Lift System PUP Viking/Coachmen, What a pain in the pully!

Hey Dave and others.

I removed the dinette bench this morning to get a look at the first pully. The larger cable I used instead of the original will easily go all the way up and down by hand, so it wasn't jammed, which is a great thing.

It was the main cable, the one that wraps around the winch. Funny thing is that it didn't break at the end crimp, but about a foot up from that. I also know why things got bound up. It was that first pully that is attached to the channel for the spring on the (passenger rear) corner. It bent again. I should have known that it would, since it did before. When it bends, it binds the spring.

I have no idea why the main cable broke instead of the much smaller 3/16 cable that goes to the spring that was in a bind. I may buy cable for the winch that is one size larger, but that really seems to be a bad idea for some reason. After all, the pully system isn't mounted as strongly as the cable is now. It may have simply been a weak spot in the main cable. it's the one that came with the winch, so it may not be the best steel wire. Any ideas?

My question now is whether to get a new one, and wonder when it will happen again, or go to my buddy's shop and over engineer the part with additional steel so the pully is mounted on it's own right instead of dependent on the spring channel. I could bame a brace that would screw to the back wall (which would also get some steel) and a brace to the floor that would bolt to the frame.

Well, I straightened out the old track and pully again. This time I took one of those heavy brackets you use on a utility trailer to hold the 2x4 sidewalls on. I bent one end of it around backwards so that it points in instead of out. I drilled two holes in the bottom for bolts into the frame/floor. Then I drilled a hole so that the pully axle bolt goest hrough this new heavy brace. I then added a second bolt behind the pully for good measure. That ought to hold it. I'll post pix soon.

Meanwhile, I've got one lift arm jammed down from when we closed the thing up. I've got no idea how to unjam it, or how to remove it to see how to unjam it. If I had a new one to replace it with, I wouldn't know how to get at the old one. Help?

I had one of the spring cables near the winch jammed, but a tug freed it. It was the same spring that passes through the newly straightend track, and the jammed arm.

Also one of the front spring cables it jammed. Not the slightly oversized one, but the 3/16 cable. I haven't taken those cabinets out yet to see what's up. I was hoping I wouldn't have to when I discovered that the fat lift cable wasn't jammed. I didn't suspect the skinny one.

I have a hole in the canvas to fix (on the side) where the top section of the lift arm poked throu when it fell. I also have two small holes on the top of the back bunk where things got pinched in the fall. Drat. I'm going to have more duck tape than canvas pretty soon.

Kind of makes washing the thing seem a bit silly.

It was easier when I was despondent and didn't want to start fixing things again.

Okay, I'll give this a shot because I have had all of my lift arms out during my rebuild.

My PUP is a little older than yours but I think the procedure will be the same.

I'll assume that you have the top up and supported sufficiently to stay up by itself without lift arm support. ( just checking to see if you're awake LOL)

I'll start with the top of the lift arms first. From inside of the PUP you have curtains. Behind these curtains is the vinyl/canvas. The canvas is attached to the roof with several screws. You will need to remove enough screws to be able to pull down the canvas enough to get at the top of the lift arm. You should be able to see one bolt that goes through the lift arm. Consequently, there is a nut on the other end of the bolt that is behind the reflector on the outside of the roof, you may have to remove the reflector if you need a wrench to hold the nut so you can remove the bolt from the inside. The arms will need to be down for the next part.

Now for the fun part...

At the top of the sidewalls of the PUP there is an aluminum plate that runs the length of the side of the camper, the bottom of the canvas is attached to this plate, you should NOT have to remove the canvas from the plate. There are several screws that hold this plate in place. Remove all of these screws and lift the top plate off of the sidewall. (You may have to break the sealant at the corners). You should now be able to remove/slide the lift arm assembly straight up out of the sidewall.

If you read these instructions backwards...you can put it back the way it was.

Good Luck!
Hope this helps.
Dave

Ohhhh, the whole aluminum piece comes off, That makes sense! Thanks Dave, I'll report as I progress.

I'm going to try to take the aluminum strip that goes around the top of the box off today, as Dave suggested. My lift arms won't go all the way down, and three of them aren't in one piece anymore. This sounds like an unplesant day comming up, but hey, I'll know evenmore about my camper.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29891611@N03/...57622727812180/

These are the photos of the repairs in progress. Everything seems to be working as pieces. Now to put it all back to gether and go up and down a few times.

I think I may have found what the underlying problem has been with my lift system. I did my beefingup of the parts, went halfway down and back up, and things came to a screeching halt. This has happened before, but this time I left the cabinets out so I could see what was happening. One of the cables going to the fartherest lift arms came out of the pully and slid between the pully and the pully frame. I've re-engineered the pully (vice, hammer, spacers, and bolts) so that there is almost no clearance between the edge of the pully and the frame. There was a considerable gap before. I'm betting that the part bent early in the camper's life, and the cable has been riding incorrectly through this particular pully ever sense. That would certainly explain why the same cable has had to be replaced twice, once with extreem fraying that locked one lift arm up. The same lift arm was locked up when this cable jumped out of the pully this time. I freed the cable, and the lift arm works like a charm.

A couple of other things, I'm planning to put some steel renforcements under the camper to bolster the frame piece and the wooden floor this all bolts into. I figure that if it is all attached to frame by steel, it can't move much. Still, if I can keep the cable in the pully, all of this may be unnecessary. Still, while I have it out and open, why not.

This has come to be known as the Richard & Pulley show

Coolbreeze1

And that pully is a Bully.