DX3 Patio Awning fabric replacement

[KRedburn]

Has anyone had to have their awning fabric replaced?
Mine tore during a retraction and has an approx 2 foot tear in the forward edge.
I had the wife attempt to sew the rip together and was able to fully retract but you could hear it tear again.
Long story short new fabric for the Apex awning is llisted $1K plus from Carefree. They did sell me new fabric for $850.
Went to get it installed at a Carefree Authorized service provider and they said they have never done an Apex on a Dynamax DX3 and said they had to remove the complete box from the roof, fix it on the floor, then reinstall and reseal the roof. We got into a discussion and I did not proceed.
Contacted Carefree and obtained the service manual from them and sent this to the "Authorized Service Provider"
Jury is still out

I would like to get feedback from anyone who has had to replace the fabric on our units DX3, Force, or XL

Maybe Greg will chime in here also.

[FOURWHL]

Sheesh if you're going to go through the rigamaroll of taking it off and reinstalling, may be worth looking at other options while you're at it. Granted there's paint to be considered then too I guess. Being black you may be able to get away without it though.

No real advice here, sorry. I'm still limping my slide toppers along with eternabond lol. Have even replaced them yet...

[KRedburn]

Originally Posted by FOURWHL

Sheesh if you're going to go through the rigamaroll of taking it off and reinstalling, may be worth looking at other options while you're at it. Granted there's paint to be considered then too I guess. Being black you may be able to get away without it though.

No real advice here, sorry. I'm still limping my slide toppers along with eternabond lol. Have even replaced them yet...

LOL
I don't think that the unit has to be removed from the roof.
Service manual says you can remove the endplates and then the top cover can be removed and set aside thus exposing the awning drive mechanism(s).
Both ends of the awning have to be slid into the channels simultaneously. (per the service manual). I would like to find out just how difficult this is.
DW is pretty much insisting that someone other than me will do this. Jury is out on this tho.

[FOURWHL]

Ahhhh ok I follow now.

When you said reseal I was envisioning the whole thing coming down. Which sounds crazy.

[KRedburn]

Originally Posted by FOURWHL

Ahhhh ok I follow now.

When you said reseal I was envisioning the whole thing coming down. Which sounds crazy.

You are correct. The "authorized service provider" said, "I have never done and Apex awning before. But the whole unit has to be removed and the awning fabric replaced on the floor and then reinstalled"
I took exception to this based on the service manual (he did not have and Carefree was closed)
I told him I had the service manual and would send it to him. Which I have done.
The service manual says you can remove the end covers and then remove the top of the box. I have not looked close enough to see if the end covers have enough room to be removed in place. I hope they do.
That is why in my original post I said the "jury is still out"

How are your travels going?

[M T Pockets]

Just replaced my large slide topper with a Tuff Top Slide topper. Much heavier material and extra stitching compared to the original Carefree.

[MoJoe1003]

I’ve had both of the awning fabrics replaced on my XL twice...that’s right, 4 individual fabric replacements. Long, long story. The whole box does not have to come off. Find a different installer that knows what they are doing.

[Orangecrush]

I've had my whole assy replaced on my DX3 and am about to replace just the awning and one arm. I had my local dealer replace it but I think this time I'll do it myself or have a local mobile mechanic do it. (I have to do some paint work on the box and since I own a bodyshop....)

I believe you can replace the awning while the box assy is still on the vehicle, I think it just makes it easier if it's off.

I talked to the parts dept about a month ago at Carefree and there was one other option available to replace the entire box assy with. I'm looking into it because it's adjustable and allows you to tilt the awning for rain (which is what ruined both of my assy's)

Mark

[bambamdrw]

I'm on my third tore one. I installed the first two under warranty. The first ripped a week after delivery and ChesacoRV service sucks so I replaced it myself. (6 months old) Greg from Dynamax help me adjust it at Masseys Landing. Five months later, the 2nd ripped, it never got rained on but Apex covered that one too, this time I got help to install scaffolding and too tall ladders. It tore at Reunion Lake I'm that very mild breeze. This was a tiny tear where you could see light through the holes in the stitches. I applied a canvas patch kit with reinforced fabric...it now has a large rip.

