EDIT: 08/21/2021 I'm not sure my Emergency cable is going to work. There may not be enough cable left to get the top all the way up before the splice reaches the winch. I'm rethinking the whole idea trying to find a way to make it work.
That's a bummer. I wonder, in a pinch, if one could get a winch that clamps onto, say, the TV bumper parked in front of the camper that could be connected to the lift system cable & used to raise the roof. (Of course, you wouldn't be able to drive anywhere without lowering the roof. If there was a conveniently-placed tree, perhaps it could be strapped to that with long cables to run to the battery.)
Okay fellow manual roof-raisers, I've got my DLB1200A winch from Goshen (they said it would ship on Wed., and I got it on Fri.!) and am getting ready to install. In the Dutton-Lainson instructions, it says not to put any load on the winch without at least three full turns of cable on the reel. With the cable just taught, I've got about a half-turn of cable on the reel (see pic.).
Does anyone know if this is likely to be a problem? Is anyone else's like this? I'm guessing the idea is to keep the tension off where the end of the cable attaches to the side of the reel, but maybe three times around is just them being overly cautious? (I really, really don't want to have to swap out the cable.)
Yes, there are ways to make it work. But it's going to take some thinking. I think I got it figured out, but I'm going to have to raise the top again to do some measuring. I just don't feel like that is an important thing to do right now. I'm tired.
I think I could actually change my Goshen cable on my own in the field. I actually carry a spare cable just in case. But I hope I never have to do it.
The way my Palomino is set up, the center of the fresh water tank goes right under the rear of the list system master tube. I'd have to disconnect and remove the tank before even starting to remove the rear springs and change the cable, which all sounds like a lot of work.
I guess I'm lucky. My fresh water tank is mounted inside of the camper. There is nothing in the way of the Master Tube at all. And since I installed a lift kit (axle flip) I now have lots of room to get under there if necessary.
It wasn't something I was looking for when shopping for a camper, but mine has the Alko torsion axle that's set up to raise the camper up. My DW has some mobility issues and the two steps up make it a tad harder for her to get in and out of the camper, but I can roll under there with an automotive "creeper" easily. That's made working under the camper loads easier (greasing the master tube, installing shower plumbing, working with wires, etc.).
