Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 09-10-2018, 03:09 PM   #31
ctb
Senior Member
 
ctb's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Illinois
Posts: 817
Garage
Send a message via AIM to ctb
UPDATE! I had written a response to this topic a while ago and just needed to "update" form our last trip...
At Four Mile State Park, just North of Niagara Falls, we were lowering our top to head to the Falls when about half way through the decent the top dropped about 3-4 inches...!!!...we were a little concerned but went about our day...landed in Erie State Park SW of Niagara for the night, popped top....next morning as we were lowering the top, it DROPPED AGAIN the last 4-6 inches with a super loud thud! Scared the he!! our of us (thank GD wife was sitting on couch and I was on ladder w/fingers out of way)...called SMB North and Jim answered...told him story and said, " Sounds like a bad motor." Well, we had a week to go (planned/had left Mackinaw, southern shore of Superior, Duluth, home) Jim transferred me to Nancy and (of coarse) she sd."I can work you in on Friday am (it is Saturday, and yes crew is there for a 1/2 day...unbelievable!!))...earlier the better!" How could we turn down the work in!?! So we decided to take her up and cut the vaca short...(we did shoot up to Superior SE shore Mouth of Two Rivers SP, and worked our way back for the Friday spot....)
OK...I KNOW a long way to get to the meat of story...
Got there first thing in am 8am(stayed at a campground 3 miles away), went to the local cafe a couple blocks away in Downtown Huntington, IN...came back an hour or so later to check in and Chad sd. "motors are fine...BUT, the PH hardware is as dry as a bone!" Chad showed us where/how to undo screws to move fabric/protector out of way to get to small (hydraulic looking piston drive) lift area...showed us how to lube tracks, guide bars (ESPECIALLY main guide tube that has some 'play' in it) and piston bar itself......what was happening:

Dry 'male' tube was catching on side of of 'female' tube and would 'release' and catch up with other side, hence the 'drop' effect.... problem fixed, Chad tightened up some things, re-chalkued shower, w/o asking just 'noticed' it needed it, and a few other things, showed us top discovery, replaced our toilet, (ANOTHER story of forgetting to blow the flush apparatus dry last winter) and got out of there for $170....(so I understand members frustration, I believe that North has less unhappy customers b/c they ANSWER the phone and try to work things out, so leave North out of your tirades) BUT, when you pick up your VAN...LISTEN AND TAPE the conversation and tour...we have looked at that thing many times and STILL have forgotten the 'maintenance' these FINE machines need to keep running smoothly...and looking back at the video of us picking Sporty up and sure enough, Chad and Jim talk about lubing the PH...so keep looking up tips, lube, adjust, maintain and wa-la happy times!

PS AS USUAL, FORUM COMES THROUGH... if I had ONLY SEEN it earlier...oh the irony!!

__________________
'13 MDX 'BigBlackmobeebs'
'01 Lexus 430 LS 'Luxobeebs
'20 Tacoma TRD OR 'Tacobeebs'
ctb is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-14-2018, 12:04 PM   #32
Senior Member
 
moorefc's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: PNW or maybe Baja Sur
Posts: 381
Electric top maintenance etc

Have had a ford electric top for several years and it always comes down semi unevenly, always passenger side first. Initially it was very jerky. I fought with it and found that lubing the center extender post, slider rails in the roof, and most significantly the top rear cross bar with silicone grease made the actuation much smoother. The rear cross bar slides on plywood and one can generously apply grease to the top with a chopstick, long small brush, etc. Silicone spray on the plywood did not work for me. Eventually, check the center cross bar pin for wear on all tops as it will break...Secondly the two linear actuators are not sync'd electronically (they can be, go to linak as they are designed for hospital bed, wheelchairs etc.). SMB appears to rely on their being matched. Tensioned up one spring with no real change. Disconnected actuators and found them close, but a small different in rate. Finally I just let the difference in contact (2-4") go...It works well to lower one side, help it align when on a slope etc, then finish with the second side rubber seal/gasket matching. Third if the rubber is allowed to spill over the gutter for long enough (when I bought it) a permanent "bend or flare" forms in the gasket, and one has to then replace the gasket as it is supported by plastic rivets only on the outside on my van. Replacement matching the existing top holes is a pain in the xxx. Attached is the actuator used in my Ford application if anyone is curious.
What you get is a top that you don't have to counterbalance, and can easily carry varying roof stowed articles. What you give up is a quick top up and down, but you just push a button. Varying load carrying capability is really nice, having lived with a manual top kiteboards, kayaks, surfboards, bikes etc for many years...Enjoy its function and keep it lubed (that goes for the manual tops as well).
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Linak_linear actuator_la31t_data sheet_eng.pdf (302.4 KB, 26 views)
__________________
Pac NW and warmer places
1995 E250 EB 5.8 2WD on to a new owner
2006 E350 EB Elect Top 2WD
moorefc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2018, 11:59 PM   #33
Gone Traveling
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 132
I recorded the “tour” which lasted an entire 4 minutes. He showed me how to put the top up/down. That was it. I would love to get a copy of your audio, so I too can inform myself. I would call and ask SMBW to explain to me everything I probably wasn’t told, and record it for my information, but as you may have read within these forums, we now have lawyers involved and I’m sure they wouldn’t ablige at this time.
So maybe I can mooch your audio tour off of you? Pretty please? :-)
VocalVirgo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2018, 10:11 AM   #34
Senior Member
 
moorefc's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: PNW or maybe Baja Sur
Posts: 381
After browsing thru this thread, to amplify the crossbar roof rear jerkyness contributing factor: The bar slides on plywood. Plywood laminate wood grain varies in density and with lots of pressure of the bar sliding develops a slightly uneven surface (wavy if you look closely or run your finger across). If this is dry one can undertand the jerkyness. So greasing it will minimize the grabbing on the uneven surface. This is also why the heavier silicon grease works better than the spray. A more elegant solution might be using a very hard polymer sheet, but that could have other issues (such as sheet attachment)...the wood works when greased/KISS.

The second issue identified is the center crossbar pistons grabbing (never personally experienced). This appears to be caused by burrs as linked earlier in this thread by daveb http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...html#post78836

The side rails seem to work well when lubed with silicone spray.

Last, the link above to the actuator series in my case is the 31.1 12 v. Note the actuators spec is "typical speeds"....voltage differences between the two could exacerbate the difference (when not electronically synced). The linear actuators each are designed to push >1300# (expressed in newtons), so should be very underrated for the load. A call to linak engineering a few years ago to get more details on speed variations resulted in "call SMB"...


Hope this attempt at a summary helps.....
__________________
Pac NW and warmer places
1995 E250 EB 5.8 2WD on to a new owner
2006 E350 EB Elect Top 2WD
moorefc is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sportsmobile SIP or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:37 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.