Slide seal types ?

[Seabyrd]

I am wondering how many coaches have the HWH Slides with "AIRLESS" seals.
I understand that almost all of the H3-45s have quite a different slide set up than the XLs.
Our coach has the HWH slides with seals without air.
Would like to hear from others with same or similar setups.

Thanks..

[jack14r]

Vantari manufactured their own slides are you sure that you have HWH?

[Seabyrd]

Yes I am sure our coach manual even gives the model numbers etc... they are HWH . I thought Vantare used HWH on all the H3-45s the earlier models at least...A friend of ours had a 2002 Vantare H3-45 with HWH slides exactly like ours.

[jack14r]

I don't know what year Vantari manufactured all of their own slides,I thought that it was around 2003 or 2004,what year is your coach?

[wayne]

We also have HWH slides on our 2001 Vantare H3-45.
We have had no problems with them since purchasing the coach 22 months ago.
Well, there was one issue when we first got the coach at Liberty. We were on our way back to Texas after spending 2 months in Florida learning/understanding (or at least trying to understand) the systems.
We were just about out of Florida and spent the night in rather tight quarters that required us to leave the slides in while we grabbed some quick Z's. A rather large front moved through the area that night and dumped an inch of rain. The next morning, we noticed soggy carpet in the salon at the top of the entry steps. Long story short, after much careful examination, a rather freshly squished tree frog was found caught in the top of the front slide. His little body had broken the seal just enough to let water in.....what are the chances of that happening?

[Seabyrd]

Ours is a 98 model and I'm sure the beginning of slides in the H series. They are awesome and work very well... we would like to replace the seals before we have problems due to the age of it. I can see a small area of light in one small place.
HWH do not have the seals they said... so the search will begin. Just hoped someone out there had already done it. The proceedure should be pretty cut and dried since no "air" is invloved.
Has anyone had theirs replaced?
Thanks

[BenC]

I don't know what year Vantari manufactured all of their own slides,I thought that it was around 2003 or 2004,what year is your coach?

Actually, it was the physical year 2001 that Vantare began making their own slide room actuation system, before that they utilized HWH hydraulics and control system to move the room which they built. The did this because they had experienced a few coaches that lost synchronizition between the two hydraulic cylinders that ran the front room in and out. This situation caused the room on a few coaches to get crammed sideways in the hole and cause severe damage to room and coach. So, they set out to design their own system, with sensors placed all along each ram, and two electric motors to drive the room. A specially programmed PLC was usilized to keep the two motors within close tollerance so the "crammed sideways in the hole" situation would not happen to them again.

The Featherlite philosophy was always to never utilize the pneumatic seal, but always to have a flange inside and outside and a D-seal with a wiper in the middle. The flanges would compress the D-seal on the inside, providing a weather-tite seal when the room was completely out, and the outside flange around the room face would likewise compress the outer D-seal providing a weather-tite seal from the elements when the room was completely IN. Of course, their other consideration has always been complaints about air leaks, so they began replacing air-operated pocket doors with electric drives about the same time as they designed their own room control/actuation system.

Of course, Featherlite marketing, like so many others (as long as they weren't sold through a dealer network) could and did mark a coach 2-years in advance (as is permitted by law if you were the manufacturer of the vehicle), so the rooms showed up as 2003, but shell date and actual production dates were 2001.

Hope this information helps.

Sincerely,
Ben

[Seabyrd]

Thanks Ben that interesting information to know... I had no idea !!

Diane

[Seabyrd]

Ben...

Do you know of a place to get the non inflatable seals like we would need ?

Thanks
Diane

Actually, it was the physical year 2001 that Vantare began making their own slide room actuation system, before that they utilized HWH hydraulics and control system to move the room which they built. The did this because they had experienced a few coaches that lost synchronizition between the two hydraulic cylinders that ran the front room in and out. This situation caused the room on a few coaches to get crammed sideways in the hole and cause severe damage to room and coach. So, they set out to design their own system, with sensors placed all along each ram, and two electric motors to drive the room. A specially programmed PLC was usilized to keep the two motors within close tollerance so the "crammed sideways in the hole" situation would not happen to them again.

The Featherlite philosophy was always to never utilize the pneumatic seal, but always to have a flange inside and outside and a D-seal with a wiper in the middle. The flanges would compress the D-seal on the inside, providing a weather-tite seal when the room was completely out, and the outside flange around the room face would likewise compress the outer D-seal providing a weather-tite seal from the elements when the room was completely IN. Of course, their other consideration has always been complaints about air leaks, so they began replacing air-operated pocket doors with electric drives about the same time as they designed their own room control/actuation system.

Of course, Featherlite marketing, like so many others (as long as they weren't sold through a dealer network) could and did mark a coach 2-years in advance (as is permitted by law if you were the manufacturer of the vehicle), so the rooms showed up as 2003, but shell date and actual production dates were 2001.

Hope this information helps.

Sincerely,
Ben

[jack14r]

That is great info and history.