08 Camelot 40PDQ Door Awning Removal?

[RustyTools]

Ours came to us inoperative in the closed position.

I have power at the switch, but can't check further. One of the pdf's I have says power comes from 'House DC Dist CRT8', but I haven't owned this coach long enough to use its new secret-decoder-ring to understand where it's referring-to or where the fuse might be located.

Data Card says it's a 'Carefree VZ05025WM 289711334', but that's pretty much useless. Looking thru the Carefree info, I see mine looks kinda like a 'Marquee' or maybe a discontinued 'Freedom', but neither are exact. For instance, they refer to removing screws in the end-caps to access the internals but my caps don't have any holes.

What awning do I have, where is its fuse and how do I get the awning off?

Thanks

[hypoxia]

I worked on a '06 Beaver with a Carefree door awning. Motor was not watertight and design required the awning to be out to access it. The motor on it was at the aft end of the awning assembly.

I had to pry the motor cover back enough to insert a slim wrench and rotate the shaft 1/16th of a turn at a time.

[RustyTools]

Woops! Here's a couple photos to help...

[RustyTools]

What exactly did you have to pry back? The rounded rear cover itself? How was it attached?

[hypoxia]

Keep in mind I'm not sure it is the same model Carefree.

[RustyTools]

Heh-heh-heh. I've heard it said "A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words", so I guess that counts as "A Thousand And Three".

Thanks for the details, hypoxia

[RustyTools]

OK, in digging some more, it looks like the Freedom awning has arms down the side, in addition to the motor in the base. Guess I have a Marquee then - internal motor and no arms.

Still don't know how to get into it, or get it off the wall.

[MikeyG]

Rusty:
Before you take apart the awning, you may want to find the awning power cord in the upper passenger cabinet where it comes through the sidewall. The power cord runs from the cabinet down the windshield post and God knows where it goes from there. You can cut the cord and apply a good 12V source to the awning to see if its operable. If my batteries are the least bit low, I can't get enough power to operate the awning. Rewiring the awning is on my to do list, but until then, if it won't operate, I use my cordless drill battery to open and close the awning from a small pigtail I added where I cut the cord.


If that doesn't work:
When my awning failed, the cam at the motor broke and the awning sprung open. There are 2 spring loaded arms that hold it in the open position. Once its open, there are 2 or 3 rivets from the awning base to the side of the coach. The awning needs to be open to access them.
If I remember correctly, the caps do pry off, just be careful. Once you get them off, you probably turn the motor to deploy the awning and get to the rivets. Once the rivets are out, slide the awing assembly out of the track. You'll need to pull the power cord and cut it at some point.
Good luck.
Mike

[Captjake1]

I would 2nd the checking out the power. I have had ours off multiple times, replaced motor once. Last time it quit was a very slightly corroded connection to the switch.
There are limit adjustments on the motor as well.

[RustyTools]

Just took a lunch break. Good point. My Grand_dad was always riding me as a kid to fix the simple stuff first.

Noticed the litle light on the patio awning lockout switch dims a bit when pressing the door awning switch. Power's going somewhere.


By the way... Sure do appreciate y'all being right there on the ladder with me so much, especially with this coach. Sure beats doing things by myself!

[cruzbill]

When we bought our Beaver, the tech said he drilled a small hole in the end cap (I believe) so that the water would drain. He said that's how these things fail. I take him at his word as ours works fine. Is there a manual crank to open the awning?

[hypoxia]

Some have small metal nubs on the bottom of the awning below the motor to check power.

[Happycarz]

FYI: The door awning, thermostat, satellite power and TV booster are in bathroom 12v panel fuse #8, second down on right side.

Do the lights dim when pushing switch both direction?

If you need to remove awning and you get it extended, you will drill out the 2 or 3 rivets, then tilt the bottom out a bit and lift it off the rail that it hangs from. Cut the wires inside the cabinet at least 6” back from where they go through wall before doing the outside work. The power wires are taped to the backside of the awning and run the length of it before going through the wall.

New awning tube motor from Amazon with metal drive.




Original motor with plastic drive

[RustyTools]

Well, after thinking I might have to disassemble the front ball-joints and one AC unit ( ) to get to it, I finally got the motor out. Seems it's just a little bit longer than the space available before it hits the patio awning arms, preventing it from simply sliding out. Had to disassemble everything in the awning so I could pull the roller forward and then wriggle the motor out.

I read a dead short across the leads, verified with just a spark when hooked to a 14v cordless drill battery. Fortunately they're still available.

1) What part(s) is 'supposed' to move ? Since it's froze-up, I get no movement anywhere but I'm trying to figure out what should move. Maybe I can break it loose, while waiting for the new one.

2) Anyone familiar with where the wiring comes thru the external wall? I had to fight to get any slack in the motor leads, so I had to cut the wires coming out of the wall very short. I'd prefer not to drill the rivets and remove the entire assembly, which means I need to find where the wires disappear into the space between the inner & outer wall and start digging there to connect.