1976 Coleman Cable Query

[Brantime]

Greetings!

I am realtively new to PopUps and I have a 1976 Coleman Gettsburg that is hard to crank up. It has the Cable system in it, however, it just seems as if the crank is working way to hard, (I know that I am).

Is there any routine maintenance or preventative care that would make the task of rasing the roof easier?

Is it time to have the crank replaced?

Do I need to just eat more Wheaties?

I am disabled and need to have this particular feature operational to the best of MY abilities, lol!

Also, do most of the cable systems on most other units have a locking mechanism to prevent the handle from reversing on a slip (painful when it bust you in the chops :eyecrazy: , lol)?

Any help to a novice would be appreciated!

Have a great day!

[abbear]

Sounds like you may just need to lubricate the mechanism.  This is the first thing I would do.

Not sure if yours is the same setup as later Fleetwood(Coleman) trailers.  If your crank is at the rear bumper you can crawl underneath the popup and remove the pan covering the "whiffle tree" assembly which is a big screw that does the raising and lowering of the roof.  Grease it up good and put the pan back on.  Now raise the roof and use a can of spray lubricant with a long nozzle on it lube the pulleys in each corner.

My old popup was getting harder to crank up and lubing the whiffle tree was easy and did wonders for the difficulty of cranking it up.

Hope this helps.

[Brantime]

Sounds like you may just need to lubricate the mechanism. This is the first thing I would do.

Not sure if yours is the same setup as later Fleetwood(Coleman) trailers. If your crank is at the rear bumper you can crawl underneath the popup and remove the pan covering the "whiffle tree" assembly which is a big screw that does the raising and lowering of the roof. Grease it up good and put the pan back on. Now raise the roof and use a can of spray lubricant with a long nozzle on it lube the pulleys in each corner.

My old popup was getting harder to crank up and lubing the whiffle tree was easy and did wonders for the difficulty of cranking it up.

Hope this helps

Abbear!

Thanks for the heads up on the lubrication...I will do this first off! My crank is in the front, located just above the tounge. I will look underneath and see if I can locate the pan covering, and grease it up liberally, lol .

I appreciate your taking time out to help...

Thanks again!

[zamboni]

Here is a previous post of mine that has a picture of the whiffle tree, if you're interested:

http://www.arveeclub.com/showpost.php?p=114350&postcount=7

Like abbear said, make sure you grease every part that moves.  You MAY want to go a step further, and possibly clean the whiffle tree/head assembly, with something like an extremely liberal application of WD40 - something to wash any grime and grains of dirt/sand out of it.  Wipe it clean, then grease it up.

On the newer Colemans, the whiffle tree was DIRECTLY connected to where the crank went in (well, the new ones had a "waist" high) at the bottom of the frame.

[tlhdoc]

There are pulleys in the lift arms, that you can only access when the top is part way up.  There are also pulleys at the bottom of the lift arms (access under the trailer) and at several locations under the PU.  Just follow the cables and you will find all of the pulleys.  Also the lift cables need to be lubed.  Silicone spray is what I use on the cables and pulleys.  Do not put the roof up or down with the cover off of the whiffle tree.  If you don't hear clicking when you are cranking the top up and the top wants to come down on you, (check your owners manual, but it is this way on my 1987 and my 1999) you need to over crank the lift system when you get to the top.  It is just a slight over cranking and you will feel it "give" when you do it.  Then crank the top down a little bit and then back up and see if you hear the clicking.  Good luck with the camper.