2006 Phoenix Brave - Lift Mechanism Hard to Lower

[rhino_4x]

Hello WtW!

tl;dr: Raising the roof is easy enough, but lowering is pretty difficult and requires two people. Any suggestions? See pic for mechanism.

New member and first post here after a few months of lurking. After a few years of looking at campers, prices finally seemed to come down to a level we were okay with trying and we purchased a 2006 Phoenix Brave pop-up truck camper. It rides on a 2015 F-250.

We took our first trip in the camper this past weekend and were very happy with our new cabin on wheels, though we did run into a question about lowering the roof. One person can raise it just fine, however when it's time to pack up camp, it's a real chore to lower the roof. Two people are needed to pull down on the bars to get the roof down and both sides don't come down evenly. We're pulling on the white horizontal bars in the attached picture as two relatively fit, younger adults. I'd like my parents who are older to be able to use this when I'm working during the week and I don't believe they'd be able to come close to closing the camper on their own.

My questions are these:

1. Can anyone give me a name for the style of mechanism? I've tried searching pretty far and wide on this forum and others and haven't been able to identify it.
2. Does anyone have any tips for closing this with just one person? I can't believe that the current level of effort required is necessary.
3. I assume some sort of maintenance is recommended, and my hope is that it is just past due. Is it simply "grease as necessary"? Or are there other steps that may be required?

Thanks in advance, and I'm happy to learn from the community.
The camper on our maiden voyage:

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Welcome to Wander the West!

There are relatively few Phoenix campers here on WTW, and I suspect that, like me, most of us have never seen that particular type of roof mechanism. Hopefully, some one will prove me wrong. Being a geezer myself makes me understand why you would like it to be easy to raise and lower.

I believe Phoenix is still in the Denver area, so you might reach out to them. Sorry I can’t offer more.

 

[Vic Harder]

a tip that works on ATC/FWC when closing the roof is to have the exhaust fans on high, sucking the air out of the camper. It helps bring the walls in.

 

[Old Crow]

Welcome, rhino_4x!

Have you been lowering with the back door wide open? (See the second video in the link below)

Phoenix Standard Camper Lift videos

 

[rhino_4x]

Thanks all for the tips and the warm welcome!

We've tried the exhaust fan on high, that certainly helps pull the fabric in. We'll also have to give the exact methodology in the video a shot. That's the right setup, but it does look like the mechanism in the video is sliding much smoother than ours. Reaching out to Phoenix for maintenance instructions is a great idea

 

[Old Crow]

In preparation for your call you may want to inspect the lift mechanism components extra closely. Hopefully there's an easy answer but they may ask if you've done that or suggest it as a next step.

A few thoughts....

Are the mounts for the lift solidly mounted and in good condition?

Are there any cracked or bent components?

Is there any indication of scraping in that sliding mechanism?

If there are bushings in the sliders, do they appear to be heavily worn or out of round?

Do both sliders appear to be operating the same? (Does one seem to hang up more than the other? Does one have more 'slop' than the other?, Do they appear to be exactly alike? etc)

You may also want to have your camper's serial number handy for the call in case it's requested.

Also: while on the line with them, you might ask what they'd recommend as far as an owner group forum or enthusiast site for Phoenix owners. (I see they have a Facebook page but it appears to be more promotional than support-oriented).

 

[lostcreek]

Rhino, I have a 2016 Phoenix, one of the last ones Rob Ward built with this style of manual roof lift. (Now they all come with the electric post lifts). Mine looks very similar to yours, rhino, but with one exception: I have a gas strut on each vertical leg (photo), which I don't see in yours. That would make a big difference in the leverage that needs to apply for both opening and closing.

Lots of good suggestions already to see what's binding on the down action. Phoenix is in Commerce City, a northern suburb of Denver. You can try contacting Rob or Cari (his wife) via their web site to see if he has any suggestions. I know they are incredibly busy so be patient.

If you'd like to PM me, maybe I can help with this particular setup.

 

[rhino_4x]

Crow - thanks for the suggestions on preparing for a call, I'll gladly take that advice.

Creek - thank you for the additional information as well. That strut looks quite helpful, I think I eventually want to add some to our setup, but of course want to address any issues at the root before slapping a bandaid on things. I may take you up on the offer of a chat in the future.

All - thank you for the recommendations - I think I have a clear path forward with both immediate and future next steps. I'll hopefully be able to update this thread with a solution soon for others to reference.

 

[ntsqd]

We had an older Phoenix. Never could figure out the year that it was built. In any case it had exactly your lift system. Inside of those horizontal, telescoping tubes along the ceiling are some very long springs. One of those tubes looks to be bent in your picture. No idea if it's the pic or if it really is bent. If it really is bent (hint: it should be dead straight!) then I'll venture that is at least part of if not the whole the problem.

 

[rhino_4x]

We had an older Phoenix. Never could figure out the year that it was built. In any case it had exactly your lift system. Inside of those horizontal, telescoping tubes along the ceiling are some very long springs. One of those tubes looks to be bent in your picture. No idea if it's the pic or if it really is bent. If it really is bent (hint: it should be dead straight!) then I'll venture that is at least part of if not the whole the problem

It is bent, but oddly all of the tubes are bent the same way, so we assumed it was normal. We haven't had a chance to dig into this further yet, life certainly is keeping us busy!

 

[ntsqd]

Ours were straight and I'm frankly surprised that bent ones work at all!