Okay, this is all great unless you are doing an awning with an attached valance that has 2 sewn-in welts to insert in the roller tube. We got to the point where you feed the fabric into the grooves and discovered that the fabric is JUST slack enough to reach between the 2 grooves and does NOT allow any excess for feeding it over the end cap and rivets. We struggled and struggled with this and finally used a Dremel grinder to slope the sides of the grooves (in the end cap) to give us a fraction more slack. We managed to get this done but it was a very difficult task to get the awning over the end cap even with the sloped sides. When we finally did have it over the end caps, we had to slide the awning a few inches at the time, a few inches on the roller bar then a few inches at the top and keep alternating back and forth to finally got the awning fabric in place. It probably would have helped a bit if we had waited to add the support rivets until after we had the awning installed.
That is a good point about the rivets, but I may have come up with another way to install awning (with) connected vallance. Leave the first center cord in the awning side, then take the center cord out of the valence side. Then run a thin gauge wire through the Valance side. Slide the awning on the rig as before, then when the awning is on the barrel (past the end cap)tape 4 inches of the wire and center core together and use the wire as a snake and pull the center core (Vallance side) through the channel + awning to finish putting the (Valance side) center core into it's installed position.
I really believe it's easier to take the tension off the springs, remove the end caps and slide the fabric on, then replace the end caps, and rewind the springs. Takes less time; the setup process, and all the other ancillary steps you added result in more work and time.
this was a fantastic way to replace this without messing with the spring!!! i asked a couple of friends to help and it went pretty smoothly!! Thank you!!
Just found your video all these years later because I came up with this exact idea and then thought... "Surely someone has tried it" and Low and Behold you thought of it 5 years ago and it worked! I'll be doing this in a few days as I've had the replacement fabric for a couple of months but just didn't feel like "Hassling" with it. Thanks for the Video!
Thank you, Just replace our 19’ awning with your method but with two people and it went pretty smooth. I used self tapping screws instead of pop rivets because it was what i had, i did have to remove the screws while feeding the fabric in , then put them back in afterwards. I WOULD SAY YOUR WAY IS THE BEST OUT THERE!! Thanks so much, Happy Camping!!
Steve, thank you, I knew there had to be an easier way. Just got my fabric today and was looking for how to install it. I am away from home and don't have access to three friends to help me do this. Now I can do it by myself. Thank you again for taking the time to do this video.
Superb instruction. I did not want to disassemble the entire roller to replace my awning and this video was just the ticket. Glad you shared it. The issue I had with mine was a rubberized spline that needed to be inserted into the roller tube which in addition also holds the awning to the tube. I was able to fish it halfway down the tube then it would go no further. I ended up drilling a hole in the opposite end cap and slid 50% of the spline material through that end and viola! I also used a screen spline tool to push the awning into the channel so that the spline would slide over the awning and lock it into the channel. I have a friend who tried to replace his awning - not using this method - and lost a couple of teeth when the channel lock pliers spun and whacked him in the face.
This worked beautifully! It took us just over an hour. We had some extra hands on deck, because we didn't have a place to brace up like you did ... but this is genius. SOOOOO much better than the video my husband found. Done and DONE!! Thanks so much!!!
Steve, thanks so much for posting your Replacing RV awning 2.0! Man, that was at LEAST three times easier than anything else I could find that wanted me to take the whole awning system down, which would take at least four guys to do. My wife and I did it in almost exactly 3 hours, start to finish. My awning had a built in valence, so getting one of those little roller wheel tools to push it down in the slot was a necessity. Also, with the connected valence, it's a lot easier to drill one more hole in the rear cap, and then cut the nylon rod in half and feed half from the front and half from the rear. Your idea sure worked slick. THANKS AGAIN !!!
Bro, this is awesome. My intuition told me I could replace my awning with this method, but everyone else made is so much ,ore complicated. I just finished and it was way easier than removing the caps/springs.
Dennis Kidd I'm in the process of fitting a new skin to my little pop top van with the same style of awning as this guy, and I have looked at it and thought, " why can't I just anchor it out in the open position, pull the old one out, drill a suitable size hole, cut a slot and slide the new one in."? I ran that idea past a couple of mates and they agreed. I just stumbled on to this video by accident. I have been quoted $500 and more at some places to fit this, and I have said "no way am I paying someone that much money for such a simple job. Now I have the answer, thanks to Steve Harkins. I think he has put the skin on the roller incorrectly though. I think you aren't supposed to see the bare roller full length like that.
Thanks for making this video. My wife and I replaced our awning on our Weekend Warrior, just as you described. It went off without a hitch!!!Your video was just what we needed, THANKS AGAIN!!!
This is the 2nd time I have done this job and this method is much easier than taking the awning of the RV and messing with those VERY DANGEROUS springs. Some rollers have ways to pin the springs so you don't have to mess with tensioning springs or risk getting hurt. My end caps were like these and could not be pined. Great workaround!
Interesting video, I watched a video on how to do it the "conventional way" yesterday and looked at my own awning and came up with the idea to do exactly what you did, I'm going to give that further thought based on your video.
Thank you for this! When we were looking at ours, I wondered why we couldn't just drill a hole to slide the new awning in! And now I know I can! Great video and instructions. I don't think there will be much stress on the endcap, the stress is on the arms. So, the new holes shouldn't be a problem. Thanks again!
I have yet to do my awning and looked at it and thought why not just drill out the end so that I can just slide the fabric on or off , instead of what I had watched other replacement videos showing the removal of the end caps unwinding the spring etc. one video had 4 people involved As I am only one person. Then I came across your video showing exactly what I indented to do. You confirmed my thoughts on how to do it, plus you included a few tips that will help me Tomorrow when I do my 20ft awning. Thanks for the confirmation and tips Dan C
Just bought my first camper a Plygrim International and love it. But I knew awning was shot from storm. No biggy still good deal. Then it tore apart in open extended position. This video was my cake. New awning will be here Thursday. Awesome video.
