Coleman Popup Trailer Crank Issue
Greetings everyone, This past year I purchased a used Coleman Cheyenne Popup Trailer to bring to Burning Man, as well as to use it for camping and the like. It was a fair price for it, albeit it wa...
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Thanks for the feedback. I guess we were pretty lucky, although we slept in the larger bed that sticks out over the storage area, it would have sucked to have woken up wrapped in canvas.
At any rate, I got out my wrenches and took it all apart to see what's going on and took some photos to further illustrate my issue. I'm hosting these images on my personal server; I expect that they will be available for the foreseeable future.
Note that you may need to change your "My Forums" Preferences to show the images and descriptions below.
This is how the crank is fitting on currently, you can see it barely clears the lip. I was thinking maybe I could get a similar sized pipe with a couple notches cut into it to give me a few more inches of clearance and I could rig up a handle somehow.
Top angle, again no clearance. You can see where the crank rubs against the bar.
The underside of the unit with the metal sheet removed. Where my hand is (the visible part of the crank) spins freely, where it should not.
The visible portion with the case removed. You see the crank pipe, a hard to see washer type deal and the crank gear (for lack of better word), all of which spin freely and can be pulled out about 3-5mm but don't see to be able to be removed. This whole assembly feels loose and can jostle side to side a bit in. Not sure how to disassemble further. Behind the crank gear is another washer thing and a smaller gear, which seem to be solid and attached to the long crank rod (~3 ft long) that controls the rest of the mechanism.
Another underneath shot showing the assembly, in this you can see the variable gap just to the right of the large gear. Again I note that the crank mount can be pushed up to close the gap. Perhaps there was another washer piece there at another point and when I was cranking it up (with oddly distributed force) it snapped. Not sure, I didn't find anything that broke off.
When I apply straight, forward pressure to the normally visible crank mount it can create a little bit of friction to help the whole assembly spin. This, along with gravity were the reasons I was able to get it down.
Interesting to note that the big gear looks like it is what holds the roof up. There is a small spring and metal tooth that I would assume pop into place, but I don't understand how that would pop into place on it's own. The end of the spring sticks out of a tiny gap in the box shown in my second photo, not visible, just below that nut.
This brings me to the point where I am seeking advice on how to remedy this. Would I be able to apply soldering to the whole assembly in order to rig it up? Would this be fairly reliable? I am fairly novice in this arena as a software developer, tending to stay away from hardware unless necessity calls for it.
In an unrelated issue, the storage area cover blew off during travel. Anyone have ideas on how to rig it up? It's all fiberglass around there. The wood is cheap particle board, and somewhat water damaged at that.
Also, any suggestions on how to handle the rusting situation? You wouldn't think it would be a big deal in the desert, but we do get rain and lots of dust.
Thanks in advance folks!
Enjoy your weekend.
Troy
At any rate, I got out my wrenches and took it all apart to see what's going on and took some photos to further illustrate my issue. I'm hosting these images on my personal server; I expect that they will be available for the foreseeable future.
Note that you may need to change your "My Forums" Preferences to show the images and descriptions below.
This is how the crank is fitting on currently, you can see it barely clears the lip. I was thinking maybe I could get a similar sized pipe with a couple notches cut into it to give me a few more inches of clearance and I could rig up a handle somehow.
Top angle, again no clearance. You can see where the crank rubs against the bar.
The underside of the unit with the metal sheet removed. Where my hand is (the visible part of the crank) spins freely, where it should not.
The visible portion with the case removed. You see the crank pipe, a hard to see washer type deal and the crank gear (for lack of better word), all of which spin freely and can be pulled out about 3-5mm but don't see to be able to be removed. This whole assembly feels loose and can jostle side to side a bit in. Not sure how to disassemble further. Behind the crank gear is another washer thing and a smaller gear, which seem to be solid and attached to the long crank rod (~3 ft long) that controls the rest of the mechanism.
Another underneath shot showing the assembly, in this you can see the variable gap just to the right of the large gear. Again I note that the crank mount can be pushed up to close the gap. Perhaps there was another washer piece there at another point and when I was cranking it up (with oddly distributed force) it snapped. Not sure, I didn't find anything that broke off.
When I apply straight, forward pressure to the normally visible crank mount it can create a little bit of friction to help the whole assembly spin. This, along with gravity were the reasons I was able to get it down.
Interesting to note that the big gear looks like it is what holds the roof up. There is a small spring and metal tooth that I would assume pop into place, but I don't understand how that would pop into place on it's own. The end of the spring sticks out of a tiny gap in the box shown in my second photo, not visible, just below that nut.
This brings me to the point where I am seeking advice on how to remedy this. Would I be able to apply soldering to the whole assembly in order to rig it up? Would this be fairly reliable? I am fairly novice in this arena as a software developer, tending to stay away from hardware unless necessity calls for it.
In an unrelated issue, the storage area cover blew off during travel. Anyone have ideas on how to rig it up? It's all fiberglass around there. The wood is cheap particle board, and somewhat water damaged at that.
Also, any suggestions on how to handle the rusting situation? You wouldn't think it would be a big deal in the desert, but we do get rain and lots of dust.
Thanks in advance folks!
Enjoy your weekend.
Troy
