Rear lift panel questions

[Tom n N]

I have a 2004 Eagle Shell and as you can see the snap thingy that is supposed to keep the rear panel up has pulled apart. I’m currently holding it up with a bungee cord, but can tell that’s not a good long term solution. I need something that will work in the high desert winds I always seem to get stuck in. What are my best options?

As you can also probably tell, the panel is starting to deteriorate from a leak I’m still chasing. Starting to look for a replacement, but am wondering if it’s best to go with the wood style as sold by ATC, or the plastic looking one that FWC sells. Any opinions?

Thanks for any and all help,
Tom

 

[scoutbrewer]

I bought new springs from atc and made my own with plywood from lowes. I added height so changing dimensions was mandatory.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

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I have a 2004 Eagle Shell and as you can see the snap thingy that is supposed to keep the rear panel up has pulled apart. I’m currently holding it up with a bungee cord, but can tell that’s not a good long term solution. I need something that will work in the high desert winds I always seem to get stuck in. What are my best options?

As you can also probably tell, the panel is starting to deteriorate from a leak I’m still chasing. Starting to look for a replacement, but am wondering if it’s best to go with the wood style as sold by ATC, or the plastic looking one that FWC sells. Any opinions?

Thanks for any and all help,
Tom

Compare prices…

 

[New Man]

Hi Tom n N,

My first real trip out in my 2016 Fleet I parked with the back of my camper looking out over a beautiful canyon in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. A huge windstorm came up, and I of course forgot the part of the rapid-fire camper orientation I had received the week before when my dealer told me "DON'T pull on the strap thingy! Use the knob to pull on the back lower lift panel." Needless to say, the strap thingy popped right off (gotta say, I wasn't on there very solid!!!), and it was a lot of fun having my wife hold the back lift panel in place in 60 MPH gusts while I found a screw and jury-rigged a way to fix the strap thingy in place. Didn't sleep too well during the gale that night wondering if the roof was going to come crashing down, but it gave me time to meditate on my discomfort on the mechanics / design of the strap thingy.

Long story short, I replaced my strap thingy with a wooden dowel. I got a wooden dowel, 2 big ring terminal wire electrical connectors, 1 bolt, 1 nut, 1 lock washer. I measured and cut the dowel, whittled its ends a little bit, installed the ring terminals on either end, put the bolt in the hole of one of the ring terminals. To state the obvious, measuring everything is crucial, and one has to gently bend the rings of the ring terminals to get the right angles.

When I push the rear of the roof up the bolt on one end of my dowel prop drops into the hole that the barrel bolt goes into on the rear lower lift panel, and the open ring terminal on other end of the dowel accepts the bolt of the barrel bolt on the roof. When the wind comes up I sleep a lot better at night knowing there is a dowel propping the rear lift panel out instead of the strap thingy preventing it from collapsing. An added benefit is that the dowel prop makes a dandy towel rack. I store the prop in the long side rack on the right side of my Fleet, where I keep my bungee cords.

One thing I learned (the hard way, of course) is that I must remove my dowel prop before I lower the front of the roof! Duh. Fortunately when I learned this leason my dowel flexed and didn't break.

Sorry I couldn't post pictures of this at present, but if people feel this would be useful I'll try to put some up down the road.

 

[Vic Harder]

I'd like to see pictures!

 

[New Man]

In response to Dr Electric's request, here are some pics of the rear roof panel dowel support rod I fabricated. I used a 1/2" dowel, but if I had it to do over I'd go with something just a little beefier/more rigid. (If one wanted to get really fancy you could probably get a fiberglass rod that would work. Or TITANIUM!!! [sorry].)

For my 2016 Fleet the dowel itself is 22 1/2" long, not counting the ring terminals. I can't remember the size of the ring terminals, 8 or 6 maybe, the biggest my local Ace Hardware had. The bolt for the support panel end is 1/2" I think, maybe 5/8". As you can see from the pics [hopefully, this is the first time I've uploaded images to WTW], the weight of the bolt holds it down on the roof support panel, and the pre-existing barrel bolt goes into the roof end.

[sharedmedia=gallery:albums:1571]

 

[Vic Harder]

That's pretty clever! Thanks for posting.

 

[kmcintyre]

If it was me, I would use something like what FWC uses now (ie not wood) otherwise you'll have this issue again (granted many years) with wood vs. some type of composite. The prices can't be that different and if you are going to make it yourself, probably cheaper. As someone else stated too, if you are going to replace the vinyl, you could even make the roof higher (new versions of FWC's are 6" higher) that the older FWC's.

 

[Tom n N]

That looks like a really reliable solution NM. My only question is how many times have you hit your head on it. For a spaze like me I think it would be a lot

As for kmc’s comment, the 4WC panel is about $150 more than the wood one from ATC, and a much longer lead time. Have way too many projects already, so definitely not making it myself. I have ordered the ATC panel. 4WC also described the hinges as being “some kind of plastic” while the ATC is still stainless steel. That helped in my decision.

Thank you for the helpful replies,
Tom

 

[Beach]

Thanks for posting the pics, gotta love the ingenuity of the people here.