Elusive Eli Brackets

[Tapatio]

Bump. Any updates on the Brad brackets? We had our first hot day camping this weekend and an awning would have come in real handy.

[Jeffrey]

HELP! A gust of wind places me in the "I need brackets now' club.

I'm planning to install a nut plate behind the body panel once it's repaired. But I would entertain new brackets from whoever is making the brackets formerly known as Eli's.


OUCH!! (x2 of course).

[BroncoHauler]

Ouch Jeffrey, that hurts.

Well my uninstalled set went with the SMB, otherwise we could work something out.


Herb

[Ford_6L_E350]

I had a similar thing happen with Eli's brackets.

The awning legs were mounted to the van body ane when a gust of wind lifted the awning, collapsing the spring loaded arms and twistingthe awning up. It pulled one of the brackets off the rain gutter and bent the other one.

My cure is to always use the center bar on the awning. Hopefully, that will stop the arms from collapsing and allowing the awning to go up.

Mike

[jage]

Originally Posted by Jeffrey

from whoever is making the brackets formerly known as Eli's.

Not me. Last I heard Eli gave the drawings to Chris and I bowed out of the game. Herb had the last unmounted pair I know of.

[vandiesel]

I'm trying to keep these alive. Fab work must be good as I'm learning. Little progress here but still hopeful.

[larrie]

EDIT - Jage asked me to copy this thread to the Eli Bracket thread as well. Warning - I am not sure how the modification described below will work with a Fiamma awning.

EDIT - Thanks to DaveB for suggesting I move this post to the Modifications Section with to its own topic. It should make it easier to find while doing a search.

Finely got my awning mocked up and mounted. Have been reading the different awning mounting discussion and also looked at retractable awning like Fiamma and chocked at the cost. Knew that there had to be a less expensive way to get an awning so started picturing different ways to get one as I was falling asleep. I have had a yellow heavy duty nylon tarp laying around for years and though that this would make a good awning. Could mount it to the van using strut. Just had to figure out how to mount the strut to the van as I did not want to drill into my penthouse top.

One of the threads mentioned the GoWesty web site. While poking around there I found the bracket for the Fiamma F45 for under $60. This bracket mounts to the rain gutter. Figuring that all rain gutters are created equal I ordered a set. As I found out all rain gutters are not created equal. The one on my 89 Ford 150 is narrower than the one on a VW. Modification time.

The first modification was to narrow the clamp that went into the rain gutter.



This was close to working but when I clamped it down the base of the bracket stuck out from the body of the van.



To resolve this I cut the lower part of the clamp off.



This allowed a snug fit to the body. The clamping system to the rain gutter was very tight and secure.



Once the bracket was in its final position I had to figure out how to deal with the top mounting plate that was in the way of the top when it was raised and lowered. The solution was to cut off the top part of the bracket. I also drilled two holes in each to mount the strut to. See photo above.



I then reattached the top mounting plate at the outside edge of the bracket. I also had to cut off a corner so that the side door would open. It is shown bolted in the photo but will have a friend weld the two pieces together.

UPDATE - The pieces are now welded together. That done I painted the entire bracket with three coats of Rust-oleum. They look great.



With both brackets attached to the van I added a piece of galvanized strut between them.



The yellow tarp attached to the strut. Need to get some washers and better nuts for the attachment.



Here is the tarp attached to the van. I also need to get some stronger rope for the guide lines and also better tent pegs.



The nice thing about the tarp is the it folds up small and fits in the wooden box that I use as a step.

[Jeffrey]

Nice work, Larrie.

I must add that the one forward bracket the SMB uses is just simple and good. When my awning flew off, it remained attached to that one bracket. Sorry, no pic as I have removed it since.

[Ultrasport12]

Larrie, nice job on the brackets and trap.
Did you use two or three of those gowesty brackets?
If you only used two how did you attach the rear of the trap to the van?
Have you driven it since you did the installation? Does it make any noise?

[larrie]

Originally Posted by Ultrasport12

Did you use two or three of those gowesty brackets?
If you only used two how did you attach the rear of the trap to the van?
Have you driven it since you did the installation? Does it make any noise?

Currently there are only two of the brackets holding the strut on the van. One on the pillar between the front and side doors and the other at the rear of the van. The strut is 10-feet long and that is the distance between the brackets.

Because the strut is slotted I added a bolt half way down the where the center grommet was located.


I used wing nuts to hold the tarp against the strut.



The long term goal is to add a standard rack bracket a bit farther forward and move the front GoWesty bracket to the middle.



Have been driving the van quite a bit around town and at highway speeds. Have not noted any additional noise.