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Old 09-21-2017, 04:16 PM   #1
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roof vent cover

Had a bit of a (mis)adventure last week. Left home with two MaxxAir brand roof vent covers on my T1950 and when I arrived in Banff there was only 1/2 of the rear one remaining. The front one was completely gone. I thought maybe I had struck a bird or something but there was no evidence of that. Roof doesn't look hail damaged in any way. The remainder of the rear cover was somewhat brittle. Long story short, these things have a limited life span.

Its strange that they both disintegrated on the same trip. Maybe the front one caught the back one on its way bye??? I have replaced them both now which was quite easy as the mounting brackets and bolts were all still there. Another coincidence, mine where 7 years old and the stickers on the new one's say they have a 6 year limited warranty. If you have these roof vent covers give them a check.
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Old 09-22-2017, 02:31 PM   #2
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I bought two just this week....it started with the vent cover (not the Maxxair). I looked up and part of it had crumbled. That is sort of a good thing that lead to the discovery that the Maxxair had a notch missing too. We got replacements for both vents and Maxxairs. Today #2 is being added. We just got the really great 2003 T1950 about a month ago and we are steadily getting some great advice from this forum for our update list.


I am glad you mentioned this for others to see. It would be awful to find yourself in the rain and two big leaks in the roof.
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Old 09-28-2017, 10:50 AM   #3
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Hi,

The Maxx Air covers are a really good investment. They are also made from a better plastic to hold up to the UV rays of the sun. However, I too have found that if they are left untreated in their natural state, after 6 to 10 years they too will become brittle if the camper live outside all the time. The bolt slots are the first to crack and then the cover can fly off. Having had older and now newer Maxx Air covers, I have seen Maxx Air has changed the mounting slots a little to help this cracking issue the way they mold the slot. The new ones have a reinforced area by the slot were the older ones (year 2003 - 2004 ish or older vintage) do not. This added reinforcement helps this cracking issue.

I have found that when you buy them new (or even when used and you acquired them) that spraying the inside and the outside of the cover with a 303 UV protectant when installing them can really help extend the life. Also spray the vent lid and the gasket under the vent lid while you are at it. https://www.goldeagle.com/product/30...ace-protectant

They sell 303 in a lot of places. Amazon, Walmart, Auto parts stores etc. I use it on all plastic, vinyl, roof caulking, the rubber roof on the camper. It for sure helps extend the life before the brittleness comes. Apply each time I wash the roof to the outsides of all things up there.

On the Maxx Air covers, I also have found that the cracking of the mounting slots is aggravated by the tightening of the mounting bolts. While you need to tighten them enough to not come loose, if they are over tight they create a stress point were the splits will first start. I have found this now on several of the campers I have repaired and my own original covers. To help combat this issue, I use this mounting method.

1. Buy, 4 extra 1/4-20 stainless full hex nuts per cover.
2. Place the flat washer against the slot provided by Maxx Air.
3. Gently tighten the Maxx Air provided nut against the flat washer. This "gently" means, take out all the play in the joint and then only a little more tension. This is enough to hold the cover from moving but not enough to prevent nut backing off under vibration.
4. Add the 1/4" lock washer on top of the nut in step 3.
5. Add your second added 1/4-20 full nut on top of the lock washer. Using a wrench on the bottom nut to hold it from moving, fully tighten the top nut against the lock washer. This is a double nut with a lock washer in the middle setup. This anti vibration mounting method will not come loose and will not put extra pressure on the plastic trying to keep the nuts from comeing loose. This is a very old machinery method to keep fasteners from coming loose under high vibration.

See this pic of what I described above. I have been using this now for 9 years and between the 303 and the double nut setup, no cracks and no brittleness has been seen.


Hope this helps

John
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Old 09-28-2017, 03:35 PM   #4
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303 protectant also does wonders for the tires
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Old 08-08-2019, 07:04 PM   #5
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This is good to know. My 2006 Saloris T-2553 I just bought Monday needs the interior vents need replaced so as a precaution maybe I need to replace the Max Air vent also.
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Old 08-08-2019, 10:44 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeana View Post
This is good to know. My 2006 Saloris T-2553 I just bought Monday needs the interior vents need replaced so as a precaution maybe I need to replace the Max Air vent also.
If you have Maxx air brand vent covers, they are made out of very good plastic. Much better then any crank up tilting vent cover I have seen. It is often the tilting crank up cover will go bad from sun damage and the Maxx air cover is still good.

When you take the Maxx air cover off, see if the plastic is brittle. I doubt it will be as a 2006 is not that old yet for the Maxx air. For the tilting vent cover, they usually die at 10 years or less if the camper is outside all the time. The Maxx airs. I have seen some go 15 years and still going strong. Most of the older ones crack at the bolting area as they were over tightened to stop the nut from backing off. The double nutting I showed above help prevent that. Maxx air has changed the molded in bolting point on the new ones to help that. Point being, check it and see if it is OK. If it cracked badly change it. If not, you can keep using it and check it yearly.
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Old 08-09-2019, 04:42 AM   #7
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Thank you very much for your advice. I’m hoping the max air vents will be in good shape. But the crank up vents definitely have to be replaced.
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