Much thanks. I like this method over drilling the rivets out of the Roller and removing the internal spring. This has the advantage of installing new fabric in place but at the disadvantage of taking much longer to slide the awning in two(2) or three(3 if valence) places. Additionally like the solo solution although I will enlist neighbors to slide awning back in place.
Thanks for doing this video, Steve..it greatly inspired me to give my project a try. Only difference was, I had to work on the frame arms and that meant removing the roller. And I wanted spring tension loaded. It's an older circa 2002 awning frame system but (with) it locked and a nail with electrical tape on one end and a nail, screwdriver stuck in every hole, a couple tie-wraps, electrical tape and vice grips on the other end to hold the shaft from spinning, it came off with no surprises. Granted I did spend some time studying what to come up with to hold the other end from taking off once this bolt came out. Oh yeah! Anyway...Working alone, to allow for some slack in the material, I just lifted the roller once re-attached to the frame and laid it back down on two supports.PS: I did have to cut, drill and file one grove opening. Used a Dremel tool. Didn't have a fancy cordless cutter like you.😂
I had seen seen this video but not the comment about the attached valance. Happy to say that the only issue I had was at the start and end where the fabric has a hem .... Made quick work of it with the help of a butter knife (don't tell the wife). The job took two hrs and one beer. Thank you Steve for the video.
Awesome!!!..my wife and i changed ours yesterday...been needing a new awning for a while...when i saw your video last week we orderd one right then...took about 3 hrs...thanks again bud!!!...
Installed my new awning in 2 1/2 hours - like all great ideas- really simple - but someone still has to think of it - thanks for sharing! PS- I didn't have a fence to stabilize the arm so I clamped a 2 X 4 to my rear bumper - worked great. My wife helped me slide the new awning into the slot - afraid I would tear it if I tried alone.
Thanks for the video. I had 2 welts at the roller end and installation of the new awning was extremely difficult. Took 2 men hours of pulling a couple inches at a time alternating top to bottom. But I still feel this method was easier than the conventional one. I simply strapped the left side to the bed of my truck to hold it stationary. No 2x4 necessary.
This method worked perfectly for me and saved a $275 install fee. I spent maybe an hour making the cut and an hour hanging the fabric. I did not do any bracing just used some help to keep the arms from getting pushed. One thing I did different was not removing the arm from the RV. I spread open the channel near the arm and fed the top bead in while the other person pulled the fabric. Lubing the track made it a whole lot easier to slide into place.
Steve, thanks a million for making this video, We have a 17ft SunChaser Awning on our camper , which looks exactly like yours except a little longer. We purchased our replacement fabric from ShadePro in CA which did have a detached valance. I made one mistake when I drilled the hole as I got it off ~ 1/16" and had to grind out the offset. Your procedure worked grate, except the longer and maybe heaver fabric wanted to pop out of the top track during installation. So I positioned myself on the roof of the camper and fed the fabric into the channel as my wife pulled the fabric into place. Seems like SunChaser should take note and drill another hole in the roller tube end cap. ... Pat ...
Thank you for posting this video. I did my 15' awning yesterday and it worked very well. It took between 2.5 and 3 hours by myself. And it has the built in valance. I bought the awning fabric from RV parts country online for $175.00 plus shipping.
Great info Steve. We replaced our awning yesterday following your instructions. The only issue we had was getting the fabric over the end cap. Ours is OLD and is a fairly thick chrome piece. We did it though!
As a retired physics teacher, I like your modifications to the accepted procedure. Much easier, and far more efficient. Very intelligent way to do this - rather than use a thin gauge wire as described by you below, I'll use thin "gauge" parachute cord instead. The cord has the slight added benefit of cleaning the channel as it goes through.
Just did this yesterday morning. I had never done anything to my awning and thought Id try this. When I went to cut off my old awning I was suprised how brittle and crumbly it was. I had already drilled the hole and had the slot cut so I would have to do that now. Everything went exactly as in the video. I did get my wife to come out and help with sliding the new awning into the channels. Worked axactly as shown. One thing I would add is my awning had the slot where you need to take the new awning and make a fold to add the last gasket,,I had gone to the hardware store and gotten a plastic wheeled window screen roller to push the fabric into the slot enough to push the gasket in,,worked slick. Steve thanks for the video,,was great.
Thank you so much for showing this. I just replaced mine today. Some notes maybe of interest: my 8500 had two welts so I had to cut the end cap in two places. I used a 5/16 HSS bit and then a 3/8. Then used a dremel with cut off wheel instead of a hacksaw. Smoothed edges with a fine dremel grinding bit. That part was easy and took less then 10 minutes each. The very hard part was getting the two welts into the roller simultaneously. The material between the welts has to be stretched over the end cap (which isn't an issue if the cap is removed). Took two people. For covers with only one welt - it would be a piece of cake. My 16' awning material came from Dyers RV, $207 in just a few days. Look great and equal or better than original. Supposedly has speciil UV coating on exposed end.(FYI My unexposed material is still exc so it makes a good drop cloth or table covering.)
I was worried about the same issue of getting an awning with two welts to fit over the end cap. For future reference or to help out a friend replace their awning check out my edited post above and the link to the awning I purchased. You don't need to cut the extra slot because the awning comes with one of the lower splines separate and you simply tuck the valance into the second slot in the roller tube and slide the spline in from the end.If you or anyone else wants pics I'll take some next time I have the awning opened.
Great, thanks. Lost mine after a rain storm forgetting to lower it. Slowly lowering the awning did not work. The tube bent in two, the torsion units shafts bent and the lower brackets broke. You have saved me time and money I am sure.
Awesome video, just replaced a trashed awning using this method. It did take some time due to a couple of unfortunate issues, but great tips! And helped save a lot of time and cussing!
good job. had my own thoughts and was definately not doing per mfg. looked at your vid and with a few minor differences, i followed yours and got the job done in about 3 hrs. thanx
Thank you for making the video. My end cap would not let my fabric with the valance slide over it. So, I did it the old fashioned way and still got done in 2.5 hours. It would have been easier your way, but it ended up six of one, half a dozen of the other.
