First of all, please, please don't make such long paragraphs. Us old guys have short attention spans
Fairly easy job but with a very long topper you will need a second pair of hands. I just had to add more tension to our 13 foot topper sinch I was aware that when I installed it, my helper unrolled it another turn by mistake.
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- The first thing you need to do is to make a couple lock pins. I used about a 4" long piece of coat hanger with one end bent at 90*
- Roll the slide out about a foot. It makes a nice shelf which will be welcomed
- Next, you need to check if the spring has popped off the retainer by putting Vise Grips on the protruding 'axles'. If that spring turns freely, with no tension, it just gets a little more complicated. You will need to drill out the rivets, dig the retainer out (~18" inside the tube) then reassemble, using new pop rivets, 3/16" if I recall - one of mine needed that after being shipped.
- With the topper ready, you can lower it to the slide roof. With the Vise Grips, wind 14, not 13 turns since the topper is now partially unrolled. Wind in the direction shown on the instruction sheet. Insert that pin you made up in the factory hole.
- Install the new brackets on the 'axles', using the original 'D' safety pins.
- Bolt the brackets back on the slide then pull the coat hanger pins and you are done. DO NOT pull those coat hanger pins until you are 100% done with everything else
This can be a dangerous job. The springs are under quite a bit of tension and losing your grip on the Vise Grips can hurt you and damage the RV. It will also mean that you will probably have to drill out those rivets, retrieve the retainers and start all over.
Take your time!!!!!
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