1995 Coleman Cedar: Roof Crank Question

Hey all,

My family and I just bought our first tent trailer and we took it out for the first time yesterday. We only had time to go for one night which means a lot of setting up and tearing down just for 24 hours in the woods with a couple of kids who absolutely refused to sleep or get along or even just stop crying for a second, but such is life when you're camping with 2 kids under the age of 4

We love the camper so far. It's exactly what we wanted- lightweight, easy to tow and store, and much more comfortable than tent camping which we've done with both of the girls for years.

MY QUESTION- Today when I was cranking the roof down I noticed that I was turning the handle but the roof wasn't lowering, and it would happen intermittently. When I looked closer at the mechanism I could see that the part between the handle and the actual gears would sometimes turn with the handle but not move the gears.

Imagine that the gear that rotates the chain the raise to lower the cables and the handle that you insert and turn have a metal tube between them (I don't know the names for any of these parts). If you turn the handle it will turn the tube which will turn the gear. But in my case sometimes when I would turn the handle the tube would turn and the gear would not. But then I would turn it clockwise a few times to get the tube to butt back up against the gear and then turn clockwise and the roof would lower a little but then the tube would back off the gear a little bit and stop turning it.

I know that's confusing and I'm trying to explain this the best that I can. I hope someone out there knows what I'm trying to say.

Either way, I'm looking forward to what my trailer, as well as this forum, has in store for me and my girls in the future.

 

Oh wow, that’s really unexpected. So replacing those parts is the only way to fix this? There’s nothing I could do to repair it with the existing parts?

I knew when I bought this that there would be some upkeep but I didn’t expect to be spending $200-300 within a week of buying it

Thanks for the help!

 

I wonder if my problem is a little different. If there’s a bit holding the extension tube in place, I think that may be loose.

When I crank the handle all the way to the right it butts up against the washer. When I turn the handle to the left it backs off the washer and then starts lowering the top.

It’s like the extension tube needs to be tightened. Can I do that by taking the pin out of the end and sticking a long socket in there or is there another way to do that?

Any idea if this is even possible, or am i just being too optimistic?

 

Thank you so much! Even if it doesn’t work, it wouldn’t hurt to try.

 

His first thing to check sounds exactly like what I was thinking. It seems like there’s a loose nut in the extension tube, which he says is possible. I’ll check that out. Thanks!

 

That helps but I can’t really get to the pin. I’m trying everything to get it out and I can’t. Do I need to remove this rear bumper to get to it?

 

I tried a hammer but I couldn’t really get to it so I used some pliers to squeeze the pin partway out and now it’s close to coming loose but I just can’t get a good angle on it to smack it with a hammer and nail