Carefree SOKIII covers

[96 EVO]

Windy night last night, rattling topper covers waking me up ☹️!

Anyone with late model SOKIII toppers tried drilling out the holes in the end caps so that they are no longer threaded?

Seems to me to be a bad design with threads both in the caps, and the aluminum covers. Pretty tough to get a tight joint when both parts are threaded!

[Steve P]

They may rattle just as bad in the end cap.  When working on the toppers, it's very handy... the threads keep me from accidently dropping the screws in the grass, gravel, or on the concrete, ehere they are certain to roll to the precise center of the coach.

[Scott and Colleen Miller]

I have a 2004 HR Endeavor 40PRT. Recently bought new topper fabric for my driver side slide out. I believe the C of Col slide mechanism is the SOKIII. Had someone put it on and woke up to the fabric flopping two weeks later. I was told after the fact the tension screw is stripped. I have searched to find videos of how to fix this.

 Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

[96 EVO]

3 minutes ago, Scott and Colleen Miller said:

I have a 2004 HR Endeavor 40PRT. Recently bought new topper fabric for my driver side slide out. I believe the C of Col slide mechanism is the SOKIII. Had someone put it on and woke up to the fabric flopping two weeks later. I was told after the fact the tension screw is stripped. I have searched to find videos of how to fix this.

 Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

Sorry, I don't know.

I adjust my topper tension with the roll tube pinned, then just change the distance my slide is from the wall before reinstalling the tube.

[Steve P]

8 minutes ago, Scott and Colleen Miller said:

I have a 2004 HR Endeavor 40PRT. Recently bought new topper fabric for my driver side slide out. I believe the C of Col slide mechanism is the SOKIII. Had someone put it on and woke up to the fabric flopping two weeks later. I was told after the fact the tension screw is stripped. I have searched to find videos of how to fix this.

 Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

I've had my toppers apart multiple times for cleaning and replaced the tension spring in one of them.  I don't recall a tension screw... I did have to replace an end cap that the teeth had bent and worn (the teeth engaging the roller tube gear).  Do you have a diagram of yours to help us provide further insight?

[Scott and Colleen Miller]

38 minutes ago, 96 EVO said:

Sorry, I don't know.

I adjust my topper tension with the roll tube pinned, then just change the distance my slide is from the wall before reinstalling the tube.

Thanks for the help anyway!

Thanks for trying my friend!

32 minutes ago, Steve P said:

I've had my toppers apart multiple times for cleaning and replaced the tension spring in one of them.  I don't recall a tension screw... I did have to replace an end cap that the teeth had bent and worn (the teeth engaging the roller tube gear).  Do you have a diagram of yours to help us provide further insight?

I will take pics tomorrow (getting dark) and send them. Sure appreciate the help Steve!

[Scott and Colleen Miller]

On 4/4/2024 at 7:50 PM, Scott and Colleen Miller said:

Thanks for the help anyway!

Thanks for trying my friend!

I will take pics tomorrow (getting dark) and send them. Sure appreciate the help Steve!

 

Sorry for the delayed response. Here is the schematic. Yep, not sure what the guy means by a tension screw. Right on with the tension spring Steve.  I looked at some videos on topper replacement. I guess I have to pull the spring out and have a look to be able to ask intelligent questions. Will get back to you!

thx for the help again!

James

[Steve P]

The thing that isn't shown clearly in the diagrams is that there are teeth or ears on the right end of the spring (#11) that engage with teeth or ears on the inside of the end cap (#6).  The ones on my end cap were bent over and causing the spring to slip and lose tension.  You could wind the spring the right number of turns, and install it in the end cap, and tighten everything down and it would seem just fine.  A couple of cycles of slide extension and retraction later, the spring end would have jumped the ears on the end cap and have lost tension to the point that it wouldn't retract the topper.  The crew at Talin RV in Brooksville (run by @throgmartin ) found this issue for me (great folks!) and put a new end cap on mine -- problem solved!

Does yours have the center cover support (#8 in Detail A)?  If so, that is another source of various issues (sagging, friction, bowing the roller tubes).  It will need to be shaped correctly and secured with a stainless cotter pin (not shown) to support correct functioning when the roller tube is longer than 12' because it then has two sections that are sleeved and riveted.  Carefree has a newer and better digram if you call them. 

[throgmartin]

On 4/4/2024 at 7:05 PM, Scott and Colleen Miller said:

I have a 2004 HR Endeavor 40PRT. Recently bought new topper fabric for my driver side slide out. I believe the C of Col slide mechanism is the SOKIII. Had someone put it on and woke up to the fabric flopping two weeks later. I was told after the fact the tension screw is stripped. I have searched to find videos of how to fix this.

 Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

First off you have a Carefree SOK II assembly. The SOK III assembly was not produced till mid yer 2006. The spring tension hold down bolt is located on the left side of the topper assembly. It screws into the end of the spring. The bolts Carefree used were a cheap grade and would break when tightened. In order to replace it you will have to remove the spring. If the threads are damaged you will need to replace the spring. See photo of tension hold down bolt.