slceso
... pronounced "Jason"
She's a beut' Clark!
Nice to see you guys also. Hope to do it again soon!
Nice to see you guys also. Hope to do it again soon!
Group "Chinese parts" order. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter 96Cruiser13
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Have any pics of how those mount points ended up?
I'm really looking forward to hearing usage reviews on a lot of this equipment.
lumbee1
Native American
From an engineering point of view, I am not a fan of the hinge design. I wanted a vertically stacked hinge but these are horizontal stacked and allow for LOTS of movement. The vertical hinge makes the packed up awning taller but when the awning is pulled, the rods remain somewhat parallel to the ground and it can be setup easily by one person. The horizontal hinge is smaller but setup requires two people.
Vertical hinge
I wil take a picture of the horizontal hinge.
sleepycruiser
I will get by….I will survive -Touch of Grey LC200
Thanks for meeting with me @slceso. It was great to see you and the family again.
I didn't have any fasteners for the mounting hardware. I got out my HF digital caliper and measured everything up. I made a quick trip to Home Depot for carriage bolts (modified), hex bolts, washers, nylocks, and nylon spacers.
Looks good. What was the price on those?
Weren't there some RTTs ordered? Just wondering about the quality.
X2! I was about to order up some stuff from Gamiviti and was wondering if their mounts make the most sense - or, more to the point, if they won't work at all.
lumbee1
Native American
Here is the mounting solution.
I used my belt sander to remove opposing edges of the carriage bolts. The bolt heads were ground down to 10.6mm, the width of the channel. @fourtrax helped me elongate the holes as @Beau Diddly suggested. The L-brackets provided are 3/16" stainless steel and plenty strong for the awning.
I used my belt sander to remove opposing edges of the carriage bolts. The bolt heads were ground down to 10.6mm, the width of the channel. @fourtrax helped me elongate the holes as @Beau Diddly suggested. The L-brackets provided are 3/16" stainless steel and plenty strong for the awning.
Very nice! As the owner of your first rack, I continue to see the quality of your diy work!
Having the flat rack is great for all kinds of reasons; but there is very little aftermarket for mounting accessories. Definitely got some inspiration here.
slceso
... pronounced "Jason"
Hope to get my stuff mounted up in the next 2 days, weather/wife permitting.
lumbee1
Native American
It is hard to see in the pictures but there are semicircular notches cut in the aluminum strip for kayak holders. The awning is also high enough that I might mount small light bars underneath the rack to shine out to the left and right.
Following for future order. Wish I had seen this earlier.
slceso
... pronounced "Jason"
Pro tip:
Don't break your poles first time you set it up.
The locking mechanism only requires 1/4 turn or so in either direction to lock/unlock. It uses a cam action to lock. Also, the internal tolerances are tight enough that when you collapse your pole, the end cap may shoot off a-la popgun and the pieces may go out into the tall grass (recommend doing this in daylight your first time).
Don't break your poles first time you set it up.
The locking mechanism only requires 1/4 turn or so in either direction to lock/unlock. It uses a cam action to lock. Also, the internal tolerances are tight enough that when you collapse your pole, the end cap may shoot off a-la popgun and the pieces may go out into the tall grass (recommend doing this in daylight your first time).
NCFJ
Supporting Vendor
That is pretty tight tolerances, maybe drill a small vent hole in the tube near the cap that pops off?
lumbee1
Native American
Any solutions for fixing this?
I've set it up a few times to check it out and agree, about 1/4 turn to lock/unlock the cam. I can feel the internal pressure as I lower the poles, but haven't had the issue with popping a cap. Did you have any issues or observations when you set up yours?
@slceso, did you break the cam by over torque? When the cap popped, did you push down too hard too quick? I'll be glad to go back to the manufacturer, but I need to understand it a bit more.
Has anyone else had this problem?
Thank you for the TIPS!
NCFJ
Supporting Vendor
See the post prior to yours for the cap popping off issue
lumbee1
Native American
I've had the cap pop off mine as well and was planning on drilling vent holes in the cap to avoid the over pressurization. The easiest solution is to just lower the pole with the foot on the ground.
I'm more concerned with the cam lock on the inside of the pole and how easy they are to break. In the picture, Shannon is holding one pole because I thought I broke the cam lock. In fact, it just came loose inside the pole. I was able to unlock it and push it out and reattach to the pole.
slceso
... pronounced "Jason"
to repair, I will probably drill through the post of the cam lock thing (since it is already hollow) put a fastener through and fill with epoxy or something. you need the post and the cam clip to be free to rotate or it won't work at all. might be a good idea to reinforce it before it breaks. I looked around and couldn't find these exact poles on amazon or ebay, but there are numerous other options for "tent poles" but may be heavier. I thought about retro fitting with button locks. not sure how much effort I want to put into it.
The awning material is really nice, but if there are a lot of weak points in all the plastic of the hinges and poles and stuff, it starts to make this less of a value.
The awning material is really nice, but if there are a lot of weak points in all the plastic of the hinges and poles and stuff, it starts to make this less of a value.
I plan to go back to the manufacturer and bring this to their attention. However, if its only happened once or 50% of the time, its a big difference. I set up the awning 3 times with no issues. From the same manufacturer, I've camped in the tent for a week and have a different size set up in my yard in the rain for the last week to test everything, including the poles and hinges. What I need is for everyone to set it up so I can have a bigger sample size to report it.
Jason, the poles are telescopic to give you the option of awning height and uneven terrain. Push button or fixed height poles would limit that. A quick fix if you need it now, drill a series of about 3 holes (same principle as a button lock) and use a snapper pin. I'll do everything I can to get a fix for it.
slceso
... pronounced "Jason"
hey no worries Tim, not trying to be overly critical just wanted to prevent others from making my mistake. It would be cool if replacement cam lock things were made available because I'm sure eventually somebody will have one of these fail on them (mostly because by the time you figure out how they work you may have broken one). Not sure if it was me or my helper that broke it, but I will take the blame.
I like the telescoping, but I worry about it breaking in the field. I had considered doing pins or I found where you can just buy button locks so it's not too big of a deal for the crafty makers around here. I would worry if I was mass marketing these about idiots like me breaking them and crying warranty then giving crappy feedback.
I like the telescoping, but I worry about it breaking in the field. I had considered doing pins or I found where you can just buy button locks so it's not too big of a deal for the crafty makers around here. I would worry if I was mass marketing these about idiots like me breaking them and crying warranty then giving crappy feedback.
