928gt
Western North Carolina
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Joined: 08/29/2006
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Hi Guys,
I recently picked up the parts to upgrade my A&E Awning to a Power Awning including instructions. I had been wanting to do this for a while and have discovered it is easier than I thought.
However I have run into a problem with the parts I got. The swap is straight forward, but due to the low mounting height of my original awning combined with the lowish height of my WW LE (as compared to more modern higher designs) it appears the arms I have will not put my awning up to a usable height (angle too steep) .
Luckily I did get the newer style arms that are also adjustable for pitch, but the arms I have seem to be for the higher mounted awnings.
A&E makes 2 different style arms for just this reason, one is approx 63" long (the ones I have), the other set is around 67" long.
My question is if anyone has an A&E (Dometic)9100 power awning with the longer arms (67" closed) could they post a pic of their setup and/or measure from the ground up to the main awning rail.
I am trying to determine if I do get the longer arms that it will work for my setup height, or not.
If I can't confirm this I am going to abandon the project and sell the "kit" I have on Ebay.
Below are pics of the parts I have, any help or guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks as always for the fantastic help and advice always found here!
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* This post was
edited 11/12/09 09:42am by 928gt *
David
2007 Weekend Warrior LE3505 Billet Edition
2005 F-350 DRW CC LB 4x4 Tow Boss w/Tow Command
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nayther
Burbank, CA
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Joined: 03/21/2005
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If anyone can figure this out it's you. I do believe you're the mod. king right now.
DIRT BIKES RULE
'05 Duramax CC short bed
'06 3005 Rage'n Falcon
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928gt
Western North Carolina
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nayther wrote:If anyone can figure this out it's you. I do believe you're the mod. king right now.
Thanks for the vote of confidence!
I have no problem executing the mod as it really is very easy and straight forward. I just don't want to throw more money/time at the project getting the longer arms if my awning and ride height is too low for even those to get the awning up at the height I prefer.
Right now I have less than $150 invested for the new arms and new motor/spring assemblies. It took patience to wait to find the right deals on those. But waiting longer for the same good deal on the longer arms without confirmation it will work is getting to the limits of my patience. :-)
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rvtommy
blooming prairie minnesota
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Joined: 07/15/2004
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JUST MY THOUGHT!!!! Have you seen the power awning on another rig?? I do like the idea of pushing a switch and the awning is down or up. I do not like the idea there is no adjustment to lower one side or lower it more in the late afternoon sun it really works great at noon but in the late afternoon and the sun is at 4 oclock not much shade!!!! Just my 2 cents rvtommy.
this is rvtommy
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928gt
Western North Carolina
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rvtommy wrote:JUST MY THOUGHT!!!! Have you seen the power awning on another rig?? I do like the idea of pushing a switch and the awning is down or up. I do not like the idea there is no adjustment to lower one side or lower it more in the late afternoon sun it really works great at noon but in the late afternoon and the sun is at 4 oclock not much shade!!!! Just my 2 cents rvtommy.
Hi,
Please refer to this sentence in my original post :
"Luckily I did get the newer style arms that are also adjustable for pitch, but the arms I have seem to be for the higher mounted awnings."
Dometic learned quickly from feedback that the power awning needed a pitch adjustment, not only for shade, but more so for proper rain runoff even thought they have a spring loaded shock system designed to dump the rain. They even went so far to offer free upgraded arms with the pitch adjustment to those with the original non-adjustable arms.
* This post was
edited 11/12/09 01:44pm by 928gt *
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MaxAZ
Arizona
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Joined: 01/22/2007
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Looking at the picture of your camper below the OP it looks like you've got the same problem as my camper. Mainly the awning is mounted to low and just barely above the entry door. On my rig, when I extend the awning I have to raise it so high to clear the door when opened that it extends straight out from the camper. This results in poor water drainage and also allows the awning to catch even the most mild breeze and act like a parachute. I'd like to try and raise the awning strip just 6" to repair the problem and was wondering if you'd considered the same thing. I went as far as removing each screw in the awning strip and found that some screws went into wood and others were simply fastened to the aluminum side panel. I feel like if I raise the awning I have to get 2/3s of the screws secured to the wall frame and I just can't find an easy way to reinforce the wall along where I want the strip placed. If you've considered this, maybe you've got some ideas for me.
20008 Chevy 2500 HD Duramax pulling a 2008 Rampage 281 Toyhauler.
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928gt
Western North Carolina
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Hi MaxAZ,
Agree 100% about the awning height, this is one of the only pet peeves with my Weekend Warrior. I assume because they were designed by "desert guys" they wanted to keep the awning as low as possible for better shade and down out of the wind more. Luckily they use rounded corner doors or it would be a big issue.
I usually keep the end towards the front (and closest to the door) higher (almost flat) and dip the rearward end for drainage. So far it has worked out OK even in the hardest rainstorms.
Moving the rail higher brings out a whole new set of issues. First you will have holes to fill, since mine is gelcoat that is a cosmetic challenge. It can be over come but the bigger challenge is the "blocking" behind the rail. When the manufacturers build the walls they place reinforcement or backing materials in the location of the awning rail to give them something more solid to mount the rail to. If you try to move the rail up you will mostly not have that backing reinforcement and it will not be mounted as strongly as original. If you catch enough studs it should be OK and most likely never have a problem, but it is a risk. The combination of this and the cosmetic issue of the leftover holes is what prevents me from moving the rail. I could do it and most likely you would never tell it was moved, I just don't think the negatives of doing so are worth it for me.....for now.
I do know I certainly wouldn't do it just to use a power awning. As we all know the manual awnings are no big deal to open and close and the power upgrade was more for fun then any other reason.
Starting to look more and more like this "kit" is going to Ebay :-(
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MaxAZ
Arizona
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Joined: 01/22/2007
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My trailer has the aluminum siding so cosmetically I think I could pull it off. Like you said though, catching studs is difficult. My buddies awning is exactly 6" higher above the door and he has no problems so I'm still looking into doing this since it just annoys me to no end that it was installed this way. One problem is finding the studs that are there. My stud finder won't pick them up on the inside or outside of the wall no matter what setting I use. I've thought about pulling the top aluminum panel off and just reinforcing between the studs but that seems kind of extreme so for now I'm just grasping at straws. Sure would be nice to have a picture of how the inner wall is laid out.
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