Another penthouse bolt track issue!

[soaringhawk]

Thanks Eric, that is good information to know!

SierraHawk, wrote a thread telling about when they were in Wyoming and his penthouse bolt broke and they were 80 miles to the nearest hardware store. It is informational and a good narrative as well. He convinced me this is not a repair one wants to do while traveling. Got me thinking I should replace my bolts ASAP or at the very least check out the system.

Although being crushed like a Cuban sandwich at your favorite boon-docking site in the world might not be so bad

Terry

[daveb]

Originally Posted by boywonder

I have no idea.....I stuck them in my crossbars DIY......

I would think that SMB would just make the crossbars out of cro-mo and perhaps increase the wall thickness a bit......do a little engineering.....your sleeves are stock from SMB?

Well it was brand new when I bent them and IIRC they said they had to re-bend the CM inserts...but that was a long time ago. The part I'm not sure of if they said CM inserts or CM tubes. The way I took it was the manual tops are not supposed to hold the weight that the electrics do and SMB just adds inserts to the common tubes they use.
Guess I need to ask them.

[youngblood]

I'm looking to purchase one of these tops for my van in the next 6 months so this is certainly interesting. The mechanical design is not terrific just looking at the pictures. Why not support the mechanism on two sides to avoid this obvious, matter of time failure.

As far as what owners could do, and short of SMB redesigning, I would think some thin Delrin 'shuttles' beneath the end of the bar would provide stability to the whole mechanism and support the weak end of the bolt. I like to avoid grease as it just catches dirt.

[soaringhawk]

Thought I might tell on myself so someone new to sportsmobiles might not make the same mistake. Right after I bought our van I thought the penthouse bed was too hard so I bought a 3" thick piece of foam the full length of the bed. Yes, it was nice and comfortable.

I did noticed that I had to apply quite a bit more force on the rear latch to get it to lock. Completely ignoring the "don't force it if it won't go rule". Learned that I couldn't put anything under the raising support pads attached to the roof. I went to 2'" pad cut to fit between the support pads.

Some time later I wondered why the rear of the roof was sagging a couple of inches. My thought was I was just crushing the foam and figured the bars were strong enough. It never occurred to me that the bars were mild steel and would bend.

Even if the factory had installed shoulder screws, the mild steel bars would have deformed into oval holes just like mine did, but, without the risk of the standard bolts shearing. Really........... how much more would chrome-moly bars and shoulder screws cost?

[1der]

Youngblood - you should consider a Colorado Camper Van top. Lots of benefits vs the SMB top.

[SMB OCD]

Hello, I would like to make my PH top open and close easier. You mentioned giving it a "touch of grease". I'm not the most mechanically inclined, but not useless either; is this something I could handle? What/where exactly do I grease?
Thanks very much! Leland

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by Leland

Hello, I would like to make my PH top open and close easier. You mentioned giving it a "touch of grease". I'm not the most mechanically inclined, but not useless either; is this something I could handle? What/where exactly do I grease?
Thanks very much! Leland

It's highly likely that you need to adjust the springs....grease won't help that problem. It's a straightforward do-able job and safe when done properly with a come-along and a couple of scrap pieces of 2x4's. If you are not handy it may be something to seek help with.

Member larry here posted a video about adjusting the springs on vimeo IIRC. Do a search.

There are two sets of springs....."helper" springs that are compression springs to help get the top up at the beginning of it's travel and extension springs to get it all the way up. The springs have loads of energy in them....much like garage door springs.

Just like a garage door, when the top is adjusted properly it takes similar effort to raise it as lower it.

[SMB OCD]

Thank You for the info, Sir!

[soaringhawk]

Try this post (Pop-top assist for spouse). As many others have commented the cargo bar makes getting the top up very easy. I use mine all the time. It's really easy to use and takes away the dread of stressing my back. The idea is to jack up the top about 10 inches just enough to get it above the heavy dead spot so the springs can take over.

[youngblood]

I never got a response out of them after multiple tries. I installed an SMB top recently and think it will do the job. Just have to keep an eye on the mechanism.

Originally Posted by 1der

Youngblood - you should consider a Colorado Camper Van top. Lots of benefits vs the SMB top.