Seems to me that all the stress is on the edge if the fabric, where the canvas is folded and stitched.

[Dhall404]

My canvas ripped at front seam about a foot long after very heavy rain. That storm also took motor out. I read manual on how to retract manually. when i got home I removed canvas with awning fully extended and had local guy repair and reinforce no problems in 2 years of use since. All most any good local canvas awning shop can remake cheaper the any manufacturer can. They are using same sunbrella material.

[kayo]

By "forward edge", is it at the roller? I have used awning tape betweenthe roller and teh awning material.Is still working well

[Cyote61]

I had mine replaced with a carefree replacement at a local RV place. Cost me about $1100 total. Carefree is making a killer profit on that canvas. Too bad we are stuck with them. I'm not fond of their products nor their attitude about their quality problems.

[RV Randy]

2018 DX3 TS. To answer your question, yes, I just replaced the large awning canvas myself 3 days ago. Takes a little time and you need a few helpers to make it easier to thread the new canvas in but overall not that difficult.

From the day I got the unit new the awning was noisy when deploying it, it would make banging noises and sometimes hang up and fail to deploy. Usually hitting the retract button and trying again once or twice would get it to come out. I should have taken it in for service under warranty but its a 3 hour drive to the dealer and half the time they don't know how to fix stuff anyways. My fault. Eventually this resulted in the canvas tearing about 3' long right where it attaches to the outer rail at the far left side (exactly the same as KRedburn describes including sowing it then listening to it tear when it wound back in).

You do not need to remove the mechanism from the roof. You remove the end plates and the large clamshell cover that run the full length of the awning mechanism. Just a few screws in the clamshell. Note this is what was causing the banging and hanging up the awning, the clamshell screws were loose and it had rotated slightly too far toward the awnings and it was interfering with the decorative cover that goes on the end rail. Now that I adjusted that correctly and tightened the screws after installing the new canvas the awning deploys noiselessly and smooth as silk.

The bolts holding the spring arms to the sidewall were also loose so I torqued those to spec, now the awning does not droop near as much.

Turn the power to the awning off in the 110v breaker panel. Mine was on the same breaker as my refrigerator. You extend the awning 18 to 24 inches using the manual bypass (front end of the mechanism on roof, 7mm allen type bit and a battery power drill). Then use ratchet straps in the elbows between the spring arms to keep them from extending further. Then remove the set screws that lock the canvas in place on the leading edge and pull the old canvas out towards the rear of the vehicle. Pretty easy. The new canvas has heavy nylon rods in each end, you use these to thread into the slots on the leading edge and on the roller up top. This is where it was handy to have 2 friends helping. You need to pull the new canvas from the rear into the top roller and the leading edge equally or it binds up, so 1 person on roof pulling the top edge, 1 person on ladder pulling the leading edge, 1 person at the rear supporting the new canvas and making sure it does not pop out of the groove on the top roller. Once you get it all the way on and centered on the roller you reinstall the set screws and use the manual bypass to slowly wind the canvas fully onto the roller ensuring it rolls up straight and evenly until the you have all of the slack out of the canvas. Then remove the ratchet straps and keep winding it in until the awning fully retracts. Then let it out again slowly to ensure nothing hangs up. If all looks OK, turn the power back on and operate the awning full in and out several times. Replace the end covers and clamshell and you're done. Now that I've done this once and understand the process, I'm sure I could complete the entire job again in 2-3 hours with 1 or 2 friends helping to pull the new canvas into place.

I am fortunate to have a big enough shop to do this inside, it would be challenging outside if the wind was blowing much.

