# Awning Problem - Support Arms Bent At Top; Won't Hold Sliders



## ZHB (Mar 17, 2009)

I will post pictures of this in the next couple days. So while we were at Myrtle Beach, I left the awning out, with straps holding it down. One day while I was gone, a big storm came up, and my wife had trouble getting the awning down. While she was trying, the smaller support arms - with the sliders - popped out of both sides. She was understandably freaked out and thought she had broken it. When I got back the next day, I checked it out, and somehow the top end of the support had bent - the U-shaped channel had spread wide enough open that the slider came out of the channel. It was bad on one side; OK on the other. I have no idea if this had been an existing problem progressively getting worse, the result of the gusts that day, or possibly from my wife struggling with it.

I got the sliders back in place, and bent the bad arm back into shape (it took a combination of clamp, pliers and rubber mallet hammering on it.....) On the side that wasn't so bad, I couldn't just pop the slider back in - so I removed the "cap" from the U-shaped arm. I thought I was holding it tight enough, but sure enough - it snapped and unwound.

So - I put the slider back in, and the arms were all back in place where they belonged. On the good side - the cap I removed - I wound up the cap and re-set it in place and screwed everything back together. I only hand-wound it; it turns out this was barely enough tension to roll up the awning - I had to roll the last bit by hand. I now need to look at replacing the awning arms - the cap on the bad side doesn't seem to sit quite right, and I think it will probably pop out if I don't replace the arm. I also need to again unhook the cap that holds the awning in place, rewind it much more tightly, and get the whole thing back together again.

My questions are -

1 - any suggestions where to buy the awning arms? Couldn't find it on CampingWorld, and I can't get to Dometic's website. A Google search just pointed me toward Ebay.

2 - Is there a technique or any advice to be offered as to how to properly re-wind the awning?

Thanks in advance!


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## pintoplumber (Nov 4, 2007)

When I put ours in the garage last year I bent mine on a wall cabinet. I got one this spring from Mark's RV Supplies in Albion NY found them on the internet. I don't remember, could have been close to $100.00 Dennis in Lititz PA


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## ZHB (Mar 17, 2009)

OK, so I had the OB at home yesterday and fixed this.

First, I unhooked the awning from the arms, then I used a combination of large C-clamps to squeeze the top of the arm back into shape. Then on the 'bad" arm, just to be sure, I wrapped a large plastic zip=tie on it, and pulled it real tight. when I mounted the awning roller back on the top, it was a tight fit.

On the rear side, I unhooked the awning roller, then used a screwdriver to wind the awning so tight that I could barely hold it - thru a ridiculous bit of effort I got the top of the roller back on the arm and screwed it back into place. Voila~ the awning then rolled up almost like it was new again - I didn't get it as tight as the factory - it didn't "snap" upward if I gave the strap some slack - but it rolled steadily to the top without any assistance.

Problems solved for now~ we'll see over the next few trips how it holds.


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## raynardo (Jun 8, 2007)

Three years ago I purchased an arm that bent when the awning wasn't tilted enough during a freakish huge rainstorm. I believe the price was about $25 but shipping added another $15. I got it through my local Camping World. I struggled a while to get it reassembled, but I did.

Last year I had another accident with the awning when I scraped it against a telephone pole. Later that day I got it fixed at Country RV in Chippewa Falls, WI while I was on the road. They replaced all the screwed up parts and set up the awning to make it work better than ever for $226 in less than an hour.

This year on our Odyssey 2010 we had a wind gust pull the bar out of the channel like you did, and using much the same techniques you did got it back together. I worked well the rest of the trip, but I'm still super leery of awnings and any kind of wind. And yes, I have deflappers, too.


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