Awning Brake Lever wont move

[LarryandLiz]

Our 2014 17B has a Carefree Fiesta awning. The brake lever is stuck solid in the open position. Last operation of the awning was not done by us so we are not sure if there were any problems when it was closed. Any advice on what could be down before taking into an Rv repair shop.

[paulw]

Happened to me before too... this is what I did
Check the fasteners holding the end caps to the drum are tight (mine were loose) and manually rotate the drum to take pressure off the lever. It should free up.

[LarryandLiz]

Thanks for your reply PaulW

I’ll try to attach a picture and explain our issue more clearly. Sounds like your awning was deployed when it got stuck. Ours is closed.

Yesterday we discovered that the awning will not open. The awning is closed tight against the trailer but the brake lever is stuck in the OPEN POSITION. As you can see in the attached picture the cam is dislodged slightly. Could this be the problem? Not sure how to realign it. Also one of the two screws is loose which you can’t see in the picture unfortunately.

[paulw]

Good picture of the problem Larry.
It's been a couple years & don't recall if my awning was deployed or not, but it was working itself loose like your picture shows. I worked the drum to close that gap while I tightened the screws & it unbound the lever.
Hopefully you can get a driver bit behind there to the loose screw. Or maybe lifting the drum to close the gap will free it up and you can unroll it enough to check everything.
Something to check each trip (both ends)...

[ghosthunter]

I have no idea other than could you gently compress the cam with a C clamp? Enough to free the switch and lower it so you could work on it.

[rubicon327]

I wouldn’t be too concerned about a slight gap at the very edge of the end cap. See photo. This is a perfectly working awning that was having fabric replaced. Make sure the end cap is positioned and tightened properly on the roller with both screws. Then put some force on the lever while trying to rotate the awning tube. It should free up unless someone closing it somehow damaged the mechanism.

[TTMartin]

Originally Posted by LarryandLiz

Thanks for your reply PaulW

I’ll try to attach a picture and explain our issue more clearly. Sounds like your awning was deployed when it got stuck. Ours is closed.

Yesterday we discovered that the awning will not open. The awning is closed tight against the trailer but the brake lever is stuck in the OPEN POSITION. As you can see in the attached picture the cam is dislodged slightly. Could this be the problem? Not sure how to realign it. Also one of the two screws is loose which you can’t see in the picture unfortunately.

Believe it or not what your picture shows actually is in the CLOSE position. Try moving the lever the other way (further back) to the OPEN position.

Awning CLOSE position



Awning OPEN position



Awning OPEN position

[Civilguy]

Originally Posted by TTMartin

Believe it or not what your picture shows actually is in the CLOSE position. Try moving the lever the other way (further back) to the OPEN position.

Yes, this is it!

(Ironically, I was just watching the video for the awnings at this link this morning.)

https://youtu.be/HDyRvu1gs7A?t=95