https://www.ozervnews.com

but it seems to be for it to deploy itself, not wind itself up

Sounds like the material is reversed and the roller is back the front.

Terry, I have a bit of a recollection from when we had our awning cover replaced by our local bloke that lnew his stuff. He did say if you manage to unwind it when it's in the wrong mode , it won't end well. Something about fully extend then tension, and all will be well.
Re-read the instructions and go again. It's often quite easy to miss the vital step.
Good luck.

jon_d wrote: ↑Fri Jan 31, 2025 8:23 pm

but it seems to be for it to deploy itself, not wind itself up

Sounds like the material is reversed and the roller is back the front.

The left marked position is on the left when looking at it, the right is on the right ..... the material rolls on from the top ..... I'll try replacing the locking pins and rolling the awning all the way up by hand, then refitting to the attaching bolts to the arms, while it is up on the side of the Winnie
or
Tightening the spring an even number of turns each side, then putting the lock pin in place and reinstalling the bolt through the arm while it is in the fully extended position ..... that way will be a lot safer ......

T1 Terry

Spent a full day getting sun burnt and that was about it .... the thing still wants to deploy rather than retract .... so I'll wait till Monday and ring the supplier and see if left and right means something different form them .... or I'm just not holding my mouth right or something

T1 Terry

what brand Terry?

Where is the release catch? Front or back of the winnie? Most are at the back for our side of the road.

Without knowing what brand/make it is there's not much advice anyone can give.
The instructions for the A&E brand are easily available/
Have you taken out the nail as instructed? (to let the pre-tension do it's job)
I think over the years A&E have changed names a few times but they are the same. Probably Dometic now like everything is known as.!!

jon_d wrote: ↑Sat Feb 01, 2025 8:18 pm what brand Terry?

Where is the release catch? Front or back of the winnie? Most are at the back for our side of the road.

I had to go outside with a torch to look on the box https://awnluxawnings.com.au/collection ... 9618262307
No idea why it says 10ft x 8ft when the link goes to the correct size, 18ft x 8 ft, but anyway that's the beast. The ratchet is on the right hand side when looking from the outside towards the Winnie, so at the back ..... the photos on the website are so crap I can't see if the ratchet is visible from either end ....

It is a nightmare of fitting the lock pins, removing the bolt from the arm that goes through the drum spindle and try to avoid the weight of the awning knocking you over, then a screw driver through the bolt hole in the spindle, take up the tension and remove the "R" clip. Wind up 4 turns and replace the "R" clip and bolt the spindle back on the arm .... then repeat on the other side but the ratchet must be released to turn that end.

If I attempt to wind more than 4 turns on either end, the spindle moves inside the drum to the point the "R" clip won't go back in. This means the drum must now be rolled up far enough to take the tension off the spring ..... and repeat the whole circus act.
After around 15 repeats of this, so 60 turns on the spring, I released the ratchet and instead of it winding up, it deployed again.

I attempted to remove the "R" clip with the screw driver in the spindle hole and near dislocated my wrist, couldn't get the "R" clip back in so I had to carefully unwind the spring till it had no tension, then repeat of the other side.

I double checked that I was turning the spring the correct direction and repeated steps 1 to 500 ..... same result .... so it was deemed it was beer o'clock and the game was called for the day.

T1 Terry

Terry drop into the Murray Bridge Caravan repair place, they are quite helpful.

Is it on the driver or passenger's side?

jon_d wrote: ↑Sun Feb 02, 2025 7:44 am Is it on the driver or passenger's side?

Passenger side Jon. I've had a think about another strategy, if I can find short bits of tube that will go over the U shaped piece on the arm that the drum spindle bolts into, I can wind the awning all the way closed with the "R" clips in so the spindles can spin with the drum. Then put the bolts back in through the U bracket on the arms to hold the spindle from turning. Then I'll remove the "R" clips and see if the awning still tries to self deploy or if it needs me to pull on the cord the wind it down the way it is supposed to work ....... that should take up most of the remainder of the day .... or tomorrow if it's too hot out there.

T1 Terry