Dometic Oasis-elite front door remote power awning on my 07 Fleetwood

[BruceNeu]

I went to retract my door awning and as it came back it slammed hard, then went right back out. It won't roll back now. The motor just spins (in either direction) while using the remote control. Some component failed, perhaps a gear?
I called Dometic for a parts diagram to see how the motor attaches to the awning roller but they told to contact one of their dealers in my area. I'm currently traveling in my motor home, imagine that? Thank you Gorilla tape, at least I can drive.
Anyone have ideas or experience?

[Darrel]

There is a little pot metal coupling between the motor and the spring loaded awning. They are notorious for wearing out. There are some threads in this forum about "how to repair". I tried it with limited success. Now mine is cable tied in the retracted position.


Ha e a nice day - Darrel

[FatChance]

The motor has a "D" shaped output shaft that fits into a "D" shaped hole in a pot metal female connector to the awning roller. The pot metal connector hole stripped out so the shaft just spins in it. When that happened to mine, I drilled and tapped a 1/4" hole in the pot metal connector and inserted a grub screw that sat on the flat of the "D" shaped output shaft, locking it in place. Took about two hours and it has not had a problem since.

[FatChance]

Here is a quick overview.

First, remove the two piece motor cover on the awning. Note: this picture is from the end of the job when I was testing that it worked. Attach the wires properly! You can also see where I drilled the hole in the plastic motor mount to insert the grub screw, read on:

Then remove the motor and the plastic motor mount. You can see the "D" shaped motor shaft.

That will expose the pot metal female connector that has been stripped out by the motor shaft. Drill and tap a hole (I used 1/4x20).

Then drill an access hole (3/8") in the plastic motor mount, attach the plastic motor mount to the awning, then insert a grub screw through that hole and thread the screw (use blue loctite) into the female shaft, making sure to index it so the screw hits the flat on the motor shaft.

Install plastic motor cover.

[BruceNeu]

Ok, great. Thanks, I will attack this when I get home. I really appreciate your help and posting of the photos!!
Bruce

[BruceNeu]

Hello, I just sent a message by mobile and tried to attach 2 photos but it said that it failed. I will try here. Can you tell me what screws to remove in order to get the awning motor and assembly off, please?

[BruceNeu]

FatChance can you look at my post from earlier today, please?

Thanks,
Bruce

[Martind4]

I followed Fatchance's instructions on drilling and tapping with a 1/4 X 20 setscrew, except I didn't drill the access hole in the plastic housing. I used blue loctite on the screw and tightened it until I could still remove the motor shaft easily. It's been several months now with no problem.

[jrclark]

These are made by Fiamma an Italian company. There USA web site www.fiammausa.com.

[Martind4]

Originally Posted by jrclark

These are made by Fiamma an Italian company. There USA web site www.fiammausa.com.

If you talk with someone at Fiamma, their nomenclature for the motor/gearbox assembly is called a "winch". It took a little while to understand I had a "winch" driven awning.

Nice customer service, they even called me back on a Saturday.

[FatChance]

Sorry for the delay. I didn't see this post before today.

It has been a while but I think that plastic motor mount is held on to the awning frame with a couple pop rivets around the outside. As I recall, if the rivets are drilled out (1/8" or 3/16" drill bit?) then the motor and plastic motor mount can be pulled out. Do you see some rivets?

[FatChance]

Found it: Here is a picture that shows one of those rivets. Remove those then the motor and plastic motor mount can be pulled out. That gives you access to the fasteners holding the motor to the plastic motor mount.

Is that the information you needed?

Edit: while you are at it, drill a small hole in the bottom of the plastic motor cover so any water that gets in there can drain out. So people had a problem when water in there shorted out their motor.

[FatChance]

One more picture showing the outside cover pulled back showing the hole where the rivet was drilled out. Expand the picture to see it, I hope the uploaded picture has enough resolution. The rope on the arms is there to remove spring pressure on the awning tensioning springs. There should be another rivet on the top.

[BruceNeu]

Originally Posted by FatChance

One more picture showing the outside cover pulled back showing the hole where the rivet was drilled out. Expand the picture to see it, I hope the uploaded picture has enough resolution. The rope on the arms is there to remove spring pressure on the awning tensioning springs. There should be another rivet on the top.

Attachment 223099

Thank you FatChance, I figured it out. There were 2 long screws and 1 pop rivet that holds it together. I used a short bungee cord to pull the arms together like you did with rope. I did have to drill a 3/8 clearance hole to get the flat on the motor shaft to line up with the new threads in the awning's roller end. Used a 1/4 inch long set screw.