1992 chain/ spring lift system

[DrP]

Hi all. I have a new to me 1992 Fleetwood pop-up. It has the chain/ spring lift system, it's all located inside the trailer and I understand there are no cables with this older style and rare system. I am in the process of fixing a sheared roll pin, but to do so, I'm trying to understand how the system actually works!
There is a crank, which turns chains in the front (directly) and rear (via a drive shaft). And they "push" springs which cause the lifter bars to raise the roof..... What!!!!?? The roof is like 200 lbs. How exactly do 4 small springs "push" the roof up. I'm missing something here. Is there some kind of threaded rod in the lifters? Are the springs under tension when the lid is down or up? What else is inside the lifter bars? How about the square tubes in the front and rear of the camper? Is it just one long chain inside them? Is it a combo chain and spring?
My issue is that I am trying to understand whether I should have the lid up or down to retract the front lifter sprocket. It broke in the down position, but the lid is currently up and held on place with 2 2x4's. If the system is under tension with the lid is closed, then it's reasonable to assume that the front lifter springs release all tension when the roll pin sheared. I gotta figure this one out before I can finish this fix. Please HELP!!!!

[bikendan]

Since your popup is not a Forest River product and it's 30 years old, I'm not sure if anyone here can help with that old of a system on a non-FR trailer.
Maybe someone here owned an old Fleetwood popup at one time.

[DrP]

Names are names. It is the late 80's/ early 90's Forest River lift system that was installed into Fleetwood's of that vintage. And that's just the problem, after 30 years it's nearly impossible to find any one with any knowledge on this system. Since it is a FR lift system, my hope was that maybe there was someone around on this forum that knew something about it. Because there isn't on any other forum, I tried them first.

[Bama Rambler]

Take a look over at Popup Portal and see if they can help.
My daughter has a very old Coleman and I've completely rebuilt the Wiffle Tree system. I've seen the push spring systems, but haven't worked on them.

I think you have a Goshen Stamping system. You can try https://www.goshenstamping.com/lift-system to see if they can help.

[DrP]

Thanks so much for your reply. I have been up and down that forum and have posted a thread there as well. It's not the Coleman lift assembly or any of the types of Goshen systems. It's similar to the Rockwood chain/ spring lift assembly. And as mentioned above, when I am able to find parts for it, they are sold under the FR name. Popupparts.com has some parts for it listed under FR 1992 and older.

[Bogieboy]

Oof... that systtem is the reason my parents got out of pop ups for good... once it malfunctions, there seems to be no getting it to work again.... least thats what the 3 dealers we brought it to said, and all of them tried to fix it... and every time it would work 1-2 times and break again... thry went to a hybrid, and havent looked back...

Hope you have better luck than we did... we had chain breakage issues, not rollpin issues...

[DrP]

oh man I have unfortunately heard this a couple times now. What a shame, it's a beautiful vintage pop-up otherwise. Thanks for the feedback anyways, it's just nice to hear from someone who knows that this system exists!

[Bogieboy]

Originally Posted by DrP

oh man I have unfortunately heard this a couple times now. What a shame, it's a beautiful vintage pop-up otherwise. Thanks for the feedback anyways, it's just nice to hear from someone who knows that this system exists!

I know ours was made worse by a water intrusion problem on the roof, the plywood was soaking up the water... we also had a roof mounted bike rack on that trailer...

[DrP]

Hi everyone. I spent a great deal of time researching, looking over schematics and pondering this lift system and how it works. I was able to repair mine and am fairly confident in how the system operates now. If anyone else finds this thread down the road, please feel free to reach out. I took a bunch of pictures and made notes for future reference. Thank you to those who respond.

[Bama Rambler]

Thank you for offering to help. Hopefully it'll help someone in the future.

[Mijen7678]

Originally Posted by DrP

Hi everyone. I spent a great deal of time researching, looking over schematics and pondering this lift system and how it works. I was able to repair mine and am fairly confident in how the system operates now. If anyone else finds this thread down the road, please feel free to reach out. I took a bunch of pictures and made notes for future reference. Thank you to those who respond.

Anyone know where I can get the replacement push springs and what length.

[DrP]

Popupparts.com under Forest River lift systems.

[ronjohn258]

I have the 1992 flagstaff pop up with the chain/spring lift system....I have fixed the lift system several times and thought I finally got it working well and decided to sell it. But when the people I sold it too went to crank it up, it completely broke and nothing would crank...I ended up buying it back and even refunded the monies they spent to register it...so now it looks like i am stuck with it...I rebuilt it including new canvas, awning, wheels, curtains, new table and bench tops. I have way too much money invested to just give it away. I am determined to fix this cranking system once and for all. Maybe even replacing it with a hybrid. Anyone know a good hybrid system that will work please let me know where I can find one and any helpful hints on installing it...Thank you

[DrP]

well, you could always go with a C&R lift system (the exterior spring loaded arms). Personally I feel like it takes value away from the trailer but really, there is nothing wrong with it at all.