Please Help. Exterior Roof Clips don't line up when putting roof down.

[Coastrunner]

Can anyone offer me some advice.

Today I set my van up. I pushed the roof up by myself for the first time. I pushed each end up separately. All went well I thought. But when I dropped the roof back down I noticed that the roof was too far forward on one side and the clips didn`t even meet up.

I rang the guy I bought the van from {last week}, and he told me that I should always raise the roof ends together {at the same time} this way the roof does`t lean toward one end. He then told me that I`ll have to drop the roof down and physically shove the roof back board the clip. I tried this but the roof didn`t budge.

Maybe it needs even more force?

Has anyone else ever had this situation? Is the advice I received correct?

I thought it was unusual that I could`t raise the roof one end at a time???

 

[Capt. Gadget]

When I picked mine up the Dealer lifted one side then the other and told me this is the way that it is done

 

[Coastrunner]

Really?
Mine worked fine until I did one side at a time, and now I have the roof about 1 inch too far forward on one side????

 

[Jim and Tab]

Hi Coastrunner
Our dealer also told us one end at a time.
but i have noticed if the van isnt lever our clips wont line right up
i just raise or lower the jockey wheel a little and then wala they line up
cheers jim/tab and diamond

 

[Coastrunner]

Thankyou for the reply, but I`m sure my van is level???

Stilll seems to be too far forward?

 

[Matty4]

Every now and then this happens to mine too.
I've found that if I raise the roof back up and lower the other end first it resets itself.

From memory this happens when we lower the front first.

Raise the roof and then lower it, one end at a time.
If the roof is out of alignment, raise it again and lower it starting at the opposite end.
This usually works for me.

Cheers,
Matty

 

[Coastrunner]

Thanks Matty.

I did try doing that without success today.

I might try raising the jockey wheel so that it tilts the other way and see if gravity forces it back.

 

[crystal674]

We have this problem, put the ends down front first and then back.

If the clips don't line up raise the roof again and put the back down first.

The hint is to get into the habit of putting the front up first every time and then it should work that you put the back down first every time.

Anytime the clips don't line-up put it up again and put the other end down first.

Hope this helps

Crystalyn

 

[Deano]

It's the 1st and last thing we do. Two of us at the same time raise the roof. And we do the same to lower, ensuring all the bits come in. Sometimes you might catch some of the canvas on the outside. Have not had any issues with the clips lining up yet. But then again we have had the van for only a month.....
Cheers Deano

 

[druryfamily]

Our clips don't line up either and haven't had a close look at it yet. Getting our expanda out this weekend to do some work on it and will see if I can line them up.

 

[Coastrunner]

This morning I raised my jockey wheel so that my van was higher at the end where the roof was too far forward. {North End}

I then raised the roof starting on that end {North}, thinking that if the roof was leaning toward the end it needs to go to {South}, the weight of the roof would force it back.

I then raised the other end {South}, lowered it, then lowered the north end. The roof clips now line up. Phew!

I was getting quite worried about that!

The only other thing I notice is that the roof always seems to be closer to the awning side compared to the other side. Maybe the weight of the awning pulls it closer???

The clips still catch so I haven`t really worried about it.

Does anyone else find this happening?

 

[Izzya123]

This morning I raised my jockey wheel so that my van was higher at the end where the roof was too far forward. {North End}

I then raised the roof starting on that end {North}, thinking that if the roof was leaning toward the end it needs to go to {South}, the weight of the roof would force it back.

I then raised the other end {South}, lowered it, then lowered the north end. The roof clips now line up. Phew!

I was getting quite worried about that!

The only other thing I notice is that the roof always seems to be closer to the awning side compared to the other side. Maybe the weight of the awning pulls it closer???

The clips still catch so I haven`t really worried about it.

Does anyone else find this happening?

Happens to me also. More lean to awning side. Jayco service said it still seals fine. Go figure. Anyway service told me to disregard the handover rep & always Front UP first at setup.... then always lower BACK first at pack up. Told me never lift together, always one end at a time.....front then back...back then front & leave door adjar to avoid vacuum.

 

[Coastrunner]

My roof has always been a little forward. After talking to a Jayco repairer the other day (as he installed my new awning arms) he told me to check my gas struts. He said if one is faulty, it can throw your whole roof line out.

When the roof pops up, he said see if all the gas struts push the roof completely up. After checking the other day I noticed that one strut drops back down about an inch or so, which, in turn makes the roof line a little off. He said replace the strut and your roof should line up perfectly again.

Thats the job for me today. Rang the Jayco agent back, he said you can either get the struts resealed for around $40 or buy a newy for around $50.