The only weird issue I had was when I turned the power to the awning back on, the wall mounted control lit up all of the green wind sensor LED's constantly with a flashing red power LED and you could not use the on/off button to turn the awning control off. Reading the manual, the flashing red power LED indicates a wind sensor fault. Thus ensued a long trouble shooting process looking for pinched wires, etc. I finally decided to remove the wind sensor itself from the leading edge and just bumping it caused the fault to clear, all LED's except red power went off and the unit started working normally. Something it the wind sensor sending unit must have gotten stuck?

[KRedburn]

Originally Posted by RV Randy

2018 DX3 TS. To answer your question, yes, I just replaced the large awning canvas myself 3 days ago. Takes a little time and you need a few helpers to make it easier to thread the new canvas in but overall not that difficult.

From the day I got the unit new the awning was noisy when deploying it, it would make banging noises and sometimes hang up and fail to deploy. Usually hitting the retract button and trying again once or twice would get it to come out. I should have taken it in for service under warranty but its a 3 hour drive to the dealer and half the time they don't know how to fix stuff anyways. My fault. Eventually this resulted in the canvas tearing about 3' long right where it attaches to the outer rail at the far left side (exactly the same as KRedburn describes including sowing it then listening to it tear when it wound back in).

You do not need to remove the mechanism from the roof. You remove the end plates and the large clamshell cover that run the full length of the awning mechanism. Just a few screws in the clamshell. Note this is what was causing the banging and hanging up the awning, the clamshell screws were loose and it had rotated slightly too far toward the awnings and it was interfering with the decorative cover that goes on the end rail. Now that I adjusted that correctly and tightened the screws after installing the new canvas the awning deploys noiselessly and smooth as silk.

The bolts holding the spring arms to the sidewall were also loose so I torqued those to spec, now the awning does not droop near as much.

Turn the power to the awning off in the 110v breaker panel. Mine was on the same breaker as my refrigerator. You extend the awning 18 to 24 inches using the manual bypass (front end of the mechanism on roof, 7mm allen type bit and a battery power drill). Then use ratchet straps in the elbows between the spring arms to keep them from extending further. Then remove the set screws that lock the canvas in place on the leading edge and pull the old canvas out towards the rear of the vehicle. Pretty easy. The new canvas has heavy nylon rods in each end, you use these to thread into the slots on the leading edge and on the roller up top. This is where it was handy to have 2 friends helping. You need to pull the new canvas from the rear into the top roller and the leading edge equally or it binds up, so 1 person on roof pulling the top edge, 1 person on ladder pulling the leading edge, 1 person at the rear supporting the new canvas and making sure it does not pop out of the groove on the top roller. Once you get it all the way on and centered on the roller you reinstall the set screws and use the manual bypass to slowly wind the canvas fully onto the roller ensuring it rolls up straight and evenly until the you have all of the slack out of the canvas. Then remove the ratchet straps and keep winding it in until the awning fully retracts. Then let it out again slowly to ensure nothing hangs up. If all looks OK, turn the power back on and operate the awning full in and out several times. Replace the end covers and clamshell and you're done. Now that I've done this once and understand the process, I'm sure I could complete the entire job again in 2-3 hours with 1 or 2 friends helping to pull the new canvas into place.

I am fortunate to have a big enough shop to do this inside, it would be challenging outside if the wind was blowing much.

The only weird issue I had was when I turned the power to the awning back on, the wall mounted control lit up all of the green wind sensor LED's constantly with a flashing red power LED and you could not use the on/off button to turn the awning control off. Reading the manual, the flashing red power LED indicates a wind sensor fault. Thus ensued a long trouble shooting process looking for pinched wires, etc. I finally decided to remove the wind sensor itself from the leading edge and just bumping it caused the fault to clear, all LED's except red power went off and the unit started working normally. Something it the wind sensor sending unit must have gotten stuck?

Thank you RVRandy!!!

Now I need to find 3 friends that are available