Lift Repair

I was showing someone our Niagara and was closing it up.  Sometimes it's a pain to get it shut the first time.  I was unable to get the final corner latched and I told them to unlatch their end and I would crank the camper back up.  I heard some weird noises and couldn't see the far corner that was still latched.  My friend said, "Try it some more" and I mentioned how it was making a weird noise, then BOOM!  "Oops" was their response when I asked if they had unlatched the corner like I told them to.  Anyway... what the heck am I going to do now to save some money fixing this thing?  We haven't even used it yet and it's already broken!  I have been researching RV repair and can't find anything but references to Jayco and Coleman systems.  Is the Fleetwood system a cable system as well?  I'm just wondering if I'm going to be able to fix this myself.  Any info and/or links would be greatly appreciated!

Hopefully you haven't snapped a cable.  There is a thread on one of the popup camper sites (Popup Times, Popup Explorer, Popup Portal) that has the Fleetwood/Coleman parts listing for many years of PUP's - I printed the Niagara listing for 2006, but the URL is not listed on any of the pages so I can't give you that info.  This Repair Parts Catalog has good diagrams as well as the various part numbers.

Is the motor on the lift working.  You might be able to manually crank the roof up if the cable is not snapped. 

Best Wishes!

The cable snapped.  Doh!  I saw it underneath the camper.  The lift motor is still working, but there is no way to get into the wall from the inside our outside without removing the body panel.  Lucky for me, I saw How It's Made on the Discovery Channel the other day and watched a quick video on how they construct popups.  Now that I'm an expert  , I'll simply reverse engineer the system and replace the cable.

I'm going to make sure I put a whole day aside to make sure I accommodate for any possible problems and any trips that'll be made to the parts store.

And I found this http://www.rvworkshop.com/Coleman_Lift_Systems.pdf

Hi,

Have a Saratoga with a cable lift system like the Niagra.  Replacing the cable connection underneath at the rear of the trailer is not too bad.  On you back working above you.  The other end, at the top of the riser, not so easy.  In fact, the repair shop that fixed mine, pulled the riser out, made up the new cable on it.  Then fed the rear end cable connection through the riser hole and dropped in the riser.  Fastened the riser into place, then connected the cable at the rear of the trailer.

The thing I wanted to mention, is the order things have to go in, to successfully close the  trailer each time.  Learned this the hard way.
1.  Have both bunks pulled out.
2.  Push in the slideout, avoid getting any tenting trapped by the slideout, especially the side windows.
3.  Very Important:  Pull all the slideout tent material back outside. Especially the side window.  Otherwise the runners from the bunks spear the tent material. 
4. Assure all bungee cords are free on the bunk ends.  They even hook themselves sometimes making it difficult to put the tenting all the way in.
5. Push one bunk in at a time, assuring that none of the slideout tenting gets jammed by the runners.

Now the roof can be lowered in steps:
  Lower to 2 ft. above closed.  Push in and fold down tent fabric all around.
  Lower to 2 in. above closed.  Push and flip all fabric up into the roof.
  Lower the roof all the way down, and do not be in a hurry to latch it down.  It takes minutes for the air to be pressed out of the tenting.

Hope this helps.

Well, I bought the cable the other day and went to repair it tonight.  After getting everything all ready to hook up wo the wiffletree, I found out they sold me the wrong cable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So much for trusting your local RV shop.  I took the thing apart 3 more times to make sure I didn't make a mistake.  Nope!  Wrong length - by almost 2 ft!!!

I did not have to remove the sides.  ;D  I opened the camper and held it up with a 2x4.  There are two nuts inside the top of the lift bar.  On the bottom, there are 4 nuts to be removed which you can see under the camper while looking in the frame.  Then you have to get the top lifted ALL THE WAY and slide the lift bar out.  Due to the cabling, you'll notice that the sliding pieces bunch up the cables if you're simply sliding the parts in and out.  Keep tension on the bottom wire and let gravity help you.  Kinda weird, but you'll know what I mean if you ever have to do this repair.

Well, the RV store sold me the wrong cable (as I said earlier).  When I told them what happened, this one fellow said, "Well, you can stand inside and hold it up."  Not the answer I was looking for.  The parts guy said to get 5/16" cable.  I didn't even process that is almost 1/2" thick!  So, like an idiot, I drove from parts store to parts store, looking for 5/16" cable until I finally found it and said, "Wait a second..."  I called the RV store and he says, "Oh yeah!  I meant 1/8"."    1.5 hours later.

I bought 20' of it for almost $20 less than the original (wrong) cable.  Unfortunately, the original cable has a threaded stud to put the washer and adjusting nut on and my makeshift cable does not.  I estimated the length with the camper open and completely closed - closed works better.  I crimped two lead crimps (?), one on the cable and then one behind it with the cable looped through.

So, if you ever have to replace a main cable, it's not too difficult once you have the correct equipment.  If anyone is searching for lift repair in the future and needs some info/help, please feel to IM me and I'll help if I can.  Locals may even get a free house call to help out. 

BTW, there was a crack in the outdoor shower cold water line that had to be repaired after we got to the campsite.  And the RV store never replaced the fresh water tank plug after winterizing the camper.  Luckily we had water at the site, so I was able to hook up the hose after repairing the line.  And when I got home, I noticed the shutoff valves that would've saved me time while I was camping.  I used this to repair the leak: http://www.rescuetape.com/

Back again!  We went camping this weekend and I was trying to get the hot water to work Saturday night.  Turns out they never replaced the plug in the hot water tank.  But wait!!!  The fresh water tank plug I mentioned before was sitting inside the door for the hot water heater unit.  Can't wait to see what I find in other places!

I called the RV dealership and told them I was missing the hot water tank plug (aka anode rod... I'm such a noob).  Stopped by and got a replacement today.  They looked at me like I was crazy when I said thanks and started to leave.  I asked if they expected me to pay for a part they forgot to replace after winterizing it.  They explained how they are frequently replaced and finally said, "Oh, don't worry about it."  Sheesh!