I managed to do some damage to the awning mounting hardware on my 17' HiLo, and the bottommost brackets, the ones that have screws into/underneath the bottom lip of the upper shell. I imagine all awning-installed HiLos wouldhave the samebits as the upper shell is not 'tall' enough to mount the hardware at the bottom of the arms that support the open awning.

The pieces are thick aluminum plate and very sturdy, but not immune to damage as I have found out. I've been told that they cannot be bent back into shape.

I believe anyone junking a HiLo with a Dometic 8500 manual awning would have these parts. Apparently they are not available from Dometic.

I have attached (I hope) a photo of the injured pieces.

Attached Images

BottomMountingBracketsHiLo.jpeg (110.8 KB, 6 views)

I had the same experience about 10 years ago and I THINK I found replacements at etrailer.com. I actually broke several parts of one of the legs, and I found replacements for all of them.

- Jack

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Hi-Lo 1707T - Tire Minder TPMS on Tow Vehicle and Trailer, 300W Solar Battery Charger, Equal-i-zer WDH, Progressive Dynamics Converter, Fan-Tastic Fan, LiFePO4 battery 12V DC Electrical System
2024 F150 Platinum FX4 3.5L PowerBoost SCrew

HI Lvnv , I couldn't find the bottom brackets, had a local shop make them [time and material came to $50.00 each ] and just painted them today.... like "JackandJanet" I also needed the other 2 parts for each side& got them from Amazon. good luck ......... Bob

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXX5V82G...t_details&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KL38SS3...roduct_details

We bent our awning Brackets as pictured. Went through a construction zone and an Orange Cone flew up ,with force and bent the bracket. DH was able to bend them back. Possible he used a soft cloth padding and vice grips?. He is sleeping. Our HiLo dealer didn't think they had the bracket. Then they found them. We used the original brackets. Call Jay Simon the parts manager only if you plan to buy!! Jay Simon at Mantelli Trailer sales.716-625-8877. You will need to sent him a picture of the parts you need. Hope this helps.

Is it possible to have it welded? Maybe for a spare.

Any welding shop can fix or make. That is no big deal for them

I also had brackets bent like in your picture. I secured each one in a vice and used a 5 lb hammer to wham them back into near original shape. The process did leave 'tooling' marks on the brackets. Good Luck !

In my somewhat uneducated opinion, they don't look TOO badly bent that they can't be hammered back into shape, like the post above suggests. Yes that kind of aluminum is weakened by metal fatigue when "worked", but I think the amount of rebending is minimal. And, I don't know that the stress on these things is all that severe. I think I'd try rebending them and then, if necessary, take them to a welding shop to have the bends reinforced. I don't think you have to replace them.

- Jack

__________________
Hi-Lo 1707T - Tire Minder TPMS on Tow Vehicle and Trailer, 300W Solar Battery Charger, Equal-i-zer WDH, Progressive Dynamics Converter, Fan-Tastic Fan, LiFePO4 battery 12V DC Electrical System
2024 F150 Platinum FX4 3.5L PowerBoost SCrew

I described our awning bracket accident. It has been several years and they have held up quite well. You have nothing to loose by bending them back.

Thanks for the responses. Interesting to hear that these pieces might be available somewhere in the HiLo community. I went ahead and had a welding shop make up a pair ($100) and will be re-installing the awning in the next couple of days.

If I had something to secure the brackets firmly I would have tried to bend them. Actually, while still on the trip, my brother-in-law and I used an old farm tool, a chain comealong, to bend one of them back while still mounted on the trailer, to almost good as new, but the other, more bent piece, seemed destined to rip off the trailer if we applied the amount of pressure needed.

At this point, with some time having passed since the accident, I'm viewing this incident (and y'all's comments) as an engaging and positive learning experience.

I would have cleaned them puppies up, hammered them straight a little and taken them to my local welding shop; $40 weld repair/patch.

You could have bought them for far less $ from Mantelli RV. Your choice how you spend your $. Reinforce where the screws go into the HiLo. Use a piece of metal.