Awning fabric replacement
 

Our 2704T Hi-Lo has the original, factory installed roller-tube type awning. Due to sun exposure the laminated layers of the awning fabric are separating where it attaches to the roof (the area of maximum sun exposure). Duct tape will get me through this camping season, but the long term fix is fabric replacement.

The awning is a Sunchaser 8500, manufactured by A & E/Dometic, and is 17 feet long X 78" wide.

After a bit of web searching, I've found an outfit that will sell replacement fabric, cut and hemmed to fit, for $439. I'd appreciate any information readers may have for sources of finished awning fabric for less cost. Thanks! Jim

Have you checked to see what the OEM replacement awning, fabric only, will cost? Carefree makes replacement awnings.

Jim my 1703T awning did the same thing , just where it was exposed when rolled up , the rest of the awning was fine , probably like yours. I took the awning off the roller and took it to my local tent and awning company here in Phoenix. They cut off about 14 inches including the part that slides into the track on the top. Then stiched and seam sealed in a new piece with a new loop and welting that slide into the track on the roof. Good as new and only $80 dollars.

Rich,
Good suggestion, I called Dometic (the OEM) and got a quote for $339 + $25 shipping. Interestingly, the phone rep asked for the awning serial# (not the model#) and immediately determined it was for a Hi-Lo. I'm not sure that really mattered, but it was nice to know that they were looking at a replacement part for a very specific application.

Tom,
I REALLY like your solution! Great idea... and much less expensive than a whole new awning. I was kind of bummed that I would need to replace the entire fabric because only a 10" strip was rotting. In fact, we have a fine canvas shop in our area who has done good work for me in the past.

Thanks much!! Jim

One thing to think about is, Dometic mostly "markets" awnings and many other items they sell with dometic badges, yet they are MFG'd by someone else, mine is a cartridge type awning (roller stays on camper arms come out with just the fabric on it), dometic didnt sell the parts I needed, I lucked out and found it was made (and sold) by Fiamma Inc. - Contact. They were able to sell me lots of parts you couldnt get through dometic.

This example, of course isnt your type of awning so I dont know who mfg'd yours.

Try "rvpartscountry.com" go to "awnings'

Universal Awning and Sign
 

I would check out Orlando Awning Company. They do a great job at replacing old torn residential or commercial awning. They can also go very custom depending upon your application.

Jim

You can order direct replacement awning and/or hardware at A&E Sunchaser II at PPL

Regards,

Hi John,

Thanks for the info. about A&E parts. In fact, I do have a piece of awning hardware that's developed a stress crack that I'll be ordering/replacing.

As far as the de-laminating awning fabric, I should have written feedback much earlier. One of those out-of-sight, out-of-mind forget things.

I took Tom's (455Lark) suggestion and had a local boat cover shop replace the end 14 inches of rotted fabric with some white boat cover wonder material... EXTREMELY high UV resistance. Hah, I think they make Superman's cape out of the stuff. Cost came to about $100 total with labor.

I'm very happy with the results. :)

Jim

Awning repair
 

Great help in getting the awning repaired at a reasonable cost. I took notes for future reference. Another tip,wash your awning let it dry and then apply a product like son of a gun to both sides of the fabric. Any dirt is easy to spot clean or be brushed off with a soft broom. Sort of the same idea of wax on a floor. We do this every year,over kill. Trailer Life magazinde has an excellent article in the March issue on roof and awning care. We always get compliments on how clean our awning is. A little TLC is better than replacing an expensive awning.!! Take care,SAM

Fabric recoat
 

I have a 2807C and the awning was starting to burn from the Florida sun, the stiching at the edge next to the trailer and the hem on the ends. I coated both of those with Kool Seal, just a light coating to protect the threads, I then sprayed the 6 inches next to the trailer with Krylon Fusion spray paint for plastics. As of now you can't tell anything was wrong. Time will tell and I'll keep everyone up to date on how it weathers. Oh, another thing was I gave the whole top a coat of 303 protectant and boy do the colors pop after that.

