1998 Coleman Redwood - New Crank

While on a 2,500 mile/4,000km Multi-State/Province road trip in August our crank finally went out. Although we were able to raise and lower the top the crank handle had to be kept in the whole time the roof was up with a bungee cord around the bumper. Upon our return I pulled the whole assembly apart and realized I needed several parts but some of the parts were not available individually so the search began. In the end I found colemanpopupparts.com had the whole original assembly for just shy of $400 USD but they were sold out and to tell you the truth that was a bit too rich for my blood. I then stumbled across a reproduction version on e-bay for $145.15 USD from the seller CANVASREPLACEMENTPARTS out of Loyal, Wisconsin 1-800-232-2079 www.canvasreplacements.com . I bought the whole assembly and after a few hours of work I had the old crank out and the new crank in and all was as good as new and for a fraction of the cost from colemanpopupparts.com even if they had one in stock.

Here are some pictures of my old crank assembly along with the re-installed crank. The shaft was a tad longer than the original so I placed some yellow tape where it over extends so you don’t bump you knee.

PS: CANVASREPLACEMENTPARTS offers a version for about the same price that bypasses the whole crank and is a straight threaded rod for the whiffletree. But I wanted to keep the unit as original as possible.

 

Here are the main parts that failed. In the end I should have checked to see if just tese items were avalable but I'd hate to re-visit the project again in a year or two if at all possible.