Okay, at first I wholeheartedly agreed with Steve Harkins. This seemed like a great idea, and I set about doing it. I have an attached valance, and didn't see 1714russian comment. After working nearly ALL day on this (I had other issues with my awning fabric to fix after being caught with it down in a torrential rain), I drilled out the rivets on the end cap (through the fabric because I couldn't get the started fabric back off the tube and couldn't get it installed any farther -- I was stuck!), and took it off. Then I EASILY slid the awning fabric on in a matter of minutes, rewound the springs to their recommended tension, and finished this up in less than 30 minutes. IF I HAD DONE IT THIS WAY FROM THE START, I WOULD HAVE BEEN DONE WAY FASTER. Bottom line: I see NO ADVANTAGE WHATSOEVER to this method -- even if your awing and valance are separate. If you lower the roller tube, unbolt the end, use a vice grip to relieve the tension, remove the end cap, slide on the new fabric. reinstall the end cap (this does require drilling out the pop rivets and replacing them, but that is easy and quick), and rewind the springs to set the tension, the process is faster, easier (DOESN'T REQUIRE ALL OF THE CLAMPING AND SET UP), and straight forward. I really liked the idea, but after trying it, it does not save any time.
I just replied to Steve - and I'll reply to you to in order to ask - since I too have a valance - what about pulling off the left (rear) cap instead? Investigating, I had the tube resting on two 5' ladders with old fabric slack, support legs resting on the ground. The left cap has 2 rivets and a pin & washer securing it to the axle. Looks pretty easy to get apart. Thx.
I had decided that I would angle drill holes into the groves to get the canopy in and out. I'm glad I saw this video too. I didn't want to have to take the whole thing apart and deal with the rewinding. Next sunny day I'm going to change my canopy.
I replaced my Keystone Springdale 16’ awning this morning using Steve’s method almost verbatim. We purchased a Shade Pro blue fade fabric off Amazon for $164 and tax. I added 3 pop rivets to the end cap as Steve demonstrated, and then cut the old awning into 4 pieces to slide the old bits off easier. Cleaned up and lubed the tracks and then went at it. As some others have mentioned, we also had trouble getting the new single piece awning/valance started. The inside hem threads hung up on one of the rivets and it wouldn’t go on. We nearly tore the threads trying to force it, but we figured it out. We finally slid a small screwdriver up under the hem and got the threads past. We had to slide about a foot at a time alternating top and bottom, but we made it. Our install actually got easier to slide the further we advanced. The prep work took me a couple hours by myself, and then the actual install took another hour with me, my wife and daughter. We’re very happy how it turned out, and after it’s all done I’m glad we did it this way rather than tear the whole mechanism apart. We struggled here and there a bit, but patience prevailed and we got it. Hats off, Steve. I’m glad I found your demo and did it this way.
Worked great for me I bought a Sun Wave one piece. The only thing I did different was slide the half brace down to bottom then it will lay down in the awning arm out of the way without needing the wood to hold it up.
I used to spray silicone lube spray in the slots/rail to help slide the fabric in. It's not not oily so you don't have dirt collect on it afterwards. There's usually a spot to put a cotter pin, or a nail would work, in the ends of the torsion assemblies(springs), but you have to line up the hole/s...then you don't have the chance of it trying to roll up by bumping the roll-up release mechanism.
Great video Steve. Thanks for creating this how to video. Ours was caught in a bit of a storm last night and now the ratchet lock does not hold the awning in the open position. We also need to replace the material. Any idea how to replace that ratching lock mechanism?
Important advice. If you had purchased an awning with a valance and one weekly at each end you would not needed to grind any slots. One of the welts is 8 inches from the outer edge. That slides into the lower tube groove. Then you take a piece of loose welt tubing and using a screen door roller force the fabric and tube down into the second groove locking in place. That's why the end caps have only one slot. The valance also protects the awning from uv when rolled up.
YES on the Screen Door Roller ! Worked Perfectly to get the un-sewn main part installed, AFTER the valance. We did as Marc did - went in from the LEFT side. - just be careful, the concave part of the screen roller CAN SLICE the Fabric ~ we got a half inch cut in very middle - just thru one layer - will glue it after this trip ! Thanks again, Steve, and Marc
Sitting here watching RV videos and awning replacement video suggestions came up.. Well, just so happens we ordered new fabric for our RV awning and I thought I'd take a peek at what TH-cam thought I should be watching. so just got done watching this video and it's like you had read my mind. I've had two videos in the last couple of days discussing how I was going to not only replace my RV awning fabric but I was going to show how one person could do it and make it as easy as possible. I'm sure like you, it was just a ridiculous notion that in past instructional videos people were being told to take 30 pounds worth of hardware off of the RV just to replace the fabric. and what even seemed more idiotic was that the details showed you must slide the fabric in with two people supporting the roller tube by the arms in the air 8 foot or more. so I'll be shooting a video for my channel shortly and I'm going to refer to your video here as "matched inspiration" . I'm really glad you posted this video as the out of box thinking definitely needed to be carried out on a task that could be simplified so much from what has been done in the past. thanks for that.
It sure would be nice to see the new awning installation being started - as you're doing it, it looks like the barrel isn't covered like the old one did
For everyone with built in Valence on the new awning fabric, did you notice in the video, his was in 2 separate pieces? This means you could cut your new one and separate them into 2 pieces. Just carefully cut above thread line, and melt to ensure no fraying. Then simply slide the valence in separately from the main overhead fabric.
This method worked great for me, since my new awning had one factory installed bead at the valance end, and not two. Two would have made it hard to slide past the end-cap, as noted by other contributors.
I'm going to try this when my new awning fabric comes from Amazon (164.00)...then I am going to be checking everyone's end-caps in all the campgrounds for the 2 extra holes!!! We'll have something in common!
