Frugal Dometic awning motor replacement

[Indy500]

Just to bring everyone up to date on the awning fix. It was mfg by dometic on 5-9-2018. Seeing how I am the second owner not covered under warranty. Cost for new is 416.00. Problem, dometic dont stock them , and this where the dealer orders it from . Wait time for a new motor 4 weeks or more. I'm trying to find the company that makes the motor for dometic, but no luck yet.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by Indy500

Just to bring everyone up to date on the awning fix. It was mfg by dometic on 5-9-2018. Seeing how I am the second owner not covered under warranty. Cost for new is 416.00. Problem, dometic dont stock them , and this where the dealer orders it from . Wait time for a new motor 4 weeks or more. I'm trying to find the company that makes the motor for dometic, but no luck yet.

Some dealers have them in stock. I found one in Seattle that had it. But at the $400 MSRP.

I could find them online for $300 or so, but shipping was a hassle with where I was staying.

This was all back in 2017, so I can't give you sites or places that had them.

[Indy500]

Originally Posted by ependydad

Some dealers have them in stock. I found one in Seattle that had it. But at the $400 MSRP.

I could find them online for $300 or so, but shipping was a hassle with where I was staying.

This was all back in 2017, so I can't give you sites or places that had them.

Ok thanks , so far every dealer I have call close to home has none in stock.

[SeaDog]

You might want to do a search on this site I remember someone posting that the same motor is used in car windows at a greatly reduced price.

[Indy500]

Originally Posted by SeaDog

You might want to do a search on this site I remember someone posting that the same motor is used in car windows at a greatly reduced price.

Thanks I sure will try again. 416.00 I'll try anything

[Indy500]

Look at the date made, and dometic wouldn't even help me.

[markb422]

My awning did the same thing twice. Both times I took the motor out of the tube and connected it to a battery on the work bench. Both times it turned. I reinstalled it in the tube and it worked. I thought that something got out of alignment and jammed. But anyway, both times, just the R&R got it to work and it is still working.

[ambonito]

Originally Posted by Indy500

As far as I can tell the motor side has no spring tension but the other side will attack you if not done properly. We are at a campsite till Saturday so I probably wont mess with it here. Knowing my luck the rain will end and sun will shine now.oh well AC still working.

The click means the motor is bad or defective. I had the same issue on our travel trailer. We just bought it new in February when the awning was out. Spoke to the manufacturer and I had to manually close it so we could go home. Ours had two set screws that had to be removed and there was a strap in our paperwork to manually hold it to keep it from retracting. Found out the spring was either never installed or it failed too so I manually rolled it up. I could only align one of the two set screws and at least one must be replaced or the awning will fall off! So, it wouldn't close all the way. I had to tie both ends against the wall and then the fabric was loose so it flapped all the way home.

Fortunately, since the awning is under warranty they will pay an authorized mobile repair to replace the parts and I just have to pay for a service call because we are going to be campground hosts in a few days and can't wait weeks for a Forest River Dealer to sit on it for several weeks.

[sytsmasj]

I had the same awning failure last summer after a rainy week in Sleeping Bear National park Platte River Campground. Mine just clicked as well. Unfortunately mine died in the full open position and it was not discovered until it was time to head home. I had a VOM meter and convinced myself that the problem was in the motor, and not the trailer. I didn't have the motor end allen wrench release info and no cell service to get assistance. Again, it was time to go home, and awning was fully extended. I released the spring tension at the back end and peeled back my finger nail in the process. I then removed the tube from the arms and slid the awning fabric out of the track, rolled it up, and went home with tube through the F150 sliding rear window of SCREW, which allowed about 1 foot clearance from the trailer while the other end was near F150 windshield. I felt a little like Jeb Clambet on the drive home. I ordered up the "take-off" motor and spring ends for about $130 on EBay. You need to drill out the rivets to remove the motor assy from the tube. Once new motor end and spring end are installed, you need to pre-wind the spring. I think it was 14 revolutions pre-wind.

After the awning was all back together and working, I did an autopsy on the failed motor. When you get the motor assy removed from the motor housing, you find the stacked combination of the planetary reduction motor and an electric brake that locks rotation when power is removed. I got the motor apart, and all I could find wrong was a light rust on the brushes. I cleaned it up, and put it together, and it works fine. So I strongly suspect that there is a good correlation between the rain and the failure. That spare motor was repurposed as an electric drive for the chute rotation for the snowblower on my Massey Ferguson tractor! Rotation speed on the chute is a little bit slow!..But it has lots of torque!

In hind site, if I had done the autopsy on the motor before I put the take-off motor and spring units on my trailer, I would have shot some silicone or urethane sealant where the primary red and black wires come out of the bracket that attaches to the awning arms. I think it is a good idea to take extra precautions to stop the water from getting in there. I couldn't see any way, other than along the red and black wires, that the water got in there. Best of luck!

[Reverse_snowbird]

You said that you are camping and have an electrical hookup?

Have you checked your house batteries? We had our awning 'click' and discovered that the house battery was not charged. Once we charged up the house battery, the awning worked.

I know it's probably not the problem, but we believe in trying the no cost option first.

