A Nice Rack

The slide-out mechanisms Carriage uses are electric, rack and pinion gear-driven slide-outs. We work exclusively with RBW, a California-based company, for these mechanisms. Carri-Lites, if you look at the big picture, are all electric based slide out control systems. With over 40 years of experience building RV's, we believe in electricity over hydraulic power for its reliability and serviceability. We've tried many hydraulic slide out systems over the years and they just fail too frequently.

Our competitors use hydraulic powered slide outs, which may be a tad faster than the rack and pinion, but the downsides certainly outweigh a few seconds time when setting up camp. With these systems, if you were to have a leak, stuck valve, faulty switch or any minor failure in just one component of your hydraulic system, none of the remaining components may work and the entire system would need to be drained of fluid prior to servicing that failure. Many customers are stuck with slide outs that will not operate or jacks that will not extend or retract.