You need to send a copy of this to the factory. Hopefully, after they get over feeling stupid, they'll correct their oversite and make the extra hole in the end cap. The awnings that have the valance sewn onto the awning might not slip over the end cap. I would be willing to cut the valance into a separate piece if necessary. Nice to see somebody using their head for something other than a hatrack. Good job my man.
Since the awning and "drape" part wrap around the RV-side of the large tube, how did you get the awning edges past the lower arm strut and upper arm strut and into the channels? It seems to me that the struts would get in the way. Thanks for the great idea! Gene
One hour and 45 minutes from walking out the front door to sitting down to lunch - awning installed and driveway cleaned up. Comments:1) I used an awning from toughtopawnings.com and there was just enough slack between the cords on the roller end to get over the end cap. 2) Be generous with the holes drilled. I tried 1/4" and the old awning hung up solid coming out. 5/16" and everything slid like a dream.3) I drilled and tapped the reinforcement holes and used stainless machine screws - rural america - saved an hour round trip to the hardware store for more rivets (or at least rivets I could find).4) I cheated - I had my 14yo son help slide the new awning in. Saved a lot of up/down on the ladder.Great approach! Didn't have to remove any of my currently non-leaking hardware! Didn't need a second adult to handle a completely free awning frame assembly.Keep up the good work!
All I can say was this video gave me confidence to do mine,,,,BUT - it didn't quite work out like yours. We struggled to get the material out of the top rail on the camper and had to cut it out in sections. We did the roller like yours (cut the material about 6 inches from the roller). Our awning is 20'2" and it took several hours to slide it in - sometime inches at a time on the top and then the bottom. My wife and I did this and could have used two more people. The weight of the awning was so much that it hung straight down from the channels at the top and bottom. The second person had to hold the material horizontal while the first person pulled it through the channel inches at a time, then switch to the bottom and do the same. One of the biggest and hardest part of the job that you didn't show and I believe one person could not have done it, was putting the fold in the second channel on the roller while feeding in the plastic cord. Impossible to do with one person. Total install time - 5 hours.
Hey John, 20 feet is a long shot, may I suggest coating the inside of the tracks with Dawn dishwashing detergent to make it more slippery. The last 2 feet on mine I did notice what you were saying about it drooping at the beginning of the track. Doing it again, I would have propped up the first 2 feet going into the track with a stick. Unfortunately the awning I got is a POS, just pulled it down and it is all moldy. Next one will have some anti-microbial additive, one thing I did not think to look for in description before purchase. This one is molding up 3 times faster than original.
Silicone spray lube made mine slide in like a dream! Mine's about 17 feet. I didn't see this video before I did mine (yesterday). Came out great though!
Hi. Ours is 20' and we are going to use your method with 3 people. But I plan on scrubbing that top track out, bronze brush it and spray with silicone before we start installing. The bottom on the old one is pretty easy to move but it will get the same treatment.. scrub, silicone.
I've been waiting about 8 years the awning is still in the box and when I first started watching you rig all this up I thought that guy is drunk or insane maybe both pretty clever I was worried about letting a drink down and hang but it looks like it's pretty tough as you install it you had to let the weight drink down and hang
On My Dometic A&E awning I removed the rivets on the left side opposite the roll up down switch and moved the end cap to the position I needed to insert the sew in cord, then moved the end cap to the position to insert th
Hey Steve, I noticed that your awning fabric is a two piece design. May I ask what brand is the fabric you installed? I will be doing mine soon, and would like the ease of the separate valance. Thanks, and great video!!!
This is a great video Steve. Unfortunately, my A&E awning has domed end caps and neither one of the grooves has an opening in the cap. While not necessarily impossible to drill the holes, it could be quite tricky and doing 4 holes and slots will take more time. Also, the end caps are metal...look like cast aluminum. Are yours?
Okay, this is all great unless you are doing an awning with an attached valance that has 2 sewn-in welts to insert in the roller tube. We got to the point where you feed the fabric into the grooves and discovered that the fabric is JUST slack enough to reach between the 2 grooves and does NOT allow any excess for feeding it over the end cap and rivets. We struggled and struggled with this and finally used a Dremel grinder to slope the sides of the grooves (in the end cap) to give us a fraction more slack. We managed to get this done but it was a very difficult task to get the awning over the end cap even with the sloped sides. When we finally did have it over the end caps, we had to slide the awning a few inches at the time, a few inches on the roller bar then a few inches at the top and keep alternating back and forth to finally got the awning fabric in place. It probably would have helped a bit if we had waited to add the support rivets until after we had the awning installed.
That is a good point about the rivets, but I may have come up with another way to install awning (with) connected vallance. Leave the first center cord in the awning side, then take the center cord out of the valence side. Then run a thin gauge wire through the Valance side. Slide the awning on the rig as before, then when the awning is on the barrel (past the end cap)tape 4 inches of the wire and center core together and use the wire as a snake and pull the center core (Vallance side) through the channel + awning to finish putting the (Valance side) center core into it's installed position.
I really believe it's easier to take the tension off the springs, remove the end caps and slide the fabric on, then replace the end caps, and rewind the springs. Takes less time; the setup process, and all the other ancillary steps you added result in more work and time.
I used an awning from these guys toughtopawnings.com and there was enough slack between the two cords - just - to slide it on.
this was a fantastic way to replace this without messing with the spring!!! i asked a couple of friends to help and it went pretty smoothly!! Thank you!!
Just found your video all these years later because I came up with this exact idea and then thought... "Surely someone has tried it" and Low and Behold you thought of it 5 years ago and it worked! I'll be doing this in a few days as I've had the replacement fabric for a couple of months but just didn't feel like "Hassling" with it. Thanks for the Video!
Thank you, Just replace our 19’ awning with your method but with two people and it went pretty smooth. I used self tapping screws instead of pop rivets because it was what i had, i did have to remove the screws while feeding the fabric in , then put them back in afterwards. I WOULD SAY YOUR WAY IS THE BEST OUT THERE!! Thanks so much, Happy Camping!!
