Slide Awning

Here is how I did it. With the slide out, I got on a tall ladder and pulled the awning out of the roller as far as I could. Then I used one of those stout spring clamps to hold the material. The clamp was pulled snug up against the roller assembly. Did this on both sides. Then pull the slide in a foot or so. Use something to prop the awning material up and crawl under if you are small like me.

My report on replacing the slide topper might help:

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25357620.cfm

When I installed my slide toppers they had cotter pins through the roller and end caps to prevent it from loosing the spring tension.

I would think that you should extend the slide some (6-8 inches) and insert some pins then retract the slide the rest of the way. This should relieve the tension on the fabric without loosing the tension on the spring.

Maybe if you give yourself more than 6-8 inches you would be able to remove the brackets and set the roller on the roof and have it out of the way for the rest of the project without removing the whole thing.