We have a 2011 Jayco TT we bought in January. We are about to take an 800 mile trip and I noticed an issue with the awning. When it is closed, the rear arm closes tightly against the TT, but the front arm won't quite close. FYI, the motor is in the front head, so I presume the rear head is spring-loaded. I found a video on youtube and the man said that in these cases, usually either the fabric has slipped to one side or the other in the slot, which you fix be sliding it to line it up again. It appears to me that the fabric on ours is lined up. Or, he says the fabric has stretched, in which case, he says there is nothing you can do except replace the fabric. He said to measure corner to corner diagonally and if one measurement is longer, then fabric is stretched. I did measure corner to corner, and in fact, one measurement is 1 3/8" more than the other. This is pretty close to the gap at the front arm when the awning is fully retracted. Below I am posting pictures of the awning fully retracted, so you can see the gap at the front arm compared to the rear arm. The awning fabric is about 19'. Does anyone have any suggestion of any way to adjust out this slack at the front arm other than buying new fabric for the awning?Also, do you think it is safe to take one more trip with it like this before addressing the issue? What would be the expected cost to have a 19' awning fabric replaced?Left Arm, closes tight to TTFront Arm, notice gap at top when closed.

If it was pulled tight new and you now have the SMALL gap on the front arm, the odds are the fabric has slightly stretched. There is NOTHING wrong with what you have. There is no problem or danger with it sticking out like that. Doug

looks to me like the wall has a dip i,n it causing the gap.Look at the rails to gutter comparison the front is in further

All you need to do is open it all of the way and at the roller end, shift the fabric one way or the other. Roll the awning up and see how it looks and fits. If it's not right yet, do the procedure again.Easy peasy.Bruce

As nomad297 said try this method first, if you can not move the fabric on the roller, go to the track side on the RV and slide the fabric forward a little, there should be some screws inserted in track on each end, maybe the manufacturer forgot to install them...

Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions. I'll do some tweaking on the awning this week and see how it goes. I'll report back as to results.

How to adjust Electric RV Awning? | Good Sam Community

12 Replies

dougrainer
Nomad
Sep 16, 2014
crcr wrote:
Tweaked around with the awning this morning. I couldn't get the awning to slide in the slot on the tube, nor at the wall. That might be doable, but I can see would prove difficult.

At the top of the channels on the TT that the arms retract into, conveniently, there is a hole in each side, so I was able to attach a short bungee (approximately 8" long) that goes around the head on the front end of the awning. It may not be necessary, but adds some insurance and peace of mind about it staying there when on the road. I have added to my checklist when setting up and breaking down, to unhook / hook the bungee.

I figure in 2-3 years I will have to replace this awning fabric, so this fix should be fine until then. Thanks to all for your helpful comments and suggestions! Much appreciated!

You are worrying about nothing. The MOTOR keeps the awning locked tight and will not allow the awning to unfurl. Doug
JohnG3
Explorer II
Sep 15, 2014
I spanked my awning once and it reported to RV Protective Services.
crcr
Explorer
Sep 15, 2014
Dave H M wrote:
Have you tired spanking it :).

Mine does that periodically and there is something binding a little where the frames slide together. I give it a smack with the open palm of my hand and it pops right in there.

Thanks. Yes, tried that. It doesn't budge.
crcr
Explorer
Sep 15, 2014
Tweaked around with the awning this morning. I couldn't get the awning to slide in the slot on the tube, nor at the wall. That might be doable, but I can see would prove difficult.

At the top of the channels on the TT that the arms retract into, conveniently, there is a hole in each side, so I was able to attach a short bungee (approximately 8" long) that goes around the head on the front end of the awning. It may not be necessary, but adds some insurance and peace of mind about it staying there when on the road. I have added to my checklist when setting up and breaking down, to unhook / hook the bungee.

I figure in 2-3 years I will have to replace this awning fabric, so this fix should be fine until then. Thanks to all for your helpful comments and suggestions! Much appreciated!
Dave_H_M
Explorer II
Sep 15, 2014
Have you tired spanking it :).

Mine does that periodically and there is something binding a little where the frames slide together. I give it a smack with the open palm of my hand and it pops right in there.
dougrainer
Nomad
Sep 15, 2014
There is NO adjustment on the electric awning or standard awning. Moving the fabric on this OP post will do NOTHING to fix his problem. Moving the fabric is IF the interlock of the arms hit metal to metal, which the OP states is not his problem. Doug
starlord
Explorer
Sep 15, 2014
Mine sticks out on one side somewhat more than yours does. I wanted to be safe so I slipped a zip strip behind the mount and ran it around the arm and tightened it down. Thought I could do a Velcro type strap but haven't gotten around to trying that yet. One of these days I'll take it to a shop to see if there is any kind of adjustment on it (like I said, mine sticks out more on one side than yours does).
crcr
Explorer
Sep 14, 2014
Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions. I'll do some tweaking on the awning this week and see how it goes. I'll report back as to results.
ronniedean1234
Explorer
Sep 14, 2014
As nomad297 said try this method first, if you can not move the fabric on the roller, go to the track side on the RV and slide the fabric forward a little, there should be some screws inserted in track on each end, maybe the manufacturer forgot to install them...
nomad297
Explorer
Sep 14, 2014
All you need to do is open it all of the way and at the roller end, shift the fabric one way or the other. Roll the awning up and see how it looks and fits. If it's not right yet, do the procedure again.

Easy peasy.

Bruce