Full timing in SE New Mexico for 14 months left my slide topper fabric badly damaged from the desert sun and wind. Today I replaced the fabric.
I purchased new fabric from
http://www.rv-motorhome-answers.com/...ut-topper.html . The new material was noticibly heaver than the original and their instructions made the swap out quite easy. It took me only 15 minutes to lock the roller tube and remove the old fabric. Here are a few photos.
The new fabric was a perfect fit as compared to the old.
It is necessary to unroll all of the old fabric from the roller tube and lock the roller. The roller is locked by inserting a device, I used a small Awl, through the cap slots and through a hole in the tube shaft. This is explained very well in the installation instructions. When unrolling the old fabric you are working against the roller spring so you must maintain a good grip on the roller until it is locked. A 2nd person is very valuable on doing this step.
The old fabric came off quite easily. A set screw on the trailer channel had to be removed to allow the cord to slide out of the channel. This screw keeps the topper from sliding fore to aft in the channel due to wind while traveling.
When the old fabric was removed, the slideout top was found to be quite dirty. At this point, I put the slide out in and pulled the trailer out of the garage and gave ity a good bath. While it was all accessable, I gave the rubber seal a good 303 treatment.
The installation instructions provide cautions to file the sharp corners of the channels that accept the topper cords. These corners are sharp and could tear the new fabric as it is installed. I did this on both the trailer channel and the roller tube.
I was able to do everything so far by myself. However, a 2nd person is required to keep the cords straight as they slide into the channels while the other person pulls the fabric into place.
Here the new fabric has been slid in place. This is where I tried to make sure it was square to both the trailer and roller then reinsert the set screw removed from the trailer channel earlier.
Next, the locking awl is removed by rotating the roller to take tension off it then remove the awl. Then the roller is alowed to slowly roll the slack out of the new material.
I put the slideout in and out twice to ensure the new topper rolled and unrolled evenly. Having verified that, the job is all done. Following the instructions priovided by
http://www.rv-motorhome-answers.com/...ut-topper.html this was a very easy job. Not counting the time to clean the roof and apply 303 to the seals it took approximately 45 minutes to remove the old material and install the new. I fully expect this new heavier material to last far longer than the original.
I am very pleased with the new slide topper fabric, the fit, and the service I got from RV-Motorhome-Answers.
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