Awning Adjustments

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
I need a little help. We have the A&E 8500 awning. When the awning is retracted, there are a few inches of fabric remaining on the right end of the roller tube. A neighbor said the spring on the right end of the roller tube needs to be tightened a couple of turns. I've looked in our owners packet for the instructions for the awning and there are none. Go Figure! I requested a PDF from A&E but haven't heard from them yet. It's the weekend. I hate to break camp to haul the rig to a dealer for something I'm capable of doing myself. I've searched for a PDF on line and found none for installation or troubleshooting. Does anyone have know if my neighbor is correct? I think I should also measure the awning to see it it's square. Thanks for any help.
 

ChopperBill

Well-known member
I had mine not fully retract and a buddy told me it was because I didn't pull the strap that you hold when you release it to the middle and it will cock them to one side. I went on to the roof and he pulled on the strap while I manually pushed the awning out. From then on after I release the awning I pull the strap to the middle and then let it roll up. No problems since. It does take a good deal of holding power to keep it from going up while you walk it to the middle with the strap. Could be its is a two man job.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Chopper, I'm not quite sure I follow what you're saying. When I retract my awning, I always have the strap centered. I measured and put a mark on my awning tube to make it easier to find the center.
 
K

Ken Washington

Guest
Ray,
If you want to add a turn or two to one side or both, you will need two people and a ladder. Extend the awning all the way out, remove the top arm from the lower arm and let it hang loose on the trailer. While someone holds the awning tube, take the lower arm loose from the trailer and shorten it as much as possible. There are arrows on the end of the arm at the awning tube that will tell you which way to flip the arm to tighten the spring. Standing on a ladder, flip the arm one or two times and put it all back together. You should not do this when the wind is blowing. Hope this helps you with this problem!

Ken
 
Slideout awning adjustment

My BH 3670 came with awnings on the slideouts. I noticed that two of the awnings are sagging and need adjustment. Has anyone ever had to adjust their awnings and if so how have you done it. I don't want to go and try to figure out in case that I complicate things.

Thank you!

Santiago
 
K

Ken Washington

Guest
Ray,
Did you get your awning fixed and what did you do?

Ken
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
I haven't tackled the awning adjustment yet. Not having a ladder being the initial issue. I could borrow one from a neighbor but it's not at the top of my "to do" list. Our park in Corpus Christi is pretty breezy most of the time and our door side is in the shade so we haven't had the awning out much anyway. Once I get the ambition going, I'll borrow a ladder and git er done.
 

Uncle Rog

Well-known member
Ray, I had an awning spring slip on a Prowler a couple of years back. The trailer was out of warranty but the A&E was good for an extra year. The fix in this case was to pop the rivet at the end with the switch pull the gear mechanism out and replace. The guy then used a wrench to put tension on the spring by turning counter clockwise 17 times, pretty sure about the 17 turns. After seeing this done I would not tackle that job without some real good instructions and somebody to assist. My awning failed inthe great outdoors and had to use a strap wrench to roll it up to get home...Good luck
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Thanks for the input. I think at this point I'll wait till we're back in Wisconsin and have our dealer look at it along with a couple of floor squeeking problems. I'm hoping I can have the floor problem resolved at the Heartland factory before or after the Goshen rally.
 
K

Ken Washington

Guest
Ray,
I can tell you that if a dealer adjust your awning, he will do it just like I said in my Post three weeks ago. Do not try to pop the rivet, this could brake a finger or something worse!

Ken
 
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