A&E Door Awning Extends Without Warning

[GaryKD]

Hi everyone,
My door awning, without any reason, all of a sudden extended fully with a big bang! It was a good thing we were parked at the time this happened. The key, inside the motor clutch had worn down to nothing. It is soft metal. The bottom line is this soft metal key is all that keeps the awning retracted! Newmar has the part for $215. PPL has the part for $100.

Door awning details are:
A&E Oasis Elite
Model # 973EK56.105B
Product # 958303717
A&E Part # 3310300.000

Pictures of the old part are:
1. http://www.irv2.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=13445 This shows the motor shaft end. Look closely inside the shaft. At 12 o'clock you'll see the remnants of the worn key.

2. http://www.irv2.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=13444 This shows a side view of the clutch. The left side (metal) goes toward the motor. The right side (plastic) goes into the awning rod.

If this happens to you the awning must be removed from the coach. There is considerable disassembly required to get to the part. Nothing is rocket science about the repair. There are just a lot of parts to keep track of.

[GaryKD]

Hi all,
An iRV2 member PMed me about a faster and cheaper solution to this problem. Drill a tap hole through the shaft where the key used to be. Tap the hole so it is threaded. Put some Loctite (or equivalent) on a set screw and screw the set screw into the hole. The set screw takes the place of the key! I still have the old part and will do this. Now I'll have a spare!

I sure am glad I post to iRV2. The stuff I overlook is usually staring me right in the face. This is why it is great to have a group of folks willing to share.

[Ronnie Bledsoe 2006 Dutchstar 43']

Thanks for sharing your PM...

[GaryKD]

The deed is done. Now I have a spare. Went to Lowe's and got 2 set screws (8-32 X 3/16 long). Drilled and tapped two holes. In go the set screws. Taped everything together. When (not if) this happens again, the spare is ready to go. I say when this happens again because the clutch shaft is soft aluminum. The motor shaft is steel. Over time the shaft key will wear away.

[ricere]

That happened to me last year. In my case, the screws that hold the motor in place were loose and the shaft was not in the slot completely and my awning did the same thing. I had it repaired at a local RV dealership for $150, but the repair didn't last long. I removed the awning and found/tightened the loose screws and the awning worked good enough until I made it to Newmar and had them repair it properly. I kept the old part, and I will use your info to do repairs myself next time.

[richwill1]

Hi Gary, hopefully you're still in touch with this thread and can give me a little more info on what's involved with getting to the clutch. For example, do you need to remove the three screws on the silver motor plate to get the motor to slide off of the shaft? Or can you just remove the two screws on the outer plastic housing and take that assembly off first? I've removed my awning from my MADP, becuase it wouldn't retract and the motor was spinning. I also called PPL and they had the PN you listed for $92. But I intend to try the set screw approach first. So any general guidlines you can provide would be appreciated. Thanks for your response. Rich

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaryKD Hi everyone, My door awning, without any reason, all of a sudden extended fully with a big bang! It was a good thing we were parked at the time this happened. The key, inside the motor clutch had worn down to nothing. It is soft metal. The bottom line is this soft metal key is all that keeps the awning retracted! Newmar has the part for $215. PPL has the part for $100. Door awning details are: A&E Oasis Elite Model # 973EK56.105B Product # 958303717 A&E Part # 3310300.000 Pictures of the old part are: 1. Door Awning Clutch - iRV2.com RV Photo Gallery This shows the motor shaft end. Look closely inside the shaft. At 12 o'clock you'll see the remnants of the worn key. 2. Door Awning Clutch - iRV2.com RV Photo Gallery This shows a side view of the clutch. The left side (metal) goes toward the motor. The right side (plastic) goes into the awning rod. If this happens to you the awning must be removed from the coach. There is considerable disassembly required to get to the part. Nothing is rocket science about the repair. There are just a lot of parts to keep track of.

[GaryKD]

Hi richwill1,
Welcome to iRV2. From memory, I removed the three screws on the motor plate to get the motor off the shaft. The bottom line is get something to put all the small parts in as you make the disassembly. I did need to get a punch and a hammer to get the awning rod end of the clutch out of the awning rod. There should be a "detent" you can use to start moving the clutch out of the awning rod. It will be much easier to reassemble everything when all the pieces are in one place. This is not hard to do and there were no surprises, for me.

If you have loosened the awning extension arms. try to get them back in their original location. If not, the awning may not retract completely to the stored position or not extend without help because it will bind on one end. I measured the diagonal of the awning across each corner to ensure I had mine even, but after many minor adjustments, my awning stores perfectly, but briefly binds on the front before releasing when opening the awning.

[richwill1]

Hi Gary, here's an update with pictures. Today I removed the motor and shaft. Evidently my awning is different from yours. Its PN is 973EU56.105B, not that you're supposed to know the difference by PN. Mine doesn't have a motor clutch part like yours, and there is no pin that sheared. Instead, the end of the motor shaft is half moon shaped, and fits into a similar shaped tube on the end of the awning tube. The fitting at end of the awning tube which receives the motor shaft is soft cast metal, and half of the end which accepts the motor shaft had broken allowing the motor shaft to spin. The end of the awning tube fitting also has spring-loaded prawns like centrifigul clutch shoes that spring out to engage stops on the awning tube to lock it for rotational drive by the motor shaft. I can rotate it by hand and see and hear them click and engage their stop as I rotate it. This end fitting on the awning tube is what broke, and I can't see any way to separate it from the rest of the awning tube without breaking it. I've tried trying to wedge it off with a screwdriver, but it wouldn't budge. So it seems like I'll have to replace the complete awning tube. Also, with the motor assembly off, seems like the awning tube can easily be slid off of the fabric without having to touch the spring arms. The awning fabric is attached to the awning tube by a rope channel, and is held in place by two wood screws near each end of the awning tube to prevent the fabric from sliding. So I'm thinking that if I tie the awning in some to take the springarm tension off, I should be able to slide the broken tube off of the fabric, and reinstall a new tube. At least it seems that it will work this way. Tomorrow, I will check with PPL for a replacement tube, and report back how the install went once I receive it. Thanks for your comments, Rich

[GaryKD]

Hi Rich,
Your description of clutch in the roller tube sound exactly like what I have. Mine works the same as yours does. Your and my pictures look very much alike. The only way I got the clutch out of the roller tube was to take a punch and hammer and work it out. There is an opening you can place the end of the punch to start the process. From your description, it sounds like ours are the same. I could be reading this wrong. If you look at my pictures and compare to your pictures, the clutch seems to be the same. My motor shaft also has a flat on it that mates with the key inside the clutch.

The only difference in our two failures is that your clutch shaft broke. Mine just wore down to nothing. The bottom line is that the motor spins and nothing happens.

The roller tube and clutch are two separate parts. The clutch has got to come out of the roller tube. consider trying more persuasion on the clutch. I'll be cheering for you!

[richwill1]

Gary, I was mistaken. Mine awning end clutch looks identical to yours when I compare my pics to yours. I was trying to separate the metal end shaft part from the beige plastic housing most of which is installed in the awning tube. Still did not see any pin. I will now order the replacement end from PPL. Rich

[richwill1]

Yep, I see the openings on both sides to tap on. I realize now that it's mainly a press fit. I'm on it! Thanks for being so helpful. I ordered the part from PPL. They had to special order it, $99.32. Will receive in a few days. Thanks again, Gary

[richwill1]

It's out! It only took 2-3 minutes to tap it out. Waiting on the new part. Yahoo!

[richwill1]

Received the motor clutch today and installed it. Awning works great! Will reinstall on coach tomorrow. Rich