Spring Tube Repair

So Tim tried to make raising the roof easier using a Socket Jenie and a cordless drill. On our trip to Kentucky, 3 1/2 hours from home, this mod went wrong, way wrong. As the roof was raising up it went fast, too fast, and the front door side lift post jammed up. There was a loud pop, and looking underneath was a disastrous sight. Needless to say Donna was not a happy camper at this point.

The spring tube broke off the main box leaving the spring hanging

We did manage to get the roof up and got to camp. We even stayed an extra day. Getting it down was the next challenge. We asked a neighboring camper for help, and they came and we were able to get the roof down. Then Tim had to crawl under the camper and tie up the spring so it wouldn't be dragging on the road for the ride home.

Since it's a Goshen Stamping lift system, and we bought a cable from them a few years ago they got a call for parts. They gave us a three week window for delivery, but the parts actually arrived in about two weeks. 

Box of new parts

So Tim and son Tyler worked on installing the new parts for over 4 hours. They had no luck, the tubes just seemed to be shaped wrong. Another issue is the spring also seemed to be too long. As we tried to push one end of the spring into the main box the one on the camper side would push out. Tim measured 1 1/2" too long and cut both ends off with a side grinder. However the tubes still would not line up.

The next day our son-in-law Jesse stopped by. Told him the issues we had with trying to fix the camper. "Let me take a look" he says. So Jesse slides under, takes a look and asks me for the old tube. "Something doesn't look right" he said. He spent 2 1/2 hours under the camper moving tubes and springs. Tim was the go-fer guy grabbing tools, rags and what ever. We still had an issue with the tubes lining up correctly to the camper frame, but Jesse took my hydraulic jack, placed it underneath the tube and lifted/forced it into place just enough to get the bolts through. If you look at the pictures there is a bend in the old tubes and the new ones are straight. After the camper sides were bolted down, Jesse slides back under the camper to snug all the bolts up. When he slides back out he says "It should go up now" Sure enough, I crank on the winch and up it goes. I could only crank it up about 8" since it's in the garage.
Three days later we finally got it off the ramps and out of the garage. Once it got leveled Tim cranked it up. All the way up with no problem! Measuring roof edge to the camper box the front is about 1/4" higher than the back. 

The only thing we can figure is 26 years of bouncing down the road has caused the spring tubes to get the bend in them. That bend is right where the tube crosses the frame. Below is first test to open fully after repair. Back to camping!

More than happy to help people out if you have questions, contact me here