Top not coming down straight.

[Danapangle]

I just got back from camping, in my Hi-Lo 17rk. When I lowered the top, one side started scraping against the inner outside trailer wall, pressing hard against the wall while coming down, leaving gouge marks against the wall, and breaking the plastic trim for the refer fan........the top appears to be offset, or crooked, listing to one side ....has anyone ever seen this? I have no idea how to troubleshoot this......

 

[JackandJanet]

Are you missing a guide block? They are the small plastic things that slide along the two tracks you see on each side of the trailer. These guide blocks sometimes break and one of yours may have fallen off.

If so, you can get replacements from J&R Repair in Ohio. I think these things are specific to HiLo, so it's either J&R or Midget RV, also in Ohio I believe.

- Jack

 

[Danapangle]

Top slanted to one side

I checked the guide blocks, they all are there. Does anyone know how to check the top alignment?

 

[Danapangle]

Guide blocks ok, but top comes down crooked, scrapes side of camper

Does anyone know how to straighten or align a top that won't come down straight?

 

[JackandJanet]

Dana - I merged your two threads because starting different threads on the same topic leads to confusing responses that can waste your time and cost you extra money. Please keep this topic confined to this thread.

I also moved your thread out of General Discussion to a subforum in the "Repairs" section, because I think you might get better advice here.

Is it possible something has jammed between the top and the lower half on the corner that is not coming down properly? There really aren't many other ways the top will lower unaligned with the bottom half as long as the guide blocks are following the guide tracks. Are they all on the tracks?

- Jack

 

[Danapangle]

Top not coming straight down

Jack, thank you for your response. I visually inspected the guide rails, two on each side on my model, and they all looked solid and straight. I looked at the rubber guides mounted on the bottom of the shell, on the inside. I could also feel them with my hands and they felt in tact. The middle portion of the outer wall appears to be slightly bent toward the inside. I will try to see up the wall with a high powered flashlight and see if I can see any obstructions....thanks. I'll be back

Dana

 

[JackandJanet]

Dana - just to confirm - ALL the guide blocks are tracking on the guide rails, correct?

If this is the case, I cannot think of anything that would cause the top to come down crooked, except....

I wonder if one or more of your cables has come off of one or more of the upper pulleys or, if perhaps a pulley has broken or otherwise failed? To check these, you'll need to take the inside trim strip off the upper edge of the bottom half (this is done inside the trailer). The trim strip is a horizontal piece on the top of the lower wall. It is about 1-1/2 - 2" inches wide and is held in place by several screws - more on the longer lengths. It is very easy to remove and to replace (except for the one in the bathroom) and you should remove these to get to the upper parts of the cables to lubricate them when you do that task. I believe I use a small right-angle screwdriver with a square-drive head to get the bathroom strip off.

I think if a pulley had broken or if the cable had come off it, that side of the top may not come down - so look at the side that is not lowering.

I suppose it's possible that a broken pulley anywhere along a cable run could cause this too. All the pulleys except for the top ones can be inspected under the trailer.

- Jack

 

[Garry-HILO]

I just got back from camping, in my Hi-Lo 17rk. When I lowered the top, one side started scraping against the inner outside trailer wall, pressing hard against the wall while coming down, leaving gouge marks against the wall, and breaking the plastic trim for the refer fan........the top appears to be offset, or crooked, listing to one side ....has anyone ever seen this? I have no idea how to troubleshoot this......

Dana, before lowering the top, was the trailer level front to back and side to side? If it was not, that could have been part of the problem. I had a problem something like yours and it resulted in a broken guide block. My trailer was not level side to side.

 

[Danapangle]

Jack, thanks for staying with me. I removed all the top trim pieces I could and visually inspected the cables, also lubricating at the same time. Everything is in tact, all the wire pulleys look normal. Now I have other issues, when I lowered the top to inspect the system, the bottom of the outer wall, grabbed the bottom flashing of the inner wall, and pulled it up and away, mangling the aluminum flashing on the inner bottom. The rubber guides for the lowering track, on the inside of the top, broke away. The horizontal bottom of the top, which provides a seal, got bent up and I'm having a hard time pounding it back down. The top alignment is favoring one side, and I can't figure out how to get both sides equal.....I have a log splitting wedge, jammed between the top and bottom, on the driver's door side of the trailer. How do I find out if anybody else has ever had this issue?
Dana

 

[Danapangle]

That's possible, I have two broken guide blocks that I need to replace.. and other alignment issues.....thanks

 

[JackandJanet]

Yow! You've really got some problems now, I suspect. The top will never work right until you get the guide blocks replaced and then maybe you can work on the other problems.

I think I'd try raising the top all the way up for now. If the cables were adjusted properly, they should tend to hold the top level. And, if it's not level, you might be able to get it that way by adjusting the cables. You'll need the top all the way up anyway to replace the guide blocks. You'll have to unscrew and remove the guide tracks to do that too, which you can do with the top up.

I'm sorry I'm not more help. I've never had your problem so I'm doing a lot of guessing, and trying to think of how I'd approach it if it happened to me.

Aluminum flashing can be straightened, A more serious problem would be if the frame were somehow damaged.

- Jack

 

[parnote]

That's possible, I have two broken guide blocks that I need to replace.. and other alignment issues.....thanks

I just ordered two new guide blocks from Midget. They are $11.20 each, and they ship fairly quickly. I had them in less than a week. However, they don't confirm your order or notify you when they ship. Instead, I had to call them to confirm that they received my order.

When my cable snapped, it also damaged two guide blocks. One guide block on the right of the door (facing the door from the outside) was nearly shredded as the broken cable caused it to pop off of the track, while the the guide block on the left of the door was cracked along the back side and appears as two pieces. The rest of the guide blocks appear to be intact and in good shape.

Now, I just gotta wait for this oppressive heat wave to break so that I can do the guide block replacement, and then start on the arduous task of replacing the cables.

 

[Danapangle]

Has anybody created a manual or guide as to how to replace the guide blocks? It looks a little tricky....

 

[parnote]

Has anybody created a manual or guide as to how to replace the guide blocks? It looks a little tricky....

I just searched the forum here. I like the solution by Freddiefreeloader in this thread:

https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f35/guide-block-replacement-7273/?highlight=guide+blockhttps://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f35/guide-block-replacement-7273/?highlight=guide+block

There were others, as well. I also like Treeclimber's solution, but it does sound as if it might take a bit more time and patience to perform.

Here are all of the solutions I found on the forum:

https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/search.php?searchid=2140082

I hope this helps. Now that the heat wave has relented, I'm now waiting for the rain to stop so I can get outside to perform the task of replacing the guide blocks.

 

[RCREYES]

Has anybody created a manual or guide as to how to replace the guide blocks? It looks a little tricky....

See if this will help you out.

https://www.hilotrailerforum.com/f22/replacing-glide-block-4936/