HWH Slides

[LarryB]

Does anyone have knowledge of HWH slides in a Bus.

Friends are looking into a Bus [01 M] that has 2 HWH slides, Anyone have experience with this slide system?

Don't need the Pro/Con of slides, They want slides.

Thanks for any input.

[RussWhite]

My exerpience has been good. I had the levelers in a previous coach, and now I have the slides and the leveling system by HWH. They are in business and responsive to customer needs both via phone and email. I park my coach within 10ft of ocean salt water 6 months a year and managed to have one of the springs on the jacks on the previious coach break. HWH supplied the new springs in quick order and was helpful with suggestions on the install. But, I am just one example and certainly don't represent myself as being statistically significant, or even significant for that matter :-)

Good Luck,

Russ '99 Newell with HWH slides and HWH flat floor

[rahangman]

Ditto on service and help from HWH. Superb. We spent 2 different nights on site at HWH in Moscow IA, a year apart. Total time was 16 hrs for them to get the bus right with the leveling system, but they did it, and cost was amazingly negligible. Right off I70 and overnight facilities, though Sparten. Can't say about the slides, but they manufacture or have on hand EVERYTHING .

[truk4u]

I have a different take on HWH. Many years ago, 2001 - 2004, there were lots of issues with hydraulic lines on the Plastic coach slides. Leaking fittings, equalizer cylinders and a bad run of hydraulic lines that had to be replaced on lots of CC's and others. The lines (hoses) are Proprietary with HWH and require a special swedge tool to replace/repair fittings that can only be purchased at HWH. They did take care of things and were good to deal with.

Jump ahead to today and their service has a lot to be desired. It took 3 days for a call back, you can't talk to anyone in tech and they seem overwhelmed with phone calls. Finding a repair facility that has the swedge tool is almost impossible and HWH just wants you to replace any line that has a leaking fitting instead of swedging on a new fitting, a task that is a nightmare because the lines are buried in the belly of the coaches. The helpful attitude is no longer there and in my opinion, their service sucks.

Larry - Assuming your friends slides are electric, they won't have the hydraulic line fiasco to deal with, but good luck with tech support.

[grantracy]

Have HWH slides and they have worked fine,had a switch go bad and they were pretty helpful,however this was a few years ago

[LarryB]

Thanks for the info Guys, I'm sure this will help my friends.

Tom good point on Hyd.vs Elect. operated slide. Sure sorry to hear that HWH service has declined,seems a popular theme these days.

Any other comments, plz post them as friends have not signed the papers as yet.

[travelite]

I have an HWH living room slide. No problems in 7 years of ownership. HWH has been great. The economy has certainly thrown everyone a curve ball. During the depths of '08 thru '10 HWH had to let some people go, call response has suffered. As times improve I expect that to be remedied.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I have no experience with slides and have never owned a bus with slides.

I have two concerns based on many slide discussions over the years specific to HWH. I also have concerns about the Prevost slides so I will state them all.

HWH slides with hydraulics, if they fail can create a nasty problem with hydraulic oil where you do not want hydraulic oil and issues with slide room alignment. That's just a comment from owners of HWH hydraulic slides that have had problems.

The second concern, and it is a serious one is that on Prevost coaches (up until the design change that placed the longitudinal structure at the bay level), a slide installation requires cutting the longitudinal structure that runs the length of the coach from the bottom of the windows to the top of the bays. The Prevost structure was not originally designed for slides so when they are installed, particularly by an aftermarket company that missing structure has to be replaced. Typically the new structure is in the form of a "window frame" that surrounds the slide opening and puts the top member in compression and the lower structure in tension. My concern is if the structure replacement was as well engineered as the one designed and built by Prevost.

Messing with structural designs may not appear particularly difficult but the success in any structure is its ability to withstand vibrations of various frequencies and changing a proven design may introduce issues not present in that proven design. I suspect Prevost does extensive vibration analysis on their frame structure to verify it will withstand the frequencies likely encountered in service. I would question if an aftermarket structural change has had the analysis. For what it is worth vibration testing subjects a structure or product to a full range of frequencies and it is a certainty that somewhere within the range of frequencies welds can fatigue, fasteners can loosen and an entire product can be vibrated into pieces.

But it has been reported here on this site by several people that slide seals on an HWH work well and last a long time.

Prevost slide coaches and Prevost slides are likely to never present structural issues. They undoubtedly were designed and tested using the million mile coach mindset so they are likely to be robust. But Prevost slides are not without issues. Prevost has had many generations of slides, each generation likely the result of problems with the previous generation. It is likely the slides are basically sound, but the system of seals, pins, interlocks, and controls may not always work in harmony. Experience however may have flushed out the problems. From the work I have done on Prevost slides, while admittedly is very limited has convinced me they will not compromise the integrity of the coach.

The other issue I sense with Prevost slides is there is a cost associated with seals which have to be viewed as a maintenance item. Seal life has been reported as short as 3 years to more than twice that so to predict the ongoing costs would be difficult.

[merle&louise]

Larry,

I have HWH hydraulic slides on my Newell. I have had a hydraulic line connection leak in the passenger side fender well close to the drive axle; Newell replaced the fitting and no problems since. I assume that they have the connection tool that Truk spoke of.

I have contacted HWH Corp. only once and that was to purchased some spare hydraulic solenoids. Their price is 33% less than Newell so I ordered a couple as spares. I found their service to be quick, accurate, and professional. I have not had any trouble with my HWH slides in 6 years of ownership. They make a good product and they stand behind it.

Check out their website: they seem like a very strong company to me.

http://www.hwhcorp.com/

[LarryB]

Well thanks for the replies, but my friends are no longer looking at the HWH slide Bus. They found that [space] was limited, I assume due to the slides, so they are moving on to a bus with Prevost slides.

Thanks for the help!

[scott13]

I have 2 HWH slides and leveling system. Neither me or the previous owner has had a problem with them. I had an issue with power when turning on the key so I stopped at HWH. I was there about three hours before they got to me and discovered a fuse someone had put in wrong. It wasn't in the fuse holder correctly one spade on it was above the slot it goes in. They fixed that and said you should not have been here this long when all it was is a fuse in the wrong place and they didn't charge me at all. So I don't have anything bad to say about them. Part of their problem is they design a system for Prevost or anyone else then that company just copies it and doesn't buy from anymore.