Community Forums

Superslif · 09-23-2005, 05:28 AM

I was at a garage sale this morning 9-23 (Friday). The lady was selling a 98' Coleman pop-up. She said that it had a problem that when you cranked it up it would not stay up. I had a 99' Coleman that by mistake I put some lube into the area that you put the crank handle. It did the same thing as the ladies and not stay up. When I called the dealer from the campground he said you are "NOT" to lube that area. He said there are some cork like washer things that need the friction to operate right. So I had to drill out the rivets to get into that crank box and wipe the lube off. After that it worked fine again. My crank was located at bumper level. The ladies 98' Coleman crank is at waist level, meaning the working parts are inside the wall. Has anyone else had this problem?

Superslif · 09-23-2005, 05:28 AM

I was at a garage sale this morning 9-23 (Friday). The lady was selling a 98' Coleman pop-up. She said that it had a problem that when you cranked it up it would not stay up. I had a 99' Coleman that by mistake I put some lube into the area that you put the crank handle. It did the same thing as the ladies and not stay up. When I called the dealer from the campground he said you are "NOT" to lube that area. He said there are some cork like washer things that need the friction to operate right. So I had to drill out the rivets to get into that crank box and wipe the lube off. After that it worked fine again. My crank was located at bumper level. The ladies 98' Coleman crank is at waist level, meaning the working parts are inside the wall. Has anyone else had this problem?

The Poes Last Resort · 10-21-2005, 04:27 AM

I have a '98 Coleman/Fleetwood Natchez. I had the same problem last year - the top would not stay up and I noticed the "clicking" sound had gone away too. My typically over simplified band-aid fix was to leave the crank handle in place and just tie it off to the bumper with some rope. Well. Last week we went camping and our freinds were helping us set up and sheared the pin connects the crank unit to the threaded rod that operates the cables that lifts the top. (what a sentence!) So now I have a good reason to take the whole thing apart. So I did and my point to all this is - I don't have any "cork like washers" in my unit. Maybe that's my problem. I will say, the parts department of my local dealer wants $175 for a new unit (uninstalled) so I think I'll be putting this one back the way it was.

Kablewizard · 10-21-2005, 06:47 AM

We have had the same problem with it not clicking and not wanting to stay up. I did the unmanly thing

I read the book.

And low and behold in there it said if you have that problem to crank it all the way up and a little extra and it would lock in. I tried it, the first time it didn't work so I lowerd it a few inches and tried it again and it worked . It has happend one other time, and I think I cranked it down too tight and thats why it did that. We have never lubed ours like that.My nephew worked for a dealer and dose that for us and his folks.

mamaloya · 11-26-2005, 04:27 PM

We just bought our brand new 05 a couple weeks ago. We set it up today to empty out all the water to prevent the pipes from freezing and to put a little more gear in. Well, it did not make that ratcheting noise. Usually when we put it up, it clicks and you can let go even with it halfway up and it will stay. If he let it go, it would fall. We went ahead and cranked it all the way up. Did not try again to see if it clicked. dh wondered about it falling down while we were sleeping. Do we need to worry about that? Should we call the dealer? Can't believe we would have a prob so early on though.

Kablewizard · 11-26-2005, 05:29 PM

If its still under warrenty, take it in , if you can find out what it is let us know. When ours didn't lock , I took it all the way down and back up to be sure it was ratchiting. We have used it several times and no problem. I was like you hoping it wouldn't fall so thats why I made sure it was locking.

mamaloya · 11-27-2005, 12:01 PM

OK, I will give them a call tomorrow and see what they say. I will let you know.

mamaloya · 12-08-2005, 03:56 AM

OK, I finally called the dealer about the crank thing. He said that we probably overcranked and the clutch disengaged or slipped or something like that. He said now that he had gone up and down again, it should have reset. I have not been back out to put it up again though. We have had quite a bit of rain here the past week or so. It is also pretty cold and I am from New Orleans, so this is quite uncomfortable for me.

As soon as we get a little warmer and drier here, I will have dh go out with me to see if it is fine or not.

mamaloya · 12-18-2005, 01:29 PM

OK, update. We went out for the first time this weekend. We set up fine, dh put the door in, no prob and we settled in. Time to take it down, the door would not come out. Took a closer look, I said "could the top have lowered during the time we were here"? dh went and cranked it up, and sure enough, the top had dropped about 1-2 inches. dh and i just looked at each other. I guess the door kept it from dropping any further. I don't know why it did that. It was obviously up all the way or the door would not have gone in. I will call the dealer again this week sometime.