Issues with Lippert Awning Motors

[stevensmith2859]

I am taking my 2015 Wildwood 28DBUD back to the dealership to have the awning motor replaced. It goes out fine, but pulling it back in, a total different issue, it struggles terribly to retract it, to the point that its a snails pace. Took it into my dealer a few weeks ago, Tech said yes, its going bad (end of August) but that Lippert was backordered on motors until October at the earliest. Since my wife and I bought from a local dealer who provides GREAT service, not Camping world, the service manager actually called Forest River to have one pulled from the assembly line and sent to them. I needed to pick up the unit because of our Labor day weekend reservations, but am bringing it back on Saturday for a week so that they can install it.
Friends of ours have a 2015 Salem, and also needed their motor replaced. Anyone else have any awning motor issues? Thank goodness my dealership is standing behind the extended warranty because it would have been over 300 bucks for the motor.

[JustB_Rad]

Yup, same exact issue. Mine was just before our week long trip for the 4th of July to our year old unit, and a helpful lady at my dealership, who's since been fired had it directly shipped to me. During my research, somebody had also found out that a window motor from a 1994 Chevy Lumina fit's the same bolt pattern and is also about 15% of the cost of the lippert motor. I purchased that as my backup now that I'm out of warranty.

Dorman part 742-141 - I Think I got it off of amazon for like $30

Cardone also makes a couple motors -Part # 42-127 & Part # 82-127 for the select.

[Teamfour]

Yep, I replaced mine last month with a $39 window motor. Works great! The downside is that there is no mechanism to manually operate the awning with a drill in case of another failure. The new motor is much stronger. Be aware with the OEM motor that it takes a very strong 12v source to retract the awning. If your battery is not fully charged, even when connected to shore power, the motor will have a hard time retracting the awning.

[JustB_Rad]

Originally Posted by Teamfour

Yep, I replaced mine last month with a $39 window motor. Works great! The downside is that there is no mechanism to manually operate the awning with a drill in case of another failure. The new motor is much stronger. Be aware with the OEM motor that it takes a very strong 12v source to retract the awning. If your battery is not fully charged, even when connected to shore power, the motor will have a hard time retracting the awning.

I'm not sure I believe the battery thing....I replaced my battery, thinking it was screwed up from being drained and left dead with a brand new deep cycle battery and it made no difference. I also tested it without a battery and it was exactly the same as with a battery.

A weird tidbit....When my replacement arrived, it had the same exact date code on it as the one that went dead. The new one sounds a whole lot meaner though.

[bob caldwell]

How can you test without battery?

[JustB_Rad]

Originally Posted by bob caldwell

How can you test without battery?

I had it plugged in....all my systems worked fine without a battery including my tongue jack.

[bob caldwell]

12 volt awning motor, 12volt jack motor.....running straight off converter

[JustB_Rad]

Originally Posted by bob caldwell

12 volt awning motor, 12volt jack motor.....running straight off converter

Yes...Pump and lights work too.

[bob caldwell]

Only thing that won't....breakaway switch, fridge, furnace and possibly A/c

[Witch Doctor]

If I were you guys I would be checking the spring to make sure they have enough winds in it. It is my understanding that when you bring in the awning the spring does most of work. It winds as it go's out then unwinds to assist the motors. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong. Just unplug the motor and connect 12 volt to the 2 leads and try it. I think I remember that the spring has to be wound 11 times to set the tension. I have two awnings, so I bought 2 extra new motors from the salvage yard in Goshen. Last year they were 40.00 and this year they were 50.00 they do ship... PS: when mine start to strain, I put wd40 on the pivot points and it will just fly back in. If it's starting to shake bringing it in it's time to lube the pivots point. You might call dometic they can tell you how many winds for sure. Be Careful there is alot of tension on the spring.

[JustB_Rad]

Originally Posted by Witch Doctor

If I were you guys I would be checking the spring to make sure they have enough winds in it. It is my understanding that when you bring in the awning the spring does most of work. It winds as it go's out then unwinds to assist the motors. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong. Just unplug the motor and connect 12 volt to the 2 leads and try it. I think I remember that the spring has to be wound 11 times to set the tension. I have two awnings, so I bought 2 extra new motors from the salvage yard in Goshen. Last year they were 40.00 and this year they were 50.00 they do ship... PS: when mine start to strain, I put wd40 on the pivot points and it will just fly back in. If it's starting to shake bringing it in it's time to lube the pivots point.

My Lippert awning has no spring at all. Dometic and Lippert have 2 totally different systems.

[bob caldwell]

Thanks for clarifying which one you've got

[JustB_Rad]

Originally Posted by bob caldwell

Thanks for clarifying which one you've got

This was a thread about Lippert Awning Motor problems....I didn't think I had to....

[slowpoak]

Yes, the awning on my 2016 Salem Light has not worked correctly since it was new. It will roll up backwards (with the underside of the awning showing), but will stall out if I try to roll it up correctly. The local Funtime dealership has tried to fix it twice, to no avail. I have been waiting on repair parts for 2 months, and the parts still have not arrived. Does anyone have instructions for checking and setting the spring tension on this awning unit? I was unable to find any online instructions. I don't know if my local dealership will ever get the new parts.

[JustB_Rad]

If it's a Lippert Components Awning (LCI), it doesn't have a spring.

https://www.lci1.com/assets/content/...awning-web.pdf

[Witch Doctor]

This is true, loop looked it up, just a gear, I might be wrong but being DC couldn't you just switch the wires, just a question

[Witch Doctor]

I don't like auto correct, on taptalk

[slowpoak]

Hmmmmm. I thought there was a tension spring in the idler asm. because my Funtime repair shop said my awning drive motor was weak and my tension spring was stripped out. But that was 2 months ago and repair parts still aren't here. If there is no spring, I may try reversing the wires to the motor to see if that works. But they have worked on it twice; if that was a fix, you would think that they would have tried it. Thanks for your info about the spring, though; I'll try wire reversal. Oh, and it is an LCI.

[HalfBubbleOff]

Same problem with my 2015. Awning goes out fine but will not roll back in at all. Have to use the drill method. Thanks for the info. I will take mine in and get the motor changed out.

[PSU Turf]

Motor on my 2015 lasted exactly one year and was replaced under warranty. The replacement has been struggling all year. If the awning bracket is adjusted so that the awning is in it's highest position (parallel to the ground) the motor can't wind it in by itself. If the support bracket is adjusted so that the awning slopes quite a bit the motor can roll it up.