I have a jayco journey that is two years old. Just lately the roof has moved out of alignment when it is lowered making it extremely difficult to lock down the roof. It has moved toward the awning side so l believe that the awning caused it to shift. Has anyone else had this experience? What can I do to repair it? Thanks in advance, Terry

Check your gas struts, one could be unserviceable. The roof is probably off set more to one side - that will be the problem strut.

Had the same thing with our Freedom, when it came time to pack up I couldn't latch down the roof because it was out of alignment. To get home I had to throw ropes over the roof to tie it down.

Actually, in my case the gas and black oil leaked out of the strut - that made it easy to find the u/s one.

By the way, fitting a strut back on is fiendish but there is a trick to it - use a ratchet tie down to compress the strut down to slip it on. If you want to do it yourself (and save money) contact me and I'll walk you through it.

Murray

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SWMBO helps me lower our Journey roof while I keep pressure on the end frames away from the awning side...works OK.

Also before latching ...I climb aboard the obligatory milk crate and give the roof a couple of hefty shoves away from awning as well. The roof really is not that heavy either....1st front...latch opposite side....and then back ...latching opposite side before doing the rest.

Sound complicated and labourius....but the longest part of the job is turfing everything outa the aforementioned milk crate.....and then putting it all back before shoving it inside the door.

Cheers  Keith

Yep. It prolly makes it a bit heavier....but the van apparently has uprated gas stuts to compensate.....a bit anyhow.

Cheers  Keith

Lower front first...The bracket screws that hold the lifter to the roof have slots so they can be adjusted to bring is down a little squarer.
My lifter arm was bent so ended up having a new one fitted.
Mine has a aircon on roof and two big solar panels so its quite heavy, dont suggest removing struts they are a B#!$% to get back on.

Thanks I will check out lifter adjustment tomorrow.

replacing struts is simple using ratchet tie downs. See video on utube.

Hi Cbigtez,

I couldn't find a Utube about installing gas struts using a ratchet tie down. 

But I did find where it was recommended that struts be fitted with the barrel down and the rod uppermost. That is to keep the seal inside from drying out and allowing the gas and lubricant to escape.

I remember that the struts on our Freedom were fitted with the barrel on top - maybe that was the reason that one strut did leak black lubricant causing it to fail.

I thought that it could simply be re-gassed but was informed that once the lubricant had let go that could not take place.

Just a thought for all those with pop tops - might be worth keeping an eye on your struts.

Murray

Yes, that would work.

For anybody wanting to replace their struts using the same technique the main thing to watch for is to use a quality ratchet tie down and not an el cheapo. Also the minimum width would be 25mm.

I did mine slightly different. Put an 8mm D shackle around the neck at the top of the barrel, clicked the bottom rod onto the ball mount then placed a loop of strong cord around that mount. Another loop of cord through the D shackle then hooked the hooks of the tie down into the loops. Ratcheted it down to the right length then popped the top onto the ball mount. Removed the D shackle and loops - job done. That way there was no danger of the strap sliding off the rounded ends of the strut.

I might add that before I worked out how to use the ratchet tie down I spent a couple of frustrating days trying various ways to compress the strut so that it could be fitted. Wished I had known about the utube!

Hope you solve the problem of the misaligned roof. If all fails you can still travel by throwing ropes over the front and back of the roof and tying it down. 

Murray

Long Weekend wrote:

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Hi Cbigtez,

I couldn't find a Utube about installing gas struts using a ratchet tie down. 

But I did find where it was recommended that struts be fitted with the barrel down and the rod uppermost. That is to keep the seal inside from drying out and allowing the gas and lubricant to escape.

I remember that the struts on our Freedom were fitted with the barrel on top - maybe that was the reason that one strut did leak black lubricant causing it to fail.

I thought that it could simply be re-gassed but was informed that once the lubricant had let go that could not take place.

Just a thought for all those with pop tops - might be worth keeping an eye on your struts.

Murray

-- Edited by Long Weekend on Monday 24th of September 2018 09:12:19 AM

I think you will find the gas strut should be fitted with the barrel uppermost, this is done to minimise dust and dirt ingress through the seal and so prolongs life.

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