Awning starting to roll up crooked?

[crispyc21]

It looks like my awning is starting to roll up crooked and causing it to be very difficult to lock into position. As you can see by the pics, it’s rollup up off by maybe 1/5-2 inches by the time it’s fully up. This is causing the two awning arms to be off and not easily lock into place. I have to really push and pull to get the two arms to lock into place.
Any ideas why this is happening and more importantly, what I can do to fix this?

[ReneeG]

Glad your awning is fixed now.

[DutchmenSport]

crispyc21 wrote:
... It's all fixed now. It was off at both the camper and roller. ...

You have to admit, these forums are pretty awesome for user experience and advise. Granted you've got to sift through a bunch of "bunk" on these forums (I've posted "bunk" myself), but for the most part, lots of good stuff here. Just think!!!! You saved yourself a visit to the repair shop, and $120 an hour for labor!

:B Now.... if you want to take the $120 and spread it to all of us... well ... I don't think anyone will complain! :B

Really! ... Glad you got it fixed! Happy camping!

[crispyc21]

Thanks again for a the input. It's all fixed now. It was off at both the camper and roller. At the camper side the awning was passed the screw by almost two inches. Just removed the screw and pushed the fabric back in place. I'll have to put a better screw in place once I get home. All is good for now.

[rekoj71]

I had to slide my awning fabric in the tube to fix this and I found that I had to release tension on the fabric and added some WD-40 to the tube grooves. The fabric is usually held in by two grooves and you can get to one side of each and spray a small amount of WD-40 to the inside edge where the fabric is in the tube and the outside edge where the flap is in the tube. I let mine sit a few minutes to let it soak. When I say release the tension I mean unroll it but do not engage the top tension rods so that the fabric is kinda dangling between the tube and the RV. Of course now the whole assembly will swing back and forth cause of the lack of tension but I was able to stand at one end and pull on the fabric and the flap while letting the awning arm where the tube is attached pull into my chest. It took some tugging but eventually slid the couple of inches I needed.
As mentioned above once it's been moved to the right spot either mark it or put a spacer in it so that it will be easier next time.

[wireman]

Could be the 1 of the tension springs getting weak. I had this happen on my MH.
1 spring eventually broke and was that fun trying to get it rolled up.

I had to replace both springs. Not a 1 man job. Awning was a Carefree about 10 years old at the time.

[LarryJM]

DutchmenSport wrote:
Agree with every one else, the awning has slid in the track. Just slide the awning one way or the other in the track until it rolls square again. Easy fix.

Beware! Once they start slipping around like that, they continue to slip around. So once you get it back square again, use a permanent marker and mark the tube (both ends) exactly where the fabric is, so when it slides again, you can just tug it back to that same spot. Do both ends, because when the fabric moves, it most likely will rub off the marker ink. You can also get a visual inspection before rolling it up every time this way too.

Correct and you can minimize this by making sure the "stop screws" in the awning rail are in the correct positions and to prevent the awning from sliding in the "tube end" you will have to insert several rectangular shaped lengths of hard plastic or some other material the right length into the "slots" in each side of the awning end to prevent the awning from sliding in the tube. I've used some of the old plastic awning cord from an old awning shaved down so I could just "JAM" in into that slot in the awning tube since you can't slide them in from the ends since the awning caps seal off that slot that the awning is slid into. I guess you could use a could of pan head type metal screws as an alternative, but that's sort of a non conventional solution.

Larry

[Old-Biscuit]

Awning track on side of RV should ALREADY have screws at each end of awning material to prevent it from sliding/moving in track

Awning material can move in roller tube grove causing it to get cockeyed and roll up off square

Extend awning fully
Look at distance of edge of material to end of roller.
Side that is farthest is side that needs to have awning material PULLED back in line
Grasp awning arm/roller with one hand and edge of material with other hand.
While PUSHING arm/roller away from you PULL awning material towards you.
Continue to push/pull until distance roller to edge of awning material is same on both ends.
Then retract awning and check alignment ------make minor adjustments as needed until arms close fully when awning is retracted.

Then extend awning and install 1/4" short wide head self tapping screws in roller grove right at awning material edge.
Prevents material from shifting and will NOT interfere with operation.

DONE!

[ReneeG]

It's not just the awning itself that can get out of order, but the entire awning drum or roller. We found that if we did not push the entire drum a little sideways, the fabric would roll up crooked.

[crispyc21]

Thanks everyone for your input. I did try to move it at the tube end once but it was in their tight. I didn't want to put to much muscle into it being afraid of ripping it. But I will try again on Thursday when I visit the camper. I will put some more muscle into it this time.

[profdant139]

Just to add to the comments, the same thing happened to us. You probably already know this, but there is a groove at the top of the awning, on your RV. The stationary end of the awning can slide back and forth in this groove. Open the awning all the way. Give it a good sideways tug, up near the top. The whole thing should slide sideways. You can now adjust it so that it is in the right place.

[ReneeG]

tvman44 wrote:
With the awning fully extended, take hold of one of the arms and move it in the required direction and check it again. May take 2 or 3 tries to get it aligned again but it will. I have had to do that. 🙂

When we had this type of awning, we had to do the same.

[TurnThePage]

One summer I rented an rv spot at a lake, where I left the awning open all season. After that, it was just like yours. Maybe the fabric has shrunk up a little bit? When the awning is open completely, I notice a little bit of pinching or scrunching where the awning attaches to the side of the RV. It's real pain to roll it up again. I was considering just sliding the fabric either on the roller or the top a little bit.

On edit, maybe I'll try the fixes listed above! 🙂 Good luck to the OP.

[korbe]

I would consider getting the fabric lined up where it connects to the rig. remove a screw or 2 and slide the fabric end left or right and open and close the awning a few times until the arms line up again. Then re-install the screws along the top.

When I installed new fabric this past spring the above process was the last part of the install.

[DutchmenSport]

Agree with every one else, the awning has slid in the track. Just slide the awning one way or the other in the track until it rolls square again. Easy fix.

Beware! Once they start slipping around like that, they continue to slip around. So once you get it back square again, use a permanent marker and mark the tube (both ends) exactly where the fabric is, so when it slides again, you can just tug it back to that same spot. Do both ends, because when the fabric moves, it most likely will rub off the marker ink. You can also get a visual inspection before rolling it up every time this way too.