Community Forums

AFChap · 03-26-2008, 03:54 PM

I noticed this morning that the stitching is coming out on one of my Carefree Colorado slide toppers. Can anyone refer me to a place in the Ft Worth/Dallas area that can repair or make new slide toppers? I will remove them and take them to someone who can do it.

AFChap · 03-26-2008, 03:54 PM

I noticed this morning that the stitching is coming out on one of my Carefree Colorado slide toppers. Can anyone refer me to a place in the Ft Worth/Dallas area that can repair or make new slide toppers? I will remove them and take them to someone who can do it.

RV Wizard · 03-27-2008, 12:33 AM

Just order new fabric from carefree. IF you can take it off and put it back on you will save an hours labor at a repair shop.

Blue Ribbon · 03-27-2008, 07:09 AM

Changing the fabric in the topper is easy and Carefree sends good instructions. You just need to be VERY careful on the safety pin, so that the spring does not let go while you are working on it.

AFChap · 04-28-2008, 08:42 AM

I finally got around to doing something with my toppers. I took both off the coach this past weekend ... removed the entire tube, though it occurs to me now that leaving the tube there and removing just the canvas might have made putting them back on easier!

The stitching is coming out along the coach side on the large topper, apx 15 ft long. The canvas on both appears to be in pretty good shape, though both have some small pulls, etc that you can see daylight through at both ends where it attaches to the coach.

I've been told by parts palces that there is a sticker or something on the tube that will tell me exactly what model/size etc they are so I can get the right replacement canvas ...but I have not found any stickers or other numbers of any kind on the fabric or the tube.

I have a call in to Lichtsinn to price replacement canvas, but I'm not totally convinced they need to be outright replaced ...even thought of putting short strips of Eternabond or something similar on the bottom side of the toppers at each end to reinforce the areas that have the pulls. ...or I could take what I have to an awning place to have them make new ones out of whatever fabric I select.

So, I'm looking at options. We're just NW of Ft Worth this week, and will be on the south side of the Dallas area for the next month, and wondering if anyone has had awnings made or repaired somewhere locally that they would recommend?

Fossilhog · 04-28-2008, 08:59 AM

I replaced mine myself, with a friend that is and 2 ladders. When I called Lichtsinn, I gave them the Winnebago Mfg # and they povided me with the 2 slide toppers, not very expensive. As far as the install, we used 2 phillips screwdrivers in the rollers to facilitate the wind and lock and then slid the toppers in place. I see you took your roller off. I suppose you need to pre-load it somehow, probably call the mfg. I've been told the toppers don't really last too long, but I do recall reading here that some guys had custom replacements made much higher quality.

AFChap · 04-28-2008, 09:36 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I see you took your roller off. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I did "pin" the roller in the slide extended position, so shouldn't be a big deal to put it back on.

rotts4u · 05-02-2008, 05:22 PM

If you use the search function you will find a lot of people including me that simply removed the old topper and took it to a local awning shop. My place charged me about $40 each for mine and the material looked identical to what I took out and the price included sewing in the bead cord too.

Easyrider · 05-03-2008, 06:58 AM

Rotts has got a good idea. We have taken different things over the years to our local awning shop and they have always done a great job repairing or replacing whatever we needed done, at a very economical price, and with better materials than the original! Good luck with your project!

AFChap · 05-21-2008, 06:45 PM

Got my new toppers put on yesterday evening and this morning! Replacement with Carefree mfg toppers would have run apx $235 plus shipping. I found a local awning/canvas place in Duncanville TX south of Dallas that i was going to have restitch them for apx $75. But after closer examination, I decided to have them totally replaced. Out the door cost w/tax was $162.

I didn't have a helper, but getting them back on wasn't bad. I put the rollers back on first, then easily pushed the fabric back on the smaller one (103"). The 166" larger one took some tugging on the other end a few times between pushing sessions. Then I manually rolled the extra fabric onto the roller, locked the roller into place, removed the pin to release the tension, did a test retract and extend, and put the covers back on.

All is done, and they look great! And my install is better than the original as the rubber piping was not well centered from the factory, which is part of what led to corner tearing. Looks like we are good for at least another 5 years!!

RV Wizard · 05-22-2008, 10:50 AM

Paul, glad to hear you have replaced the toppers. COngratulations. THe wife and I replaced our last Sunday, I had been carrying them around for a year! We had a hail storm about 6 weeks ago and I finally got around to it!