Steve, thank you, I knew there had to be an easier way. Just got my fabric today and was looking for how to install it. I am away from home and don't have access to three friends to help me do this. Now I can do it by myself. Thank you again for taking the time to do this video.
Superb instruction.
I did not want to disassemble the entire roller to replace my awning and this video was just the ticket. Glad you shared it.
The issue I had with mine was a rubberized spline that needed to be inserted into the roller tube which in addition also holds the awning to the tube. I was able to fish it halfway down the tube then it would go no further. I ended up drilling a hole in the opposite end cap and slid 50% of the spline material through that end and viola! I also used a screen spline tool to push the awning into the channel so that the spline would slide over the awning and lock it into the channel.
I have a friend who tried to replace his awning - not using this method - and lost a couple of teeth when the channel lock pliers spun and whacked him in the face.
This worked beautifully! It took us just over an hour. We had some extra hands on deck, because we didn't have a place to brace up like you did ... but this is genius. SOOOOO much better than the video my husband found. Done and DONE!! Thanks so much!!!
Steve, thanks so much for posting your Replacing RV awning 2.0! Man, that was at LEAST three times easier than anything else I could find that wanted me to take the whole awning system down, which would take at least four guys to do. My wife and I did it in almost exactly 3 hours, start to finish. My awning had a built in valence, so getting one of those little roller wheel tools to push it down in the slot was a necessity. Also, with the connected valence, it's a lot easier to drill one more hole in the rear cap, and then cut the nylon rod in half and feed half from the front and half from the rear. Your idea sure worked slick. THANKS AGAIN !!!
I renew trailers and think your new way of replacing the awning fabric is super. Thanks.
THANK YOU. I followed your directions and SUCCESSFULLY installed my awning all by myself.
Bro, this is awesome. My intuition told me I could replace my awning with this method, but everyone else made is so much ,ore complicated. I just finished and it was way easier than removing the caps/springs.
Dennis Kidd
I'm in the process of fitting a new skin to my little pop top van with the same style of awning as this guy, and I have looked at it and thought, " why can't I just anchor it out in the open position, pull the old one out, drill a suitable size hole, cut a slot and slide the new one in."? I ran that idea past a couple of mates and they agreed.
I just stumbled on to this video by accident. I have been quoted $500 and more at some places to fit this, and I have said "no way am I paying someone that much money for such a simple job. Now I have the answer, thanks to Steve Harkins. I think he has put the skin on the roller incorrectly though. I think you aren't supposed to see the bare roller full length like that.
Thanks for making this video. My wife and I replaced our awning on our Weekend Warrior, just as you described. It went off without a hitch!!!Your video was just what we needed, THANKS AGAIN!!!
This is the 2nd time I have done this job and this method is much easier than taking the awning of the RV and messing with those VERY DANGEROUS springs. Some rollers have ways to pin the springs so you don't have to mess with tensioning springs or risk getting hurt. My end caps were like these and could not be pined. Great workaround!
Interesting video, I watched a video on how to do it the "conventional way" yesterday and looked at my own awning and came up with the idea to do exactly what you did, I'm going to give that further thought based on your video.
Thank you for this! When we were looking at ours, I wondered why we couldn't just drill a hole to slide the new awning in! And now I know I can! Great video and instructions. I don't think there will be much stress on the endcap, the stress is on the arms. So, the new holes shouldn't be a problem. Thanks again!
This worked as advertised. Thanks for the tutorial! Less than 2.5 to complete with no issues.
Thank you for this video. I followed your instructions and replaced the fabric on my RV in about two hours with no issues or problems. Thank you!!
This video saved us big time! Thanks so much for your clear descriptions and excellent camera angles ! Much appreciated
I have yet to do my awning and looked at it and thought why not just drill out the end so that I can just slide the fabric on or off , instead of what I had watched other replacement videos showing the removal of the end caps unwinding the spring etc. one video had 4 people involved As I am only one person. Then I came across your video showing exactly what I indented to do. You confirmed my thoughts on how to do it, plus you included a few tips that will help me Tomorrow when I do my 20ft awning. Thanks for the confirmation and tips Dan C
Great method. Did it today and it worked great. took about 2 and a half hours by myself. Thank you!
incredible "how to" I have to do this on my RV and was dreading it until your video. Outstanding job. Thank you
You sire are AWESOME!!! Just replaced my awning last night, took me and a buddy and about an hour. It was pretty easy! Thanks for this!!!!
Just bought my first camper a Plygrim International and love it. But I knew awning was shot from storm. No biggy still good deal. Then it tore apart in open extended position. This video was my cake. New awning will be here Thursday. Awesome video.
I would like to thank you for your idea. It took my wife and i 2 hours and it was done and that was a 22 footer. Thanks Again Mark and Irene.
Much thanks.
I like this method over drilling the rivets out of the Roller and removing the internal spring.
This has the advantage of installing new fabric in place but
at the disadvantage of taking much longer to slide the awning in two(2) or three(3 if valence) places.
Additionally like the solo solution although I will enlist neighbors to slide awning back in place.
Thanks for doing this video, Steve..it greatly inspired me to give my project a try. Only difference was, I had to work on the frame arms and that meant removing the roller. And I wanted spring tension loaded. It's an older circa 2002 awning frame system but (with) it locked and a nail with electrical tape on one end and a nail, screwdriver stuck in every hole, a couple tie-wraps, electrical tape and vice grips on the other end to hold the shaft from spinning, it came off with no surprises. Granted I did spend some time studying what to come up with to hold the other end from taking off once this bolt came out. Oh yeah! Anyway...Working alone, to allow for some slack in the material, I just lifted the roller once re-attached to the frame and laid it back down on two supports.PS: I did have to cut, drill and file one grove opening. Used a Dremel tool. Didn't have a fancy cordless cutter like you.😂
I had seen seen this video but not the comment about the attached valance. Happy to say that the only issue I had was at the start and end where the fabric has a hem .... Made quick work of it with the help of a butter knife (don't tell the wife). The job took two hrs and one beer. Thank you Steve for the video.
