Originally Posted by
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?
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
Ben Cummings
U.S.A. Luxury Coaches, LLC
Clearwater, FL