that have slides however just have to want to have the extra space in exchange for the maintenance and loss of storage and extra weight.

[garyde]

I have had several problems with my slide, but having had several Coaches with slides previously, I feel it just comes with the territory. Prevost slides are now in their 4th generation. With each generation, they are simpler and less trouble.
When it comes to storage, it is a 45 foot Coach!, I just don't understand.
The weight is an engineering issue, and if you are concerned, choose a convertor who addresses these issues.