Lost my awning on the highway - high wind

[BobsYourUncle]

Well gee whiz, I almost had to frown today!

After a hitchup error (see previous post by me), I had lunch with my 80 year old aunt and hit the highway from Medicine Hat Alberta to Calgary. Heading out of town and the wind had picked up BIG time! I mean it was blowing hard. REAL hard! My truck and TT were being buffeted around a lot.

I was just leaving town and getting on the throttle to get up to speed when I did a mirror check.

Hmmmmm, why are my awning arms flailing outwards in the wind? :E WTH??

4 ways on, off the throttle and pull over to the side of the road.

I get out for a look and see the bottom parts of my awning arms have been torn right out, mounts and everything. I look up and my eyes got big! Where is my awning? All that was left of it was some ripped fabric in the C track, flapping in the wind. Everything else was completely gone, except the 2 stabilizer arms that mount to the top by the roof. That's what I saw dangling in the wind.

One four lettered word, and it wasn't "Gosh"

Meanwhile a semi truck drives by - honk honk honk honk honk on his airhorn. Oh great, I bet he endured a flying awning... :E He never stopped, so I can only assume he stopped to check and there were no punctured cans of Pepsi in his truck. (It was a Pepsi truck)

Jump back in my truck, flip a U-turn and boot it back down the road. About a couple miles back, there it is, laying on the highway. I find a hole in the median and flip another U-turn and go back.

Well, the semi ran over my awning, it was completely destroyed. Roller tubes are strong, but not strong enough to withstand 80,000 pounds of loaded semi running it over with half a dozen axles.

I pulled the tattered remains of my awning and the twisted arms off the highway into the shoulder area. I had no place to put the thing, my truck was loaded to the top. I hated to leave it there but I had no place to carry it out.

Sigh.......

And then I get another 40 miles down the road, bucking the strongest headwind I have ever encountered, and my check engine light comes on and the truck goes into limp mode.

Did that numerous times all the way back to Calgary. I had to stop and clear the code every time so I could run at highway speed.

Other than that, I had an awesome trip!!! Life is good!

[BurbMan]

Bob this has been a heckuva season camping for you, after enduring bitter cold, frozen dump lines, a pound of butter melted in the furnace vents, leaking trans cooler lines, and a few others I am forgetting. Paste these all together and throw in a romantic side plot and you would have a great movie!

[BobsYourUncle]

Gau 8 wrote:
What was the code? Just clearing them and pressing on can get expensive.

P0087 - Fuel Rail - Pressure too low.

It happened to me once before last spring in hot weather towing up mountain passes. It went away and I didn't get it fixed the first time. Have to know what it is before I can fix it.
Only happens when I tow and when its hot.
This time I was bucking a huge headwind and had to really stuff my foot in it to maintain speed.

[Gau_8]

What was the code? Just clearing them and pressing on can get expensive.

[robanddi]

We have TWO locks on our awning and it unrolled. What a scare!

I was driving and it was cold with deep snow on both sides of the toll thru Kansas. We were in the middle of nowhere and fortunately there was virtually no traffic. We had camped in ice and snow and suspect the severe temp changes somehow opened the locks (???). I noticed a severe pull to the right and saw a giant sail in the passenger side mirror ... it was the awning half unfurled.

Headed to the side of the highway and stepped out into the ditch with 3 feet of snow. Brrrrrrrrrr. We didn't carry a ladder and no way was either of us going on the snowy icy roof. Called Coach Net and they sent a couple of guys who managed to un-screw the awning and remove it (hauled it away too).

After we got home we patched the holes and have done nothing since!!! Keep saying if we get a full body paint we'll replace it. We seldom used the big awning; it was too complicated to set up. We have full window awnings; those are the ones we use.

Diann

[tbr2015]

Our friends lost their awning in similar fashion. After that, we took a long velcro strap and put it around the awning arms about half way up so they can't come open on their own. It has worked for a number of years now. Easy to remove and put back on when needed.

[Jim_Shoe]

Happened to me on an expressway out west. For those that don't know, the roller will turn no matter what position the arms are in. The lock only keeps the arms from extending. Since I don't use the awning anyway, I chose the low tech solution. Drilled 3 or four holes in the drip rail and ran wire tie wraps through and around the awning. The next owner can deal with it as they wish.
BTW, the awning lock mentioned above (I tried it) only works if one of the holes in the cylinder lines up with the lock. Depends on how tightly the awning rolls up.

[cpaulsen]

Just make sure it is the negative battery cable.

[IAMICHABOD]

Having had a awning do that is no fun, I have had it happen to me years ago and I have to say I think I said the same thing and more.

I vowed not to let that happen again if possible, after a few home made devices I found Awning lock It was easy to install and fixed the problem.

In the years that I have driven my RV in our windy deserts here it has proved itself.

[pugslyyy]

Tom/Barb wrote:

wirenutz wrote:
How do you clear the code? Happened to me once too, scary

You can also remove the battery cable wait 5 minutes touch the cable back to the post, remove and then wait 5 more minutes and the computer will forget all codes.

Much easier to have a code reader though!

I have one of the wireless ones that I can read through my phone. I've actually cleared codes in motion that way.

[Tom_Barb]

wirenutz wrote:
How do you clear the code? Happened to me once too, scary

You can also remove the battery cable wait 5 minutes touch the cable back to the post, remove and then wait 5 more minutes and the computer will forget all codes.

[Tom_Barb]

We have lost 2 awnings on Deception Pass bridge in high winds first one on the big foot 25, The last one really scared us the 30,000 pound Newmar was up on two wheels middle of the main bridge span. We had road rash/scrapes 2/3rds up the side wall on the front tire and out side dual, it almost rolled the tire off the rim. Insurance paid both times.

[BobsYourUncle]

wirenutz wrote:
How do you clear the code? Happened to me once too, scary

I carry a code reader with me as standard equipment after a trip where this happened to me once before. Code reader lets you clear it.

[BobsYourUncle]

danager wrote:
Did you really only say "gosh"?

If you examine closely, I said the word wasn't gosh! Lol
It actually started with F

[wirenutz]

How do you clear the code? Happened to me once too, scary

[Earl_E]

That happened to me, also. I bought a great awning lock (forgot the name) that pops into the back roller part of the awning so it can't unfurl. It is frustrating! And I didn't just have one unmentionable word...it was quite a string of them!