Squeaky Carefree Travel'r Awning

[Silver Arrow]

The Carefree Travel’r awning on my DX3 had gotten to be rather squeaky & jerky when rolling it in and out. I did the usual spraying lubricant on the pivoting joints and gas strut shaft, but it didn’t help. One day I finally got tired of it so I had DW roll it in & out while I was standing next to the arm & listening to it. The squeaking was most noticeable at the bottom pivot point of the gas strut, plus I could feel a vibration on the end of the strut as it was moving in & out. I decided the problem was probably in the strut but wasn’t absolutely positive at the time.

Removal of the old struts & installation of the new ones can be a challenge. I looked on You Tube & at the Carefree instructions and basically they say to open the awning fully, support the roller tube & then unscrew one end of the strut from the pivot eye & then unscrew the other end. The problem with this is the strut is still under about 2-3” of compression, which will be a REAL problem when trying to install the new strut because they are quite powerful. I decided to go a different route by removing the upper pivot pin & then unscrewing the strut body from the lower pivot eye, which was easy. The strut wants to extend so some brute force is required to get the pin out. For installation I was able to able to pull the new strut downward in the vertical rail & installed a std. stainless steel capscrew w/ an elastic stop nut. If you use this method be careful of the 2 black plastic spacers between the rail & the pivot eye - they will disappear into the nearest abyss when the pin is removed. The large roller tube doesn’t have to be supported – it won’t go anywhere.

The awning now moves in & out quietly, and smoothly - a night and day difference. The other change I made was to replace the plastic rollers that go into the track with rectangular nylon blocks. I made these while I was still troubleshooting the problem, & liked them better than the rollers, so I kept them in place.

In summary, I think the problem is internal to the pressure end of the strut where something either wears out or gets dry & sticky. You can spray lube on the exposed shaft all you want to but the problem appears to be internal & can’t be fixed. This repair method can be used on other Carefree awnings that have the same basic construction.