[haulafifth]

Try one of the RV surplus houses. i got mine a couple of years ago from Bontrager's rv surplus 866-483-7017. He had brand new ones that were off new damaged awnings. Shipping was reasonable and the part was 25% what dealer wanted for new. I found one at the dumpster in a campground after a bad thunderstorm. Pulled it out of the tube and took it home, tried it and nothing wrong with it, I carry it with me as I have 2 awnings. If I have a spare I will never have another problem. Good Luck

[Indy500]

Originally Posted by haulafifth

Try one of the RV surplus houses. i got mine a couple of years ago from Bontrager's rv surplus 866-483-7017. He had brand new ones that were off new damaged awnings. Shipping was reasonable and the part was 25% what dealer wanted for new. I found one at the dumpster in a campground after a bad thunderstorm. Pulled it out of the tube and took it home, tried it and nothing wrong with it, I carry it with me as I have 2 awnings. If I have a spare I will never have another problem. Good Luck

Thanks I will call them

[Jake733]

We had the same problem, with a clicking sound from the motor when I tried to open it after it had been standing for the winter. Our service guys checked it and it turned out all they had to do was pull the connections at the motor end, clean them and re-connect them. Works fine now. The technician advised to open and close the awning every three to four weeks to prevent problems. That was in March. I've done that and things seem OK now.

[dsparti]

Originally Posted by Indy500

Here is a pic of the awning motor. There are 2 wires coming from the camper to the motor . Is one open and the other close? Or is it red positive and black negative? I want to hook it to power just to see if it runs before forking out my cashAttachment 206147Attachment 206148

I bought a 2014 Forest River Wildcat FBS from Blue Dog RV. When I picked it up, I had printed out an NTSP Safety Recall notice, presented it to them asking if my trailer was part of the recall, and they looked straight in my face and LIED! A couple years later, we were camping in Canada and when we went to leave, the awning wouldn't retract. I manually rolled it up and bungee corded it closed. When I got home, I contacted Dometic and after giving them the serial number, that awning was part of the recall!! Dometic was the best company to work with and they dispatched a mobile RV repairman with a new awning motor to my house and replaced it for free! The awning motor in the picture is the exact motor that came out and was the recalled motor! Instead of having an aluminum housing it was clear plastic! The new motor had a solid aluminum housing so if you have a clear housing on your awning motor, contact Dometic right away! So what was the danger that necessitated the recall? The motor is the only thing that holds the awing closed and it could open while traveling down the highway causing an accident!! If you have a Dometic awning, contact them with the serial number to verify it's safe! I'll never buy another RV from Blue Dog! Thank you Dometic!

[emm-dee]

[QUOTE=SeaDog;2115369]You might want to do a search on this site I remember someone posting that the same motor is used in car windows at a greatly reduced price

That’s only for LCI Solera awnings. Less than $100 from NAPA.

[wvram]

Originally Posted by dsparti

I bought a 2014 Forest River Wildcat FBS from Blue Dog RV. When I picked it up, I had printed out an NTSP Safety Recall notice, presented it to them asking if my trailer was part of the recall, and they looked straight in my face and LIED! A couple years later, we were camping in Canada and when we went to leave, the awning wouldn't retract. I manually rolled it up and bungee corded it closed. When I got home, I contacted Dometic and after giving them the serial number, that awning was part of the recall!! Dometic was the best company to work with and they dispatched a mobile RV repairman with a new awning motor to my house and replaced it for free! The awning motor in the picture is the exact motor that came out and was the recalled motor! Instead of having an aluminum housing it was clear plastic! The new motor had a solid aluminum housing so if you have a clear housing on your awning motor, contact Dometic right away! So what was the danger that necessitated the recall? The motor is the only thing that holds the awing closed and it could open while traveling down the highway causing an accident!! If you have a Dometic awning, contact them with the serial number to verify it's safe! I'll never buy another RV from Blue Dog! Thank you Dometic!

Here is link to recall

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/201...3V357-1444.pdf

[Iwannacamp]

[QUOTE=emm-dee;2116421]

Originally Posted by SeaDog

You might want to do a search on this site I remember someone posting that the same motor is used in car windows at a greatly reduced price



That’s only for LCI Solera awnings. Less than $100 from NAPA.

I saw a previous post about that.... the only thing I saw was a step motor that looked like a window lift or wiper motor. These are what I saw...hope I’m wrong as I will buy an extra if we figure it out

[emm-dee]

Here's the thread (from 2016)

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...nt-110957.html

[Indy500]

Ok guys ,I found a motor today it ships tomorrow. I was told it is new , I found a RV salvage company north of me about 2.5 . It is actually very close to Elkhart Indiana and dometic company. It turns out they have the motor all the time. They get the damaged awnings from the factory's. If they have freight damage the factory scraps the complete awning. While talking with the guy at the salvage company he said they have everything anyone would ever need.new sofas, trifold couches, frig, everything. Oh and the price is 83.00 plus tax, plus shipping UPS. dealer wants 416.00
I think once I get it , and check it out I will order another one to have on hand.

[Iwannacamp]

Originally Posted by emm-dee

Here's the thread (from 2016)

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...nt-110957.html

I’ll be danged....won’t fit mine