Awesome!!!..my wife and i changed ours yesterday...been needing a new awning for a while...when i saw your video last week we orderd one right then...took about 3 hrs...thanks again bud!!!...
Installed my new awning in 2 1/2 hours - like all great ideas- really simple - but someone still has to think of it - thanks for sharing! PS- I didn't have a fence to stabilize the arm so I clamped a 2 X 4 to my rear bumper - worked great. My wife helped me slide the new awning into the slot - afraid I would tear it if I tried alone.
Thanks for the video. I had 2 welts at the roller end and installation of the new awning was extremely difficult. Took 2 men hours of pulling a couple inches at a time alternating top to bottom. But I still feel this method was easier than the conventional one. I simply strapped the left side to the bed of my truck to hold it stationary. No 2x4 necessary.
Thanks for taking the time to record that... Bless you & your family!!
This method worked perfectly for me and saved a $275 install fee. I spent maybe an hour making the cut and an hour hanging the fabric. I did not do any bracing just used some help to keep the arms from getting pushed.
One thing I did different was not removing the arm from the RV. I spread open the channel near the arm and fed the top bead in while the other person pulled the fabric. Lubing the track made it a whole lot easier to slide into place.
Jeffeory, I did the same as you: I kept the arms in place and simply spread open the channel near one arm and fed in the top bead. Worked great.
My first time replacing awning and I did it this way ...saved me a lot of time!!
Thank you.....this was a god send......was able to replace the fabric in one afternoon... once again thank you
Steve, thanks a million for making this video, We have a 17ft SunChaser Awning on our
camper , which looks exactly like yours except a little longer. We purchased our replacement fabric from ShadePro in CA which did have a detached valance. I made one
mistake when I drilled the hole as I got it off ~ 1/16" and had to grind out the offset. Your procedure worked grate, except the longer and maybe heaver fabric wanted to pop out of the
top track during installation. So I positioned myself on the roof of the camper and fed the fabric into the channel as my wife pulled the fabric into place. Seems like SunChaser should take note and drill another hole in the roller tube end cap.
... Pat ...
Thank you for posting this video. I did my 15' awning yesterday and it worked very well. It took between 2.5 and 3 hours by myself. And it has the built in valance. I bought the awning fabric from RV parts country online for $175.00 plus shipping.
How long are the screws that go in top to hold the arm in place?
This dude is a genius. Just finished installing my new awning and it worked like a charm, easy as pie!
you did it yourself ?
I did it without even a helper, it was easy
@@marjoe69 Thanks im about to install myself in a few weeks once my awning arrive..
The wife and I did this in less than 3 hours. Great DIY video.
This video was AWESOME. Now I - 55 years old - know how to do this by myself. THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!!
Hi Spring Chicken ! my friend and I are MUCH past you, and we did it - it is best to have another set of hands ! THanks to Steve for the inspiration!
Great info Steve. We replaced our awning yesterday following your instructions. The only issue we had was getting the fabric over the end cap. Ours is OLD and is a fairly thick chrome piece. We did it though!
Thanks for this video. I was dreading doing my awning the way the rest of the videos on you tube said to do it. This was so much easier. Great idea.
Hey I just want to say thanks for taking the time to make this. Looks like we'll be doing this ourselves!
I just did this and it worked well for us, Total time was about one hour. Great idea as I did not want ti deal with the springs.
As a retired physics teacher, I like your modifications to the accepted procedure. Much easier, and far more efficient. Very intelligent way to do this - rather than use a thin gauge wire as described by you below, I'll use thin "gauge" parachute cord instead. The cord has the slight added benefit of cleaning the channel as it goes through.
Liked and Saved your video a while back but just did my awning just now and thanks to you it went soooo easily.
Wow thank you for being such a great thinker. This really opened my mind.
Bravo I thought there was a better way to do this. I have to do it on mine and I've been procrastinating. So thank you.
Going to tackle this job on my 06 Terry tomorrow. I let you know how it goes. Great video. Thanks!
just finished this method of awning replacement, kudo's to you for a LOT easier and faster way to do this job. Thank goodness for youtube. lol Ron
Just did this yesterday morning. I had never done anything to my awning and thought Id try this. When I went to cut off my old awning I was suprised how brittle and crumbly it was. I had already drilled the hole and had the slot cut so I would have to do that now. Everything went exactly as in the video. I did get my wife to come out and help with sliding the new awning into the channels. Worked axactly as shown. One thing I would add is my awning had the slot where you need to take the new awning and make a fold to add the last gasket,,I had gone to the hardware store and gotten a plastic wheeled window screen roller to push the fabric into the slot enough to push the gasket in,,worked slick. Steve thanks for the video,,was great.
Thank you so much for showing this. I just replaced mine today. Some notes maybe of interest: my 8500 had two welts so I had to cut the end cap in two places. I used a 5/16 HSS bit and then a 3/8. Then used a dremel with cut off wheel instead of a hacksaw. Smoothed edges with a fine dremel grinding bit. That part was easy and took less then 10 minutes each. The very hard part was getting the two welts into the roller simultaneously. The material between the welts has to be stretched over the end cap (which isn't an issue if the cap is removed). Took two people. For covers with only one welt - it would be a piece of cake. My 16' awning material came from Dyers RV, $207 in just a few days. Look great and equal or better than original. Supposedly has speciil UV coating on exposed end.(FYI My unexposed material is still exc so it makes a good drop cloth or table covering.)
I was worried about the same issue of getting an awning with two welts to fit over the end cap. For future reference or to help out a friend replace their awning check out my edited post above and the link to the awning I purchased. You don't need to cut the extra slot because the awning comes with one of the lower splines separate and you simply tuck the valance into the second slot in the roller tube and slide the spline in from the end.If you or anyone else wants pics I'll take some next time I have the awning opened.
