Our trailer is set up on our property in the country, we let our 20 year old son and some of his friends go up and spend the night before they all head back to college. I talked him through opening the awning over the phone, asked him to call me when it was time to put it back up so I could talk him through that. Well, of course since he is all grown up and knows everything :R they decided to do it on their own, didn't flip the lever that unlocks it on the tube they forced it to roll up :E. From the picture he took it looks like the end cap on the end of the arm by the roller broke, and I'm guessing the torsion assembly is shot. Any chance we can buy parts and fix it? Thanks!!

" Any chance we can buy parts and fix it?" Does WE include your son? Yes, parts are available.

Yes, you can buy parts. Make your son pay for it since he foolishly broke it. (No offense intended but I hope he's not going to be an engineering student) ;)

ScottG wrote:Yes, you can buy parts. Make your son pay for it since he foolishly broke it. (No offense intended but I hope he's not going to be an engineering student) ;)LMFAO :)

ScottG it's funny you say that, I'm a mechanical engineer and I told him that if he was studying engineering he would have known better!! (he is a bio-chemistry major). He WILL be helping with the cost of parts and also his labor. Thanks

If you are going take your awning apart and replace broken parts make sure you fully understand the danger of the spring. People have lost fingers when something slipped.Bob

son damaged awning | Good Sam Community

19 Replies

RedRocket204
Explorer
Aug 14, 2014
mich800 wrote:
How did they force it? Did they manhandle the tube by spinning/twisting it so it rolled and that snapped the lock allowing it to roll?

Lots, and lots of beer made those decisions.

:B
happybooker1
Explorer
Aug 14, 2014
YIKES! I guess I'm glad my son has been involved in the various RVs since Day 1. HE's the one that does the last walk-around to see if I've missed anything.

But then-- he wants to be a Chemical Engineer. So maybe that explains it!
majorgator
Explorer
Aug 14, 2014
ScottG it's funny you say that, I'm a mechanical engineer

Yeah, that explains your obsessive compulsiveness over the awning. Your son probably didn't want to call you back because he didn't want to be bored with the details.
Yes, dad, I know it's a model xxxx with xxxx lbs of force on the retractor.
Yes, dad, I know that if wind speeds exceed xxxxx MPH then I need to roll it back up.

Sorry, no harm intended. I work with engineers almost daily and I know firsthand how nauseating it can be sometimes.
jfkmk
Explorer
Aug 13, 2014
campigloo wrote:
Grandchildren are God's gift for not killing your own:)

And here I thought grandchildren were revenge for all our kids put us through! :)
campigloo
Explorer
Aug 13, 2014
Grandchildren are God's gift for not killing your own:)
valhalla360
Navigator
Aug 13, 2014
AND THAT'S WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!!!!!

;)
tomkaren13
Explorer
Aug 13, 2014
Make his payment the parts and the labor rate for someone else to fix it. Those awning springs are dangerous!! Have seen an experienced worker break two fingers working a awning!
dadmomh
Explorer
Aug 13, 2014
Truly, there are safety tricks in fixing awnings, so make sure you know exactly what to do or not to do before you start. Maybe having it fixed would be safer and hit his wallet hard enough to make a lasting impression.

I don't know about the upgrade time. Our disabled son is 50 and has rarely even needed to be rebooted, but the 46 year old still needs a complete upgrade before he's compatible with anything. Oh, he makes his mother crazy!
gafidler
Explorer
Aug 13, 2014
Good time to upgrade to " son 2.1" upgrade usually takes about 4 years to complete.
naturist
Nomad
Aug 13, 2014
luvourtoys wrote:
Our trailer is set up on our property in the country, we let our 20 year old son and some of his friends go up and spend the night before they all head back to college. !

Bumpyroad wrote:

that sounds like a good start to a horror movie.
bumpy

Yeah, soon's I read that, I started hearing the theme to "Twilight Zone."