He said it's a common problem, but that should fix it.

 

[hamish22]

Had this happen on my Old Freedom.

Couldn't work it out for ages, but in the end it was one of the struts starting to seize.
Because it didn't want to go down it was twisting and pushing the roof forward to one side!

Check your struts, as soon as they are staring to go they harden up and it will eventually snap at the bracket due to the pressure!

 

[Coastrunner]

Hi guys.

Just popped my roof up, and used a piece of timber cut at same height as pop top roof to hold roof in place while removing gas strut.

Removing the gas strut was easy. You just need to get a flat head screw driver and pop the little C clip holding the strut onto the bolt on the roof. There's a C clip at each end of the strut.

When I pulled my strut off the bolt I noticed straight away that it had absolutely no pressure in it at all. It was stuffed!

I took it straight to my local Jayco Dealer "Freedom Caravan Repairs" at Oalk Flats, and asked him to order me another one. He advised me to replace all four as they all seem to go together. Four newies will all have equal pressure and strength and will help keep the roof in line and centre. So I ordered 4 new gas struts. They were $50 each.

The ones for my van were 825mm (measured from the centre of the clip at each end) and 290 newton metres (or 29kgs of pressure).

He said if you're going to install them yourself the best way is to use a ratchet strap (like the ones people use to secure their boats to trailers at the motor end). He said to measure the distance between the two bolts and push down, which will be quite hard and then using the ratchet strap slowly adjust the strap until the distance between your strut ends equal the distance between the bolts on the van. Then it's just a matter of pushing/ clipping them back onto the bolts.

My new struts arrive Wednesday arvo. Should be a job for Thursday.

He said it can be a beggar of a job, and you may have to swear a few times, :kev::kev: but it should eventually work.

 

[straydingo]

Happens to me also. More lean to awning side. Jayco service said it still seals fine. Go figure. Anyway service told me to disregard the handover rep & always Front UP first at setup.... then always lower BACK first at pack up. Told me never lift together, always one end at a time.....front then back...back then front & leave door adjar to avoid vacuum.

Ditto to all that.
Ours also pulls to the awning side, but never did until the front driver side clip popped off while driving and lifted that corner pushing everything to the side. (lesson: check your clip tensions)

 

[blacky]

Great thread @Coastrunner . I was putting mine up rear then front, and collapsing rear, then front, as this was how our dealer showed me. Boy I learnt the hard way about having the door open when lifting! I could hear the sucking noise of the air inrush and bloody hell its hard work! Mine always seems to end up an 1" forward, so on Wednesday night I'll drop her front first and see how that goes

 

[Coastrunner]

Reading through this thread there does seem to be a lot of different advice about the pop top roof raising. Some of us have been told to raise the roof one end at a time, and never both together, others have been told to raise ends together, and never a single end at a time. Some have been told back end first, others front end first. I've yet to hear the reasons why.

I`ve heard that if your van roof leans more to one end, make sure the van is level and raise the roof at that end first, so gravity forces it back into line.

I know in my van I thought the roof when down, was a little too far forward so I raised the jockey wheel to make the van tilt past level and to the rear. I raised the roof front first so that the weight was transferred to the rear and then when lowering back down the roof was more in line.

Now looking back, I think my problem was because one of my rear gas strut supports was stuffed.

MY PERSONAL OPINION.
I THINK THE ROOF (when possible) SHOULD BE RAISED ALL AT ONCE, BOTH ENDS AT THE SAME TIME.

Obviously you need two people to do this, so it's not always possible. But I think when there are two people, this is the way it should be done.
My reason for this way of thinking is that all gas struts have equal load and all share 25% of the pressure when raising and lowering. When we do one end at a time, the awning is being twisted, the hinge mechanisms are being loaded unevenly at each end, the gas struts are being put under additional pressure, especially the ones at the end being raised last. The roof is lop sided which pushes its weight to one end which I believe can cause the roof to shift and become out of alignment. I also believe that this can damage the gas struts because they are overloaded and twisted.

Raising and lowering all together, gives all hinges, gas struts, awning roller and material equal weight, equal pressure, correct balance and no twisting. Any other way (in my opinion) causes unnecessary strain shortening the life of some or all of the roof components.

Once again, this is just my opinion and if anyone disagrees I'd like to hear their opinions/ reasons why we shouldn't lift the roof this way.

 

[Drewser]

When we picked ours up the other week the advice was to lift the heavier end first which in our case is the front with the solar panel and tv antenna, and then the back, and lower in reverse, back then heavier front. Being new to this it's great reading all the views and tired struts does make sense to why the roof does this.

 

[Capt. Gadget]

Here's my 2 cents worth on the subject