Great, thanks. Lost mine after a rain storm forgetting to lower it. Slowly lowering the awning did not work. The tube bent in two, the torsion units shafts bent and the lower brackets broke. You have saved me time and money I am sure.
Awesome video, just replaced a trashed awning using this method. It did take some time due to a couple of unfortunate issues, but great tips! And helped save a lot of time and cussing!
good job. had my own thoughts and was definately not doing per mfg. looked at your vid and with a few minor differences, i followed yours and got the job done in about 3 hrs. thanx
Thank you for making the video. My end cap would not let my fabric with the valance slide over it. So, I did it the old fashioned way and still got done in 2.5 hours. It would have been easier your way, but it ended up six of one, half a dozen of the other.
Wow I have been searching for someone to do this or help me. This is so much easier. I'm going to do it your way. Thank you,thank you
Okay, at first I wholeheartedly agreed with Steve Harkins. This seemed like a great idea, and I set about doing it. I have an attached valance, and didn't see 1714russian comment. After working nearly ALL day on this (I had other issues with my awning fabric to fix after being caught with it down in a torrential rain), I drilled out the rivets on the end cap (through the fabric because I couldn't get the started fabric back off the tube and couldn't get it installed any farther -- I was stuck!), and took it off. Then I EASILY slid the awning fabric on in a matter of minutes, rewound the springs to their recommended tension, and finished this up in less than 30 minutes. IF I HAD DONE IT THIS WAY FROM THE START, I WOULD HAVE BEEN DONE WAY FASTER. Bottom line: I see NO ADVANTAGE WHATSOEVER to this method -- even if your awing and valance are separate. If you lower the roller tube, unbolt the end, use a vice grip to relieve the tension, remove the end cap, slide on the new fabric. reinstall the end cap (this does require drilling out the pop rivets and replacing them, but that is easy and quick), and rewind the springs to set the tension, the process is faster, easier (DOESN'T REQUIRE ALL OF THE CLAMPING AND SET UP), and straight forward. I really liked the idea, but after trying it, it does not save any time.
I just replied to Steve - and I'll reply to you to in order to ask - since I too have a valance - what about pulling off the left (rear) cap instead? Investigating, I had the tube resting on two 5' ladders with old fabric slack, support legs resting on the ground. The left cap has 2 rivets and a pin & washer securing it to the axle. Looks pretty easy to get apart. Thx.
Rick Carter z
Nice work. I was just thinking about how accomplish this in the same fashion. Perfect.
I had decided that I would angle drill holes into the groves to get the canopy in and out. I'm glad I saw this video too. I didn't want to have to take the whole thing apart and deal with the rewinding. Next sunny day I'm going to change my canopy.
Great process! Followed it very closely and Success! Saved me two hundred bucks! Atta Boy Steve!
I replaced my Keystone Springdale 16’ awning this morning using Steve’s method almost verbatim. We purchased a Shade Pro blue fade fabric off Amazon for $164 and tax. I added 3 pop rivets to the end cap as Steve demonstrated, and then cut the old awning into 4 pieces to slide the old bits off easier. Cleaned up and lubed the tracks and then went at it. As some others have mentioned, we also had trouble getting the new single piece awning/valance started. The inside hem threads hung up on one of the rivets and it wouldn’t go on. We nearly tore the threads trying to force it, but we figured it out. We finally slid a small screwdriver up under the hem and got the threads past. We had to slide about a foot at a time alternating top and bottom, but we made it. Our install actually got easier to slide the further we advanced. The prep work took me a couple hours by myself, and then the actual install took another hour with me, my wife and daughter. We’re very happy how it turned out, and after it’s all done I’m glad we did it this way rather than tear the whole mechanism apart. We struggled here and there a bit, but patience prevailed and we got it. Hats off, Steve. I’m glad I found your demo and did it this way.
thanks for sharing! That's exactly the problem I'm dealing with. Going to give your solution a shot.
This is a fantastic idea it worked beautifully save me time money and I done it myself ripper thanks mate .
Great job. This has helped me with my 20 ft.
This guy is a great do-it-yourselfer thank you
ok i watched the viedo twice this looks a lot easier then any other method ive seen so far.
Took us less than one hour. Thanks for the video.
Worked great for me I bought a Sun Wave one piece. The only thing I did different was slide the half brace down to bottom then it will lay down in the awning arm out of the way without needing the wood to hold it up.
Excellent! Looks way easier! Thanks!
I did the same thing when I changed out my awning fabric! Work smarter not harder!
you save me a lot of work thanks you for the video !!!!
Good luck on 10 years. I've got a Coachmen and got 6 years on mine in Texas.
I used to spray silicone lube spray in the slots/rail to help slide the fabric in. It's not not oily so you don't have dirt collect on it afterwards.
There's usually a spot to put a cotter pin, or a nail would work, in the ends of the torsion assemblies(springs), but you have to line up the hole/s...then you don't have the chance of it trying to roll up by bumping the roll-up release mechanism.
Thanks for the excellent video. I am using your idea!! I have a class c with a similar owning that needs changing.
Great video Steve. Thanks for creating this how to video. Ours was caught in a bit of a storm last night and now the ratchet lock does not hold the awning in the open position. We also need to replace the material. Any idea how to replace that ratching lock mechanism?
Thank you very much for your help in doing this job
Important advice. If you had purchased an awning with a valance and one weekly at each end you would not needed to grind any slots. One of the welts is 8 inches from the outer edge. That slides into the lower tube groove. Then you take a piece of loose welt tubing and using a screen door roller force the fabric and tube down into the second groove locking in place. That's why the end caps have only one slot.
The valance also protects the awning from uv when rolled up.
