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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2015 11:32:35 GMT 10
I found the back end of my poptop was reluctant to go up and stay up. Initially I thought the back scissor lift must be weak so I took the front and back ones off to compare. To my surprise, the back one was actually bigger and stronger than the front one. I then took the 2 side lifters off and the problem was obvious. Both were bent out of parallel by about 40mm. A bench vice and crow bar fixed that and now I can pop my top in public with no embarrassment. I suspect this problem was caused by the poptop coming up while travelling, bending the roof upwards from the front. Ooops!  |
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Post by bobt on Nov 19, 2015 22:08:29 GMT 10
gidday bedford
They are rather temperamental things. I had a Viscount once it had 2 scissors lift things on each side, the bars bent outwards they would catch on the inside of the roof making it very difficult to lift. I tried to straighten them but that did not work ended up having to replace them, the new ones bent after about 12 months, the roof was heavy..
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Post by tim on Nov 20, 2015 8:19:36 GMT 10
The bars on my parent's Windsor are tubular rather than flat. Judging by the replacement bars available, I think they are meant to be stronger. For some reason it doesn't go up evenly, the front RH corner droops down. I wish I could work out why.
Tim
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Post by bobt on Nov 21, 2015 20:16:11 GMT 10
Hey Tim,
They produced 2 types of lifter, one with flat bar and the other tubular.
Has the Windsor got gas struts too?
bobt
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Post by tim on Nov 23, 2015 9:31:55 GMT 10
No gas struts on the Windsor, just the springs in the lifter.
We rectified much of the droop. The reason we're doing the work on the van is that the pop top popped while the van was being towed. Thankfully a helpful trucky alerted me to it before there was too much damage. What had happened was that the plywood in the front LHS of the roof section had turned into fungus, so the screws holding the catches pulled out. Once one went, the others followed. Ultimately we had to replace the piece of plywood and the aluminium cladding on one side. Big job, but it has come out well.
It appears that the sag was caused by the roof basically falling apart. The lifters share the lifting, but what was happening was that the side that wasn't attached properly was lifting up a bit too high, which made the lifter across the front unbalanced. It was lifting the LHS at the expense of the RHS. Once we did the repair and stiffened it all up things are much more equal. The front LH corner is a tiny bit low now, but way better than it was.
The other thing I discovered is that the rollers in the lift mechanism are absolutely knackered. I guess they were nylon originally. Now they are some kind of crumbly mineral, like marble or chalk, and totally flat on the bottom. We decided that they still work so we'll leave them for now, but eventually new lift mechanisms will be needed.
Tim
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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2015 4:46:15 GMT 10
I have seen replacement rollers for sale. Look under poptop parts. Also a roll out awning must put great strain on a poptop. Older designs would not have been designed for that.
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