455Lark/Tom
Hello
I am new to this forum. Like you, I own a 1703T, 17foot 2003 Towlite if I got the abbrev. correct. I bought this one used about 3 years ago. My awning is doing the same as you mentioned in this post. I have found someone on ebay selling a replacement awning for around 93 with shipping. I also found a document from A&E on how to replace the fabric. I believe in order to remove the old fabric the document mentions that you have to relieve the tension on the torsion springs as part of the procedure. Since you have done this before I was wondering if you could offer any advice or tips learned from removing and replacing the fabric.
Thanks
Dean in Roanoke Virginia

HI Dean
We are trying to get a Hi Lo club started in VA. If interested contact me here on the forum or my email loghm @aol.com . Put Hi Lo in the subject block.

You do that very carefully. Messing with the spring is a dangerous operation. Make sure you get proper written instructions before you try it.

Hi Dean
It was not that hard to do , The tension was easy to control with just a pair of vise grips holding the shaft and slowly rotating them around to relieve tension of the spring. This was after I lifted the drum off the supports. There is a spot to insert a nail to lock the shaft from spinning till your ready to relieve the tension with the vise grips. Basic tools and a Rivet tool is all thats needed. Helps to have two people, the drum is long to handle by yourself. Mark the ends in relation to the drum before you drill out the rivets , that way you can rivet them back in place the way they were when you started.

RichR - Thank you for the advice, I do the respect the energy that can be stored in a spring and what can happen if one is not careful. I found the A&E document for my Awning that explains the procedure for doing this.

Tom - Thank you for the feedback from your experience from actually doing this. I have always found that even if you have a documented procedure it is good to ask someone who has actually done it before in order to benefit from the experience. I have enjoyed reading your posts about your adventures with your 17-foot HI LO. We find that our 17 footer is just the right size for my wife and I, grandson sometimes, and our 2 dogs. We were very lucky to find a used one just a mile from our house.

Jim - I will contact you about joining a Virginia/Mid Atlantic Hi Lo Group.
Thank you for the invite.

Hi Dean in Roanoke, etal,

I am a new member to this Trailer Forum and just recently purchased a relatively unused 2406 T Towlite. I am not new to Hi-Lo's as this is the third we have owned. With the purchase of this Hi-lo, I knew that I would have to replace the awning material for the previous owner had evidently scraped against a tree or building causing two rather long and large rips in the material. Of course, I began searching for an awning as soon as I got home and I think I ran across the individual to whom you referred selling brand new in the package Dometic [A&E] awning replacements for around $89. I was just getting ready to order it when something gnawed at my memory about the Hi-Lo awnings. To be sure, I went out and let the awning out and got the measurements. Sure enough, the awning was a good 1 foot shorter than those offered by the Ebay seller. And, when you receive it, it is non-returnable. Had I purchased it, I would have been stuck with an unusable replacement awning.

I called the Dometic Factory direct and gave the salesperson the model number and ordered the correct awning which is a foot shorter [extension length] than standard awnings. Of course it cost more, it was about $340 including Texas Sales Tax and shipping. I would recommend that you do the same unless you are near a Hi-Lo dealer and can get a replacement from them [be prepared to pay more].

When replacing the awning, I did not do exactly as the 'experts' recommend doing. It is rather simple really but you will need at least one person to help you and you will need a Pop Riveter with a 3/16" rivet. Although I had never used one, it also was simple and easy to re-rivet the end cap. With the help of my neighbor and my wife, we replaced the awning in slightly more than one hour!

I'd be glad to give instructions to anyone who is considering replacing their awning. Our awning is only a 12 footer but I believe a much longer awning would not be that much more difficult to do but may require an additional person when feeding the new awning onto the roller.

Jerry
2006 2406 Towlite

awning replacement
 

Just a thought,If you purchased the awning from EBay you could have an awning/boat place cut off the excess fabric off and sew it. This still could be a cheaper route to go.

Jerry

I would be interested in the procedure you used to change your awning. If you could list it here that would be great. I did purchase the awning on ebay. I checked the width but not the length so I may be in trouble. It is not made by A&E but rather another company from Elkhart Ind. I believe the company is Boman.
Thanks
Dean

Replacing Awning Material
 

Awning Replacement

The procedure actually calls for removing both end caps. Before I began replacing the fabric, I did some checking online and read of another person who said removing both end caps was not necessary. Since I had installed an awning before, I was aware of how to attach the hardware and the importance of proper spring torsion.

To begin with, I lowered the Hi-Lo to its collapsed position. Having a Hi-Lo simplifies the placement or replacement job for your work is more or less at eye level while you are on the ground. I chose to use the ‘left’ end [toward the rear of the trailer] for doing the removal and replacement tasks. Be sure and allow sufficient space toward the rear of the trailer to unfold the new awning for you will be ‘worming’ it into the upper and lower slots simultaneously.

