TOP RV Awning repair Questions and Answers
Let’s face it, RV’s are not know for their aerodynamics. If you were to take your own home, add wheels to it and attempt to drive it at highway speeds, things would start to blow off. On an RV, manufacturers try to compact all of the best features of your home into one space, but some essential creature comforts have to be attached to the outside of the RV I’m talking about components such as air conditioning units and awnings. When you attach things to an RV, they are subject to collision damage low hanging objects such as branches, and high winds. As such, we often get RV’s in for repairs at our shop here in Dallas Fort Worth Texas needing repair or replacement to awnings. Today we are going to dive into awning repairs as I have noticed quite a few recent inquiries about RV awning repair and replacement.
Top Reasons awnings fail
Brake Mechanism. When fully retracted, awnings have a brake mechanism that keeps them retracted and locked into the closed position. However, like all mechanical components subject to use and wear, these mechanisms can fail. RV Awning breaks are one of those items that you probably do not check that often. When travelling down the road, if the awning break were to let go, high winds would cause the awning to try and unfurl just like a kite. Usually what ends up happening is the awning fabric tears off the rollers, or the whole aluminum frame tries to rip clean off its mounting brackets.
What causes RV Awning breaks to fail?
Inside the awning roller is a torsion spring and a set of cams. These are designed to keep tension on the roll and to help keep it locked into place. However, over years of use, the cams can wear down, decreasing their ability to hold tension on the spring. These cams are not always visible to the eye because they are located within the end cap of the awning rollers.
Repair options
RV awnings are not exactly cheap to replace. They also take quite a bit of labor. Most people will simply file a wind damage claim with their insurance company and the claims adjuster will come out and write you a check for a new awning. This usually goes under your comprehensive coverage and all you have to do is cover your
For those of you who are skilled with mechanics and want to tackle the job yourself, it is possible to order the parts, and do the repair at home. You will typically need to contact your RV manufacturer and order parts such as the torsion spring assembly, which contains the lock lever mechanism, the new fabric, valence, and poly tape. In order to get the assembly back in the tube and back on the RV, it will require at least 2 or 3 helpers and a lot of patience to get it done right.
Fabric, depending on type (vinyl or acrylic) is probably around $400-600 plus install labor. A new spring and lock mechanism for the roller tube is about $130 plus labor. In some cases it would cost less to repair your awning, and in other cases, you might be better off having an RV repair shop replace the entire thing. The reason for this is, the damage may have affected other parts of the RV such as the mounting brackets, or other parts of the RV. Our advice is to at least have it checked out by a shop such as ours and make sure that your new awning will not become damaged due to unseen damage to the RV side walls.