I have a 2022 Cougar 25RDS with the cable side. I have no issues with the cables or the trailer itself and have done lots of camping. These slides require maintenance (checking the cables for wear and tension) like anything else on the RV. If you understand how they work and how to adjust them they work great. Unfortunately in this case the the bracket was installed to high. The tension on the cables should have 1/2" - 3/4" travel up & down.
Very good info, and something that one might not catch until it is too late. I wish there were a way to access that corner from the inside, so one could make four metal backing plates on the inside, then replace the self-tapping screws with machine bolts (with a little bit of LocTite 243 "blue" stuff to ensure the bolts don't work loose, coupled with an acorn cap nut at the end) , as well as add a 3-5mm rubber gasket sheet cut out and with holes for the bolts, to guard against water intrusion in addition to the caulk or silicon sealant. RV quality has gone through the floor due to a number of events. In 2005, due to Katrina, RV makers were told to mass produce trailers as cheap and fast as possible to get them to the destroyed area. This started the slide. 2008 came around with RV makers making units cheap, just to make some type of income, and didn't really care about quality, as many RV makers went under and got bought out. 2020 came around, and people paid 4-10 times as much for a trailer as a few years back, and quality control still slipped overall, from what I've been told. You almost need to have a third party go over a new RV and fix everything that is broken. A former co-worker took his new class "C" to a local service that did this. It cost him about $15,000, including a roof replacement (because the roof and area around the cabover would almost certainly leak and rot after a few years), but he has something that will at least be something for camping, and not a source of frustration and problems. Ironically, if you compare the quality of campers here in the US to what is sold in Australia and the EU... it is insane what relative junk is foisted on US buyers. $70,000 in Europe, even with currency changes, can get one a very nice class "B" unit, or an extremely well equipped trailer, with the latest materials and floorplans.
Have a 2020 Montana one slide the camp side is giving me problems. I watched the BAL video these need adjustments there should only be half an inch play on those exterior cables. Inside when you check them about six inches down from the in or out cables. There should be half an inch. Six inches down from the bolt block. I won’t buy another RV with this. They are problematic. I’m going to check my upper cable thanks for putting this together!
Thanks - I just got a new camper - inspected the cable slide and found one cable mounted one half inch 😀low. Adjustment was easy. It was on a 2024 Jayco
This is simply an adjustment issue. If you still have this RV you should call a mobile mechanic and have them readjust your slide out and possibly change the cables. It’s not that difficult and shouldn’t take more than an hour or two. I agree with another commenter about Camping World and their lack of quality service. I feel the same about Bish’s RV, as well!
There is also a lot of slack on your cable. There should be enough tension in those that when you touch them they don't sag. You need to adjust the tension.
Nice video. That appears to be a BAL accu-slide, not installed correctly. The brackets have slots that allow the cable to center side to side, and slotted screw holes intended to let you align them up and down. BAL has excellent videos on how to replace cables, how to adjust cables and so on. If it were me I’d go ahead and replace those cables, and if it does not have rollers under the slide BAL offers ones intended as upgrades (that don’t require removing the slide to install). Be sure to also check the inside cables
I have exactly the same cable but inside doing the same thing and my Cross Road Cruiser Aire 31SI is a 2022. That thing is only 8 months old. What a piece of crap, made By Keystone RV. The dealer will cover it on the warranty of course. The whole thing won't last long. Great video the quality control guys should see this or maybe the management
Hey Nick, did this fix correct the cable wear problem? We just picked up our Cougar on Monday, May 23, and it's Thursday three days later and my cables are already fraying...
These slide outs don't have rollers from the factory, and the slide room guide rail has actually collapsed. Adding rollers will help the room from collapsing the slide rail.
