Fiamma f45s Front Rail Adjustment

[chasm]

After 16 years of use, our Fiamma f45s awning is in need of adjustment. It's not the usual problem of one end not winding in, it's that position of the attachment hinges for the arms on the front rail have moved (following a bump and some cack-handed adjustment by me), and the awning will not close completely. The distances from the end of the rail to the hinges are unequal, and possibly not the correct distance apart.

 

What I need is for someone with a 3metre f45s awing to wind theirs out and let me know what their measurements are.

the attached photos show how far in the awning goes. It hasn't been wound out since last october and has been locked up in storage, hence the need for a clean.

[Brambles]

Its easier to do if you just wind the awning out a few inches, just enough to access the nuts. The arm will them find its own position when loosened. There is no point getting measurements as everyone's can be a bit different. When fully out you need to make sure there are no diagonal creases across the material.

However what concerns me is your awning rail is sitting at an angle and tipped out at the top. This might indicate the shock mounts in the awning box have released and you need to reset the mounts back in their blocks.

[chasm]

Thanks for your advice, Brambles. Thanks also for the warning about the shock mounts; however, I'm pretty confident that they are secure as they looked secure and were tensioning properly the last time we had the awning out (October St Jean de Monts sigh))

Are van is in storage 20 miles away, so we have to plan our visits rather than pop out to the driveway to try things out! Also 30 minute limit on visit to storage site so getting as much info beforehand.

 

I am concerned that, with the hinges being at different distances from the ends, I will have to loosen both. I have of course marked their present positions so I can recover to the present usable condition. If at all possible I would like to get measurements from a working example as a start point. I'm aware that the age of my awning means that measurements would have to be from an awning of the same vintage.

I'll let you know how I get on!!

 

 

[Basil]

Looking at your picture I believe that the later part of Brambles answer is the more likely.

 

I have had the exact same problem in the past and it was caused because the shock absorber, which you will see has two bolts and a spring mechanism, is not retracting the top back into place. As the awning is rewound to its closed position the spring pulls the shock absorber back, swivelling on (if I remember correctly) the bottom bolt. If this becomes seized on either bolt, as mine did, then the spring cannot pull the front case into the closed position.

 

I had to loosen both bolts and lubricate the lower bolt and the top bolt which moves in an elongated slot, this allowed the spring to pull and rotate the cover into the housing. When the arms are out of position, as you are suggesting, the shade rolls up unequally so one end closes before the other OR it does not line up correctly with the case housing so I don't feel it is the arms that are wrong here.

 

Your picture suggests that the shade is rolling in square and in line but the top is not being pulled back into the case on closure.

 

Basil

[chasm]

Thanks Basil,

I need to investigate the operation of the shock absorbers as you suggest before I still fiddling with the arm hinge locations. As you can see, the red tell-tales are not retracted as the front rail won't go up and over into the locked position. Last summer, on a campsite, I tried adjusting the hinge distances to match: this resulted in the front rail stopping well short of 'in'. I hope to investigate shortly, weather and other demands permitting, and will come back to let you know how I get on.

[chasm]

Success! Thanks to Brambles and to Basil our Awning winds in all the way without a fight :-) It was the upper bolts not moving in the groove. I opened the awning and lifted the fron rail by hand and saw that there was no movement on either end. I loosened off the top nuts and applied GT40 and then exercised the joints. I tightened the nuts until the joint groaned a little and then backed each nut until free running. Our awning has never worked so smoothly for years!! Many thanks for your help.

 

Here are some 'after' photos including the nut to be loosened should anyone else have a similar problem.

[Brambles]

The top nut adjusts the folded arm to be inline with the box along its folded length. So tighten or loosen to make the arms higher or lower at the centre knuckles when folded.

 

Glad you have it sorted.

[Basil]

Same as happened to ours. Glad you got it sorted and pleased to help.

 

Bas