making a roof level

[cb]

...or, should that be making a level roof?.....Anyway, the front of our roof was 1 inch higher than the back (measured at the lifts).  DH adjusted the pulley so that now there's only a half inch difference.  (Front stayed the same, back goes up 1/2 farther than it did.)  Is this close enough?

[wavery]

...or, should that be making a level roof?.....Anyway, the front of our roof was 1 inch higher than the back (measured at the lifts).  DH adjusted the pulley so that now there's only a half inch difference.  (Front stayed the same, back goes up 1/2 farther than it did.)  Is this close enough?

IF you can put the door in, it should be good.

[Old Starcraft]

Thanks for posting on this one Wavery.

I was wondering about that too. When I installed my cables I just made them all even in the bracket under the PU. After I finished, and lifted it passed the "eye level" test. Not until I took it on a dry run did I try to close the door and when opened it would act like a spring and quickly close shut (it was great that trip since wind gusts reached 40 mph). I remeasured and found they were all within in an inch, but the difference between front to back was exactly one inch. Mine are now within a half an inch and all works well
 :-()

cb, before you aligned it to 1/2 tolerance did you have any door or other issues?, and was it fixed after you aligned it to within 1/2 inch?

One thought though...... The instructions stated not to over extend the cranking beyond a yellow mark (non-found). This is a 76' Starcraft, anyone have a marking on their PU to prevent over cranking?

[cb]

We've always been able to put the door up, but the cable seemed frighteningly tight in order to get the back high enough to put on the safety thingees.  (Technical terms are not my strong suit.)  And the upper and lower sections of the door wanted to separate while opening.  It also tended to flap in the breeze.  We haven't tried it since the adjustment.  Will keep you posted.

[ScouterMom]

The 'yellow mark' would be a marking on the cable itself (usually paint) that you can see and line up with a matching mark or spot on the frame as you crank up the camper top.  Since your cable may have been replace at some time, or with it's age, the paint may have simply worn off.

my instuction manual for replacing the cables gave me an exact height (I think it was 42") between the top of the box and the bottom of the 'lid' to adjust the cables.  because the cables double back on themselves, you can adjust the height by turning the eyebolts underneath - my instructions say that 1" of eyebolt thread is equal to 2" in roof height.  

since my camper ( a '73 starcraft Starmaster 6) is like todays 'highwall' campers (it's taller walls than my previous 1976 starcraft starlette) YOUR starcraft's height requirements might be different.  But if you have the 'safety thingees' (we call them post covers) they will tell you the proper distance for the space between your box and your roof.

Because we put in all new cable and did NOT have an exact measurement for them ( we guessed, baised on the old, broken cables, some of which were missing altogether)  and because the new cable might have some stretch  to it until it was used a bit - I made a line where the telescoping poles land for each corner. You also may need to adjust the cables INSIDE the lifter poles - they are often a lighter gauge cable and may have streched over time.  There's only so much adjustment you can make from underneath - especially if you are dealing with a vintage camper and old cable.

the first lines WERE marker - until we'd cranked it up and down enough and had weight on the cables enough for the cables to have straighted well.  these we had to adjust a few times. (the marks came off easily with a bit of WD 40)  But once the cable was tensioned properly, I drew permanent lines with nail polish, so that when anyone cranks up the roof, you know you've cranked it far enough when the red line shows as the roof post gets exposed.  I also spray painted a mark on the main cable itself - so as soon as that spray mark comes thru the hole in the frame of the camper, we know to stop.

We've discovered that sometimes you may have to over crank a tiny bit to get the covers on, and once they are on, you can ease back the pressure a bit and take some of the pressure off the cables.  Especially since we made 'extra' covers (from aluminum construction studs) so all 4 posts have safety covers. If you don't have measurements from YOUR Camper's manual, the door frame and safety covers are your best estimate of the 'proper' distance.

Laura

[Old Starcraft]

Thanks for the Info. Laura  :-() !!!!

I have been doing what you were doing in that cranking it all the way, and then back it off a little to ensure proper door fit. I think I'll give the new cables some time to stretch this summer and then go back under the camper, or in the posts, and adjust for 42" before I mark the cable. This seems to be the best height so far for door function.

I was wondering about the "'safety thingees' (we call them post covers)" I don't have any post protectors. I have been wondering about how to prevent the post sleeves from getting weathered, I just thought it was poor design. I'll have to call my RV dealer, or StarCraft to put this on my "to do soon list", over time I'm sure this will be a "PU life saver"  :sombraro:

Thanks,
Tom

[Old Starcraft]

Laura,

Do you have any pictures of those post covers ? I'm going to call a StarCraft dealer about them, but I wonder if they are a bit pricey I could mod something to make it work.

Thanks   :sombraro:  ,
Tom

P.S. one of these days I'll get around to having photos I can reference on this website. I think it was you that said "the price to join is pictures... not really...". I haven't done an major overhaul like others have, but little repairs here and there.