The next step would be to extend the existing awning out. Do not extend the sliders. Using a step stool, remove the capture screws on each end of the roof slot. You will need to find a suitable support for the front roller tube. I used a platform ladder that has a tool tray upon which I allowed the tube to rest. Placement should be in the center so it is basically balanced. You should be able to raise the tube to that level which will result in slack in the existing awning material.

On the left end of the awning, remove the two retaining screws on the slider and pull the slider to its lowest point. Have a helper hold the left end of the tube and maintain its balance on the center support upon which it rests. With the slider removed and with your assistant controlling the end of the tube, you should be able to separate the upper slider arm from the lower. One that is done, you will now remove tension using the upper arm portion of the slider to unwind the torsion spring. Be sure and make note of the direction in which it unwinds and count the number of turns that it takes to remove the tension. Mine took [12] turns while the book says it should have [8] turns for proper torsion. The arm should then dangle down without any tension on it.

When the tension has been removed, using a wrench or socket, remove the bolt holding the dangling arm onto the torsion spring rod. There may be a very slight amount of tension remaining but it will be easily controlled using just your hand.

Using a ¼” drill, drill through the [3] rivets holding the end cap onto the tube. To me, this was the most difficult part of the whole operation; removing the old rivets. I thought once it had been drilled, the rivet would come out. Not! I had to use side cutters, a punch and screw driver to remove the top of each rivet and cut away excess metal sufficient enough to allow the rivet to be driven out of the opening back into the tube. Once the end cap is removed, you can remove the remnants of the rivet.

Using a punch, drive the retaining steel holding pin from the torsion rod being careful not to damage it. Put it in a safe place for you will need it later. Do not remove the torsion rod. The cap should now be free to come off the rod sufficiently to allow access to the two grooves.

Using a short ladder, remove the bracket hardware at the roofline. Carefully lower the bracket arm so as not to damage the trailer skin.

You are now ready to remove the old awning material. One person should handle the tube while the other is at the roof groove. A third person should be used to hold ‘back pressure’ on the tube as you remove the old fabric. One thing I would recommend here that I did not at the time is to check and make sure the ‘rope’ is coming out as you are pulling the fabric. The end of the plastic rope will have been ‘tucked under’ the right side end cap when it was installed. The fabric pulled off easily enough but the rope remained in the groove. That is why they want you to remove both end caps. I simply took a short, narrow screwdriver and angled it toward the right end cap and cut the rope material and then the rope came out easily.

I spread out the old awning on the concrete drive way and readied the new material over it to and just reverse the operation and install the new material. You may have to use a file to remove any sharp edges on the tube and roof grooves before re-installing the new material. I placed a little petroleum jelly at the entrance of the roof groove and it seemed to help as we worked the new awning through the roof and tube grooves simultaneously.

There will be a little difficulty getting the two ‘ropes’ started into the tube grooves as there is no slack to work with between the two slots. Just do not get in a hurry and be sure the ropes are both aligned in the grooves. Here is where my wife came into play, she watched and kept the material so that it would not bind as it was being pulled into the tube grooves. You must take care and not damage the material around the ropes as you start the operation. Once it is properly aligned, you should have no trouble feeding it through the upper and lower grooves; just make sure whoever is pulling the material at the roof and the tube keep the material relatively even as the feeding operation takes place.

I was at the roof slot and was actually able to ‘push’ the rope into the slot as my neighbor pulled the material at the tube end. Whoever is at the roof slot should insure that the material does not get wadded and torn as it is being fed into the slot.

At this point, you simply reverse the removal process and put everything back together. You will want to take the long end of the rope and ‘tuck’ it back inside the tube before riveting. This will prevent the awning from sliding after it is in place.

I replaced the holding pin on the torsion spring rod. I reassembled the end cap and used a pop riveter using [3] 3/16” rivets. Once that was done, I reattached the upper slider arm and put the same number of turns on the torsion spring. After reassembling and reattaching the hardware, [be sure and place some weather caulking in the screw holes before attaching the roof hardware], the awning was ready for the test. It worked flawlessly!

If you are replacing a really long awning, it would probably be wise to get an extra hand or two to help the feeding and pulling process and prevent damage to the new awning fabric.

Hope this helps.

Jerry
2006 2406 T Tow lite