It’s quite discouraging to see the complete lack of quality workmanship and materials that today’s RV assembly plants provide. The reason this happens has much less to do with cost of material and labor than they would have you believe. The fact is, highway safety is the only, truly regulated factor where they can’t skimp. Most RV owners will purchase a new RV based on how pretty it is rather than how well built. Add to this, the RV will spend the majority of its life in storage. The manufacturers have little to nothing to do with the assembly of an RV because they only produce certain components, not the fully assembled RV. The dealership may have a service department which allows them to increase profits for sales as well as taking advantage of the fact that an RV will likely spend more time being serviced than providing one. Since the RV is assembled with components from dozens of separate manufacturers, the end user can only expect implied warranty which is extremely limited at best because every piece of it is already technically used before the consumer buys it. That being said, I would definitely recommend you fully inspect the undercarriage of your RV and its slides, making sure that all the hardware is present and properly installed, adjusted, lubricated and functional and if you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself then use a service department of a dealership other than where you purchased it. Also, ask lots of questions because if you have RVing in your blood you are a handyman at heart and the first time you save a bunch of money, successfully fixing it yourself, you’ll feel so good that you may want to tackle something else before it breaks. Common sense is in our DNA and covers more than most people think. Love your videos! Clearly, your inner handyman escaped with a plan to stop anyone you reach from being taken advantage of. Being your own hero is the best!
I would say you have too much slack in your outer cables. That being said the brackets that the cable is rubbing on in the wall is probably mounted poorly. One side of my slide the cables go right through the middle the other side however the cables are rubbing in the middle on the outside and not top or bottom. I took all the cables loose and tried to adjust as much as I could only to look through the bracket hole and the bracket is mounted to far over because the pulley is right behind it when the cable is straight.
Not so ghostrider! Simple mechanics here. The bracket is too high. The fully and bracket need to be on the same line or plane. Stoned Amish guy on that day and QC took the day off!
It's doing that because they're built by people that take no pride in their job and don't give a crap about the consumer. My advice to you is get a couple spares and the tools to change em. They WILL break and it's very expensive to have a call out repair. Not too hard to do, especially with a helper.
You can always use a pilot drill bit I’m surprised that a cougar has cable slide for the price point I have a keystone passport I think I’m going to trade it in for a grand design imagine
Tape will not stop it. You need to replace the cable ASAP. STAT NOW. As soon as that cable brakes you are dead in the water screwed. B A L are never going to on my rigs. I am backing off of two manufactures because they use them. A deal breaker for me. I have had no issues with shwinteck mechanisms after 8 years and countless cycles. Dry Teflon spray is the only maintenance they need
Particle board, duck tape and bailing wire. Shame on you manufacturers. No excuse for hockey pockey design without proof of concept and daily use testing.
“These campers aren’t cheap”…….. yes they are. They are built to the absolute lowest cost possible. The real problem is people are willing to pay super high prices for cheaply built junk. Think of it as paying ribeye prices for a McDonald’s cheeseburger, no one will do that, if they would that cheeseburger would be $50. Stop buying junk for exorbitant prices and things will change.
While I agree with the sentiment, people ARE willing to pay for campers, which is why they were so expensive. I didn't like paying what I paid for our Cougar, but I did it for a multitude of reasons, and I'm sure other people do the same. It wasn't Cheap dollars wise - but I was OK with that. What I'm NOT ok with is the quality control - HOW it was built, not WHAT is was built with. If they would have done it right, then it wouldn't be an issue.
When you said you bought it from Camping World, I knew how the rest of the video was going to go. Good job on diagnosing it and fixing it yourself.
I have a 2022 Cougar 25RDS with the cable side. I have no issues with the cables or the trailer itself and have done lots of camping. These slides require maintenance (checking the cables for wear and tension) like anything else on the RV. If you understand how they work and how to adjust them they work great. Unfortunately in this case the the bracket was installed to high. The tension on the cables should have 1/2" - 3/4" travel up & down.
I am buying a Keystone and that is going to be the first thing I check. Thank you for providing such an informative video...Subscribed!
Very good info, and something that one might not catch until it is too late. I wish there were a way to access that corner from the inside, so one could make four metal backing plates on the inside, then replace the self-tapping screws with machine bolts (with a little bit of LocTite 243 "blue" stuff to ensure the bolts don't work loose, coupled with an acorn cap nut at the end) , as well as add a 3-5mm rubber gasket sheet cut out and with holes for the bolts, to guard against water intrusion in addition to the caulk or silicon sealant.
