This happened...

[1der]

Hey jage, longtime!

Sounds like the brackets you have were from back in the Eli/Zeta days. I took over having them made. When we took over we made a change to the front and rear brackets to increase their height. The prior design allowed the bottom of the awning case to pivot on the middle bracket bend below the vertical face. You might want to check that. Additionally, the gutter putty can compress over time leading to a loose Z clamp.

boywonder is using my version of the brackets. He machined a new Z clamp w a sharp edge. The clamps that come w my sets have a bent radius as they are fabbed on CNC benders. Check the gutter lip depth. There needs to be at least 3/16" and no putty ramping up to the lip.

We have recently started making bracket sets for the Chevy Express vans. The gutter design requires a fastener at the lower face on the side of the van in addition to the clamp on the gutter. We are using a 10-32 cross nut set into the van and a 3/4" 10-32 button head screw. The brackets are so solid on the Chevy vans that only two brackets are required.

The newest set of Ford brackets have incorporated a hole that can be used to fasten with the cross nut / screw as well as the clamp.

Oh, and as 86scotty said in another thread - lots of anti-seize on the SS threaded parts.

Ping me if you need a new set of brackets.

Chevy bracket pics:

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by 1der

Oh, and as 86scotty said in another thread - lots of anti-seize on the SS threaded parts.

..or use 18-8 stainless fasteners instead of 316...


As 1der mentioned I machined solid aluminum Z bracket replacement parts with sharp edges and threaded holes in them; they really grip the gutter. I can post a pic or two if anyone is interested.

[arctictraveller]

Interestingly, I've been running 1der's brackets for several years over countless miles of washboard and rough dirt roads, and so far they are as tight as the day I installed them. The fact that yours failed while on the pavement makes me wonder if someone wasn't trying to steal your canopy? Because the front bracket is under the door and impossible to remove without opening the door, that could explain why only the other two came loose. As Ray can attest, this has happened before. Anyway, I'm glad the damage was minimal.

[vandiesel]

I noticed on the Chevy bracket there is a bolt into a rivnut. Is this an update on the Ford ones also?

[1der]

The Chevy gutter geometry does not allow for the leverage that can be generated on the Ford gutter to body angle. This necessitated the use of a cross nut (like a rivnut but better in this application).

When we saw how solid the brackets were on the Chevy by both clamping and using the cross nut and screw, we added a hole in the front and rear Ford brackets to do the same albeit a bit different on the Ford rear bracket. Here is a pic of the newest version of the Ford brackets.

Any of the existing brackets could be modified to have the same hole. The front bracket is easiest. The rear bracket requires a smaller hole in the contact face and a larger hole in the outer face. Those holes are used to locate the drilling of a ~ .315 hole to accommodate a 10-32 cross nut.

[jage]

Originally Posted by vandiesel

Was your cat riding in the van with you?

No, Scribbles used to camp with us in the van, it was her second home too but since we've moved on to having human children, who in fact were in the van at the time. They were very unhappy it blocked all the passenger doors and they weren't allowed to get out on the highway!

[jage]

Originally Posted by 1der

Sounds like the brackets you have were from back in the Eli/Zeta days.

Yep, and they didn't quite fit. Sending PM, thanks!

[vandiesel]

Of course immediately after reading this I ran mine into the gutter on my house. Luckily I noticed that I slid the awning 2 inches and bent my rain gutter. Ugh. Fixed the awning and flipped the pesky nut that catches my top seal with the Allen head. My gutter should be OK. This is after I had all that roof welding and stupid rust despair under the rub protectors from SMB. Jage this was a good post to check all those brackets out. I kinda took for granted that my awning was all permanent.

[Ford_6L_E350]

Hi Jeremiah,



Glad to see you are still around - unlike me. I've moved out of CA to WA. Been a rough few years, 2017 my brother died, 2018 my aunt (107 years old) passed, 2019 my dad (96 years old) died, 2020 the world died, 2021 my wife died and I'm worried about 2022!


At my age (75) I'm very cautious about COVID. Spend a lot of time avoiding people.



My best to you, Kim and the girls.


Mike

[86Scotty]

Good to hear from you Mike. Sorry to hear of your losses. Definitely a tough few years for you sounds like. Hang in there!