upper rollers

I think I have found a way to lube the upper rollers on my 17t. While I had the door jamb out I found the location of one of my rollers and found how it was mounted. It was located less than a foot from my door. I have never paid it any attention as I figured they were hidden someplace deep in the trailer. So here is my thought pattern on this. With a long flexible tupe that is will fit on your can or a long narrow drinking staw you shoud be able to lube all the rollers with just a little flexability. First you will need to know where your cables go up in your trailer, then with your trailer partially lowered go to that area and feel around or use a flexable mechanics mirror to locate the pulleys, if I am correct they will be fairly easy to locate and relstivily easy to get to. With a small flexable hose you should be able to get to the lube points. Fill a small straw or small hose, like fuel line, with some lubricant and hold your finger over end to keep the lub in the straw, lower one end down while using the mirror to help position the lub tub and let it drain onto the rolling point. If I am correct there is about an inch or a little more between the walls and the pully axle is only about two to three inches down. I hope this helps somebody out. I know it had me frustrated but now that I know this I can do the job with a little help to hold the mirror for me and a light to see better with. Ford uses small vacuum lines on some of the vehicles, these are small and might be just the thing to get into the tight spot with and they might fit spay cans like WD 40 and they should be plenty long enough.

UP DATE: Fresh off the press, you will never believe what I found. Since my trailer is half way down and I was showing my wife a couple things I did today we were talking about the rollers and guess what. With the trailer about a third of the way down we were looking though the windows and bingo there were the front rollers in full view. If I am correct all I have to do is remove the screen from the inside, crank open my windows and I have ready access to the front rollers which will also allow me to lub that part of the cables. Now all I have to do is check out the roller on the drivers side rear to see how that can be done. Sure is amazing what you can find by accident, so I guess in a way that hinge coming loose is a blessing in disguise and being a religious person the good lord is helping me out again as he has done in the past. Thanks again Lord!

Charliek said:

UP DATE: Fresh off the press, you will never believe what I found. Since my trailer is half way down and I was showing my wife a couple things I did today we were talking about the rollers and guess what. With the trailer about a third of the way down we were looking though the windows and bingo there were the front rollers in full view. If I am correct all I have to do is remove the screen from the inside, crank open my windows and I have ready access to the front rollers which will also allow me to lub that part of the cables. Now all I have to do is check out the roller on the drivers side rear to see how that can be done. Sure is amazing what you can find by accident, so I guess in a way that hinge coming loose is a blessing in disguise and being a religious person the good lord is helping me out again as he has done in the past. Thanks again Lord!

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Lubing the upper pulley in the bathroom can be done with a WD40 spray can that has a sprayer tube on it. You can bend it enough to reach the bearings with the top down a bit.

Another way to get to all the rest is to just unscrew the inside trim that covers them.

There's one underneath that is very hard to get to though. I seem to recall it being on the front cable, driver's side.

- Jack

Since the upper pulleys are pretty well weather protected I wouldn't be as obsessed with those as I would be with cables and pulleys underneath. Those are the ones that get all the exposure to the elements. Keeping them cleaned and lubed is very important as you probably already know. The guide rod is also of very high importance, keeping it cleaned and greased can prevent big time trouble with the hydraulic cylinder.

I would suggest removing the top trim to get a good look at your pulleys and the cables.

I know this was probably a one in a million, but:

Last year I had a rear cable start to come apart. The strands were slowly breaking in one area of the cable. There were no signs of rust on the cable. When I went to install the new cables, I discovered the problem. When the dinette seat supports were attached to the wall, one of the screws protruded too far into the wall and it rubbed on the cable. It was a easy but costly repair. I also discovered that a couple of the cables rubbed on the square tubing at the top of the wall. I used a file to smooth the area were the cables rubbed.

It's best to remove the trim and get a good look at everything.

I pulled the trim off of mine as well.