RV quality has gone through the floor due to a number of events. In 2005, due to Katrina, RV makers were told to mass produce trailers as cheap and fast as possible to get them to the destroyed area. This started the slide. 2008 came around with RV makers making units cheap, just to make some type of income, and didn't really care about quality, as many RV makers went under and got bought out. 2020 came around, and people paid 4-10 times as much for a trailer as a few years back, and quality control still slipped overall, from what I've been told.
You almost need to have a third party go over a new RV and fix everything that is broken. A former co-worker took his new class "C" to a local service that did this. It cost him about $15,000, including a roof replacement (because the roof and area around the cabover would almost certainly leak and rot after a few years), but he has something that will at least be something for camping, and not a source of frustration and problems.
Ironically, if you compare the quality of campers here in the US to what is sold in Australia and the EU... it is insane what relative junk is foisted on US buyers. $70,000 in Europe, even with currency changes, can get one a very nice class "B" unit, or an extremely well equipped trailer, with the latest materials and floorplans.
Have a 2020 Montana one slide the camp side is giving me problems. I watched the BAL video these need adjustments there should only be half an inch play on those exterior cables. Inside when you check them about six inches down from the in or out cables. There should be half an inch. Six inches down from the bolt block. I won’t buy another RV with this. They are problematic. I’m going to check my upper cable thanks for putting this together!
Thanks - I just got a new camper - inspected the cable slide and found one cable mounted one half inch 😀low. Adjustment was easy. It was on a 2024 Jayco
This is simply an adjustment issue. If you still have this RV you should call a mobile mechanic and have them readjust your slide out and possibly change the cables. It’s not that difficult and shouldn’t take more than an hour or two. I agree with another commenter about Camping World and their lack of quality service. I feel the same about Bish’s RV, as well!
Need to check slide rails /rollers under slide. Consistent wear on all 4 tends to indicate the slide out itself is not sliding properly.
There is also a lot of slack on your cable. There should be enough tension in those that when you touch them they don't sag. You need to adjust the tension.
Nice video. That appears to be a BAL accu-slide, not installed correctly. The brackets have slots that allow the cable to center side to side, and slotted screw holes intended to let you align them up and down. BAL has excellent videos on how to replace cables, how to adjust cables and so on. If it were me I’d go ahead and replace those cables, and if it does not have rollers under the slide BAL offers ones intended as upgrades (that don’t require removing the slide to install). Be sure to also check the inside cables
Thanks for this, I have the same issue on my camper, was trying to figure out how to get it to stop eating into the frame around the slideout.
Frayed cable will eventually break and get caught around a pully and jam. I would replace any damaged cable
Yes, the fix is to adjust the bracket until the cable slides perfectly in the hole.
Rule number one when shopping for a RV never believe anything that the salesman tells you.
I don't know of one RV salesman that actually owns an RV
Time to check my Keystone!
actually the slack in the cable needs to be adjusted, dont make claims if you are not an expert.
Yes! The quality of workmanship that you receive today is Marginal.
That child’s realization was priceless. Haha😂Awwwe I see it now. Haha how sweet.
What a fun Dad. Cheers my friend
You need to adjust the height of the plate that holds the cable. That is why there are holes with long slots.
I have exactly the same cable but inside doing the same thing and my Cross Road Cruiser Aire 31SI is a 2022. That thing is only 8 months old. What a piece of crap, made By Keystone RV. The dealer will cover it on the warranty of course. The whole thing won't last long. Great video the quality control guys should see this or maybe the management
Hey Nick, did this fix correct the cable wear problem? We just picked up our Cougar on Monday, May 23, and it's Thursday three days later and my cables are already fraying...
These slide outs don't have rollers from the factory, and the slide room guide rail has actually collapsed. Adding rollers will help the room from collapsing the slide rail.
Shouldn't you move the mount?
I would be looking at the rollers at the bottom. It is possible that the rollers have settled in and the box is riding too low.
It’s quite discouraging to see the complete lack of quality workmanship and materials that today’s RV assembly plants provide.
The reason this happens has much less to do with cost of material and labor than they would have you believe. The fact is, highway safety is the only, truly regulated factor where they can’t skimp.
