Awning Strut

JudyGail · 08-26-2007, 02:04 PM

Has anyone had the "strut" on their manual patio awning break, & have to repair/replace it?

Our's snapped right in two at the part that slides on the rail, & I think they plan on just sending us the parts to repair ourselves.

If anyone has done this type of repair, give us some hope by telling us how easy it is to do.

Here's a couple of pics showing the break.

JudyGail · 08-27-2007, 11:27 AM

You mean to tell me, of the 77 times this has been looked at, no-one has experience with this type of situation?

shergry · 08-27-2007, 12:35 PM

I must say that I am a bit surprised at your last post. Only for the fact that sometimes it is what it is...no one has an answer. They might look at your great pics (thank you) and say to themselves.."I need to go look at mine." And but for this great forum, in which we can all ask questions, say problems, vent frustration about a product. I can't tell you how grateful I am for this forum...it has ment so much to me as a fairly new MS owner (been fultiming 12 years) and have someone show or answer my particular topic and then there have been many a topic that no one answers; because there is no answer except-call DT, etc.
I am sorry that I can not answer your question because it has not (knock on veneer) happened to us. But I do hope that you get results that help you and that you still enjoy the MS as much as possible.

BobW · 08-27-2007, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JudyGail

You mean to tell me, of the 77 times this has been looked at, no-one has experience with this type of situation?

Looks like no-one has had this happen. Looks like there was a hard hit to have this kind of damage.

bstark · 08-27-2007, 03:22 PM

Ah what the heck, I'll give it a try. Top strut; separate the inner strut member from the outer one by simply sliding it all the way out now that it's hinge is broken and separated from the Bottom Strut arm.

Bottom strut member broken hinge piece: you may be able to simply twist that piece until the slider tabs are free of their groove but if you see that you're spreading the arms too far then you'll have to separate the inner and outer arms like the top piece. To do this however, I think I would have the awning fully extended and laying flat to side of coach (bottom arms unfastened from the side of coach and simply laying on ground under coach) so you can support the now free end on something. It will hang anyway as the fabric will support the roller assemblies weight.

Once you have those arms apart and can see how the broken bit is pinned to the inner top strut arm, you will either drill out the old rivets or replace pin etc., You should now have a complete new hinge assy. fastened to the inner, upper strut arm. You must however reinsert the bottom part of the hinge assy into the lower strut arm slider grooves before re-sliding the upper strut arms together.

Now, if you were able to release the bottom part of the broken hinge by twisting it to release it's slide tabs from the slider grooves, you should be able to twist the new piece carefully into place in it's slider grooves and THEN slide the inner top strut arm back into the outer top strut arm et voila, all done!

There now wasn't that easy?

billr · 08-27-2007, 03:27 PM

Could be that not very many folks have had this happen.

I can't tell exactly what part of the awning that is from the pics. It looks like the lower attach point for the main support that clips into the fitting on the trailer?? Or possibly the upper fitting that attaches to the rail?? (my trailer is not at my house, so I can't check it)

It should be straight fwd to replace unless it has rivets then it's a bit more to do. If you don't want to attempt it, than any RV repair tech can handle it with little trouble, the mobile guys are pretty good.

Sorry not more help.

Cheers,
Bill

billr · 08-27-2007, 03:31 PM

There you go, BSTARK has it covered! (Posted at the same time I was fumbling with the keyboard!!) Helps to have your trailer 10 steps from the house!!!!!!

Bill

JudyGail · 08-27-2007, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobW

Looks like no-one has had this happen. Looks like there was a hard hit to have this kind of damage.

Nope, not a hard hit at all, just a little jiggle. It looks to us like there's a sizable air bubble in there.

JudyGail · 08-27-2007, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bstark

Ah what the heck, I'll give it a try. Top strut; separate the inner strut member from the outer one by simply sliding it all the way out now that it's hinge is broken and separated from the Bottom Strut arm.......

Thanks for your input Bruce. We've tried pulling the inside strut but it seems jammed in there somehow. Of course that was just a cursory attempt and we'll be more thorough when the time comes.

We're hoping for in depth instructions, but that rarely happens, so we'll begin with your instructions and see where it gets us.

bstark · 08-27-2007, 04:42 PM

Billr: It's the hinge assembly at the end of the upper support strut that slides up and down in 2 grooves on the inner sides of the lower strut assembly. We should go out and break one so we can do this job for real and add it to the list of successful repairs :P! Can't see it clearly in the pic, but if there's a casting flaw, that thing would break in a heartbeat. You can tell by it's typically dark grey colour that it's not even good aluminum but rather a mix of the crud swept up off the smelter floor.

Motor31 · 08-28-2007, 10:26 AM

That's a new situation to me. I've never seen one broken but anything put in these rigs can and will break sometime somewhere. Good luck on it and when you do figure it out please post pix of the repair.