17' Series Bodgie Canopy Lifter or Rookie Error

[TheExpandables]

Evening All!

Had a slight issue with the canopy lifter in our Jayco Expanda 17.56-1 and I am not sure if it was a rookie error or something dodgy with the canopy lifter. Long story short, first trip and it came time to drop the top. Mrs Expandables down one end and me at the other - effectively dropping the roof at the same time. As the roof was coming down, it seemed to hang to the left, i.e. left side was lower than the right (calling the left side the vehicle passenger side) which has the awning on it.

Couple of theories that I have :

1. The awning was pulling down on the left side (as it was set to close).
2. The gas struts didn't work properly and support the roof as it was going down.
3. Bodgie canopy lifter at the rear end of the Panda.
4. Roof has an alignment issue

The net result was that we got it down, but the rear canopy lifter appears to be out of alignment now (wasn't before the manoeuvre). It will definitely need to be replaced.

Handful of questions that I have :

A. Was it me?
B. Was it the bodgie canopy lifter?
C. Are they easy to replace?
D. What the hell am I doing wrong?
E. Gas struts - are the Jayco ones any good?

Reference : Canopy Lifter - http://caravansplus.com.au/images_tiff/2016/250-00542-al.jpg

 

[chartrock]

G'day @TheExpandables, my wife often takes our roof down on her own, one end at a time or we will do it together with a tendency for the roof to swing to the awning side. One thing is to make sure the door is open or the top wont come down evenly.
Our struts are quite strong but it is still heavy to lift, (it has air con, solar panel and TV antenna on the roof) and it will come down quickly. We put a bit of pressure on the lifters towards the road side when dropping it.
A picture of the ruined lifter might help answer your questions.

 

[bigcol]

they can be quite difficult sometimes

I have tried dropping the roof with the awning still out
and with it already wound up

sometimes it goes down spot on
sometimes its more to the "passenger side" (awning side)

now, I lower the front first, and "lean" towards the off side (drivers side)
then the back end - doing the same leaning trick

as long as you dont forget what @chartrock said - keep the door open.............. you cannot lift it or drop it with the door closed

 

[WHHEMI]

Best to have the awning out about a meter and not set to wind in as this will put extra pressure on the roof, first thing I do is pull the awning out around a meter then lift roof, opposite when packing up.

 

[TheExpandables]

@chartrock thanks for the feedback, unfortunately don't have a snappy and the Panda is tucked away in storage. Trying to prep for a fix on the next outing!

@bigcol I think it is a good tip to lean into it, guiding as the roof comes down so it sits flush. I'll have a couple of cracks at this next time we set up. Seems like the hot tip is to leave a good run of the awning out too.

@WHHEMI That's a good tip too, not having it to set to wind in (which I did). Will give that a go too.

Thanks everyone, much appreciated.

 

[Drover]

We always did the lean to one side trick that @bigcol mentioned, I also found some silicon spray on the ram shafts seemed to make things work a bit better, found that out after a ram popped off a couple of times and they are not the easiest thing to put back in place.

 

[TheExpandables]

@Drover good suggestion, does it leave any residual marks if something rubs against it?

Also as an update, spoke with Jayco Sydney and they've been great. Going to be taking it in this Friday to let them take a look at it and sort out a fix (which may include showing me again how to not mess it up).

 

[Bluey]

The dealer or a bloke at jayco when i had issues with mine going to one side said help the roof by pushing with your arm with palm and elbo helping to push roof up it dose work you can even help it on way down to heave it to one side need to do a video lol and allways do one end at a time have to work out what your van likes front up first or back up first and allways come down the same way as you went up and has been said have awning out a bit but they do tend to go to awning side

 

[bigcol]

there was someone who put nylon blocks to help center it properly when lowering

was a great idea - just cannot think who it was............

 

[Drover]

Pondering on the subject a bit more mine did sit better when a the strut popped off on a trip, took ages to get back on until I clicked on a way to do it, so once I got back home I ended up taking them all off , putting some lube on the knuckle joints and silicon on the shafts (didn't stain ) it then closed better and straighter...................Use a small ratchet strap to compress the ram so you can refit it, doing it by hand is exceedingly difficult........I did a How To somewhere on here I think.

 

[jcexpanda2007]

Pondering on the subject a bit more mine did sit better when a the strut popped off on a trip, took ages to get back on until I clicked on a way to do it, so once I got back home I ended up taking them all off , putting some lube on the knuckle joints and silicon on the shafts (didn't stain ) it then closed better and straighter...................Use a small ratchet strap to compress the ram so you can refit it, doing it by hand is exceedingly difficult........I did a How To somewhere on here I think.

Expanding on the "Ratchet Strap" idea from @Drover.....

When one of our gas struts sprung off its mounts while we were lowering the roof, I ended up using a couple of old leather waist belts joined together in a loop.

With the roof of the van raised, measure the length of one of the extended gas struts.

Now you need to make a belt loop that has a length slightly shorter than the length of the extended strut. I think I drilled a new hole or 2 in the belt.

Next you need to compress the strut and restrain it from extending fully by using the belt loop. The struts are pretty powerful so you may need help with this step.

Now you can take the restrained strut & reattach it on the van mounts. Your assistant can use the normal raise/lower frame inside the van to help position the roof height for you to finalise mounting the strut outside.

Once the strut is securely mounted at both ends, you can ask you friend in the van to lower the roof slightly (which will compress the strut) and you can slip the belt loop off.

Job done.

We had to dream this up at 1am while packing for one of our first trips in our 16.49-1!!!

 

[Drover]

Same sort of thing here @jcexpanda2007 , used the straps that hold my Kayak on the racks, took a bit of thinkiing as I knew I wouldn't be able to replace it otherwise, did it at home once but used brute force and a painting stage as I just propelled myself off a ladder but of an evening at Molong, something better needed to be done............haven't found the How To yet.

 

[willobee]

Used a similar technique when replacing gas struts in the prado, worked well.

i Havent had the alignment issues you mention but, yes door open and I leave our awnig a little loose.
Last thing I do is completely unroll awnig and allow it to reroll all the way in one go just to make sure it is even, straight anf tight on the drum.
This may just be OCD though.

 

[bigcol]

good idea @willobee