YES on the Screen Door Roller ! Worked Perfectly to get the un-sewn main part installed, AFTER the valance. We did as Marc did - went in from the LEFT side. - just be careful, the concave part of the screen roller CAN SLICE the Fabric ~ we got a half inch cut in very middle - just thru one layer - will glue it after this trip ! Thanks again, Steve, and Marc
Sitting here watching RV videos and awning replacement video suggestions came up.. Well, just so happens we ordered new fabric for our RV awning and I thought I'd take a peek at what TH-cam thought I should be watching. so just got done watching this video and it's like you had read my mind. I've had two videos in the last couple of days discussing how I was going to not only replace my RV awning fabric but I was going to show how one person could do it and make it as easy as possible. I'm sure like you, it was just a ridiculous notion that in past instructional videos people were being told to take 30 pounds worth of hardware off of the RV just to replace the fabric. and what even seemed more idiotic was that the details showed you must slide the fabric in with two people supporting the roller tube by the arms in the air 8 foot or more. so I'll be shooting a video for my channel shortly and I'm going to refer to your video here as "matched inspiration" . I'm really glad you posted this video as the out of box thinking definitely needed to be carried out on a task that could be simplified so much from what has been done in the past. thanks for that.
Awesome Job Fella Awesome so much easier
Fantastic job. Thanks for sharing.
I have shared with our Australia Toyota coaster group. Thanks again
It sure would be nice to see the new awning installation being started - as you're doing it, it looks like the barrel isn't covered like the old one did
For everyone with built in Valence on the new awning fabric, did you notice in the video, his was in 2 separate pieces? This means you could cut your new one and separate them into 2 pieces. Just carefully cut above thread line, and melt to ensure no fraying. Then simply slide the valence in separately from the main overhead fabric.
Bad idea!!
@@kilo54 They actually sell awnings in with valence in a separate piece, so...
This method worked great for me, since my new awning had one factory installed bead at the valance end, and not two. Two would have made it hard to slide past the end-cap, as noted by other contributors.
I'm going to try this when my new awning fabric comes from Amazon (164.00)...then I am going to be checking everyone's end-caps in all the campgrounds for the 2 extra holes!!! We'll have something in common!
You need to send a copy of this to the factory. Hopefully, after they get over feeling stupid, they'll correct their oversite and make the extra hole in the end cap. The awnings that have the valance sewn onto the awning might not slip over the end cap. I would be willing to cut the valance into a separate piece if necessary. Nice to see somebody using their head for something other than a hatrack. Good job my man.
This worked very well, thank you
Since the awning and "drape" part wrap around the RV-side of the large tube, how did you get the awning edges past the lower arm strut and upper arm strut and into the channels? It seems to me that the struts would get in the way. Thanks for the great idea! Gene
Thank you works perfectly done it few time now
I'm going to install my new fabric awning without doing the backup drill revits. Will it make a difference??
One hour and 45 minutes from walking out the front door to sitting down to lunch - awning installed and driveway cleaned up. Comments:1) I used an awning from toughtopawnings.com and there was just enough slack between the cords on the roller end to get over the end cap. 2) Be generous with the holes drilled. I tried 1/4" and the old awning hung up solid coming out. 5/16" and everything slid like a dream.3) I drilled and tapped the reinforcement holes and used stainless machine screws - rural america - saved an hour round trip to the hardware store for more rivets (or at least rivets I could find).4) I cheated - I had my 14yo son help slide the new awning in. Saved a lot of up/down on the ladder.Great approach! Didn't have to remove any of my currently non-leaking hardware! Didn't need a second adult to handle a completely free awning frame assembly.Keep up the good work!
All I can say was this video gave me confidence to do mine,,,,BUT - it didn't quite work out like yours. We struggled to get the material out of the top rail on the camper and had to cut it out in sections. We did the roller like yours (cut the material about 6 inches from the roller). Our awning is 20'2" and it took several hours to slide it in - sometime inches at a time on the top and then the bottom. My wife and I did this and could have used two more people. The weight of the awning was so much that it hung straight down from the channels at the top and bottom. The second person had to hold the material horizontal while the first person pulled it through the channel inches at a time, then switch to the bottom and do the same. One of the biggest and hardest part of the job that you didn't show and I believe one person could not have done it, was putting the fold in the second channel on the roller while feeding in the plastic cord. Impossible to do with one person. Total install time - 5 hours.
Hey John, 20 feet is a long shot, may I suggest coating the inside of the tracks with Dawn dishwashing detergent to make it more slippery. The last 2 feet on mine I did notice what you were saying about it drooping at the beginning of the track. Doing it again, I would have propped up the first 2 feet going into the track with a stick. Unfortunately the awning I got is a POS, just pulled it down and it is all moldy. Next one will have some anti-microbial additive, one thing I did not think to look for in description before purchase. This one is molding up 3 times faster than original.
Silicone spray lube made mine slide in like a dream! Mine's about 17 feet. I didn't see this video before I did mine (yesterday). Came out great though!
Hi. Ours is 20' and we are going to use your method with 3 people. But I plan on scrubbing that top track out, bronze brush it and spray with silicone before we start installing. The bottom on the old one is pretty easy to move but it will get the same treatment.. scrub, silicone.
I've been waiting about 8 years the awning is still in the box and when I first started watching you rig all this up I thought that guy is drunk or insane maybe both pretty clever I was worried about letting a drink down and hang but it looks like it's pretty tough as you install it you had to let the weight drink down and hang
Great job. Thank you for sharing
Great video, thanks for sharing
On My
Dometic A&E awning I removed the rivets on the left side opposite the roll up down switch and moved the end cap to the position I needed to insert the sew in cord, then moved the end cap to the position to insert th
this methed worked really good thank you
Hey Steve, I noticed that your awning fabric is a two piece design. May I ask what brand is the fabric you installed? I will be doing mine soon, and would like the ease of the separate valance. Thanks, and great video!!!
Nice work mate! I can now do mine....thx
This is a great video Steve. Unfortunately, my A&E awning has domed end caps and neither one of the grooves has an opening in the cap. While not necessarily impossible to drill the holes, it could be quite tricky and doing 4 holes and slots will take more time. Also, the end caps are metal...look like cast aluminum. Are yours?