Most RV owners will purchase a new RV based on how pretty it is rather than how well built. Add to this, the RV will spend the majority of its life in storage. The manufacturers have little to nothing to do with the assembly of an RV because they only produce certain components, not the fully assembled RV. The dealership may have a service department which allows them to increase profits for sales as well as taking advantage of the fact that an RV will likely spend more time being serviced than providing one. Since the RV is assembled with components from dozens of separate manufacturers, the end user can only expect implied warranty which is extremely limited at best because every piece of it is already technically used before the consumer buys it.
That being said, I would definitely recommend you fully inspect the undercarriage of your RV and its slides, making sure that all the hardware is present and properly installed, adjusted, lubricated and functional and if you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself then use a service department of a dealership other than where you purchased it. Also, ask lots of questions because if you have RVing in your blood you are a handyman at heart and the first time you save a bunch of money, successfully fixing it yourself, you’ll feel so good that you may want to tackle something else before it breaks. Common sense is in our DNA and covers more than most people think.
Love your videos! Clearly, your inner handyman escaped with a plan to stop anyone you reach from being taken advantage of. Being your own hero is the best!
Move the entire exterior bracket down to line cable up
062923: Going to look at an RV with this cable system: very relevant!
you need to move the bracket so that the cable is in line and that cable needs to be replaced before it breaks and then it is a real pain replacing
I would say you have too much slack in your outer cables. That being said the brackets that the cable is rubbing on in the wall is probably mounted poorly. One side of my slide the cables go right through the middle the other side however the cables are rubbing in the middle on the outside and not top or bottom. I took all the cables loose and tried to adjust as much as I could only to look through the bracket hole and the bracket is mounted to far over because the pulley is right behind it when the cable is straight.
The fix is to adjust the cables. BAL has a great youtube video on how to adjust the cables.
Super pain in the arse!!
Not so ghostrider! Simple mechanics here. The bracket is too high. The fully and bracket need to be on the same line or plane. Stoned Amish guy on that day and QC took the day off!
Thank you. Good info.
"The guy at Camping World said" ROFL
It's doing that because they're built by people that take no pride in their job and don't give a crap about the consumer. My advice to you is get a couple spares and the tools to change em. They WILL break and it's very expensive to have a call out repair. Not too hard to do, especially with a helper.
You can always use a pilot drill bit I’m surprised that a cougar has cable slide for the price point I have a keystone passport I think I’m going to trade it in for a grand design imagine
So you use a special silly cone?
Are using chains, gears and heavy duty tracks overkill solution for this on going problem on the manufacturer side.
Tape will not stop it. You need to replace the cable ASAP. STAT NOW. As soon as that cable brakes you are dead in the water screwed. B A L are never going to on my rigs. I am backing off of two manufactures because they use them. A deal breaker for me. I have had no issues with shwinteck mechanisms after 8 years and countless cycles. Dry Teflon spray is the only maintenance they need
It's best to avoid cable slide mechanisms altogether.
Mine are no way that loose
Use a dremel tool and enlarge the hole the cable goes thru
Unfortunately it usually takes lawsuits to create change
Your cable looks loose too
Particle board, duck tape and bailing wire. Shame on you manufacturers. No excuse for hockey pockey design without proof of concept and daily use testing.
Absolutely terrible engineering and quality control. I hope that you let the manufacturer know.
“These campers aren’t cheap”…….. yes they are. They are built to the absolute lowest cost possible. The real problem is people are willing to pay super high prices for cheaply built junk. Think of it as paying ribeye prices for a McDonald’s cheeseburger, no one will do that, if they would that cheeseburger would be $50. Stop buying junk for exorbitant prices and things will change.
While I agree with the sentiment, people ARE willing to pay for campers, which is why they were so expensive. I didn't like paying what I paid for our Cougar, but I did it for a multitude of reasons, and I'm sure other people do the same. It wasn't Cheap dollars wise - but I was OK with that.
What I'm NOT ok with is the quality control - HOW it was built, not WHAT is was built with. If they would have done it right, then it wouldn't be an issue.
This is just all wrong. Totally wrong.
Cause they hire people with the IQ of 40 to assemble them. There is no quality in an RV. RV is focused on making money via financing.