Bed end folding arms
- Thread starter craigr
- Start date
Hi, one of the scissor arms at the side of the bed, that locks the bed in place when lowered has been bent.
Craig, I'm sorry but still don't know the part you mean. There is no lock on bed dropping, it just comes down with a cable each side to hold it in position and a bar is pushed out to hold the canvas up. Maybe another forum member can help.
Can you get any photos of the bent part?
Can you get any photos of the bent part?
On my expanda, when the bar is pushed up to hold the canvas there is a folding arm (scissor like) at each end of the bed that locks the bar in place and stops it falling down. I think on newer models they use a "hockey stick" like bar that runs over the bed.
Well Craig, I hope some one here can help you, but I personally, have never seen the system. What model is the van?
Hi from memory the folding arm was used when the hard lids first came out, they only lasted a year about a year, before Jayco went back to the hockey stick. Remember hearing a lot of complaints about them, not hold the canvas taut allowing water to pool on the top.
I have a 2008 hard lid with the scissor arms. I like them. A couple of issues though. Sometimes the cable gets caught on them when folding the bed up or dwon, and the bottom of one of the end frames has come loose. I examined a hockey stick style brace on a new expanda and it looks quite easy to covert to one. You need the hockey stick obviously, a white plasticfitting over which the far end of the hockey stick sits - it needs to be pop rivetted presumably to the centre top of the rear frame, and a hole made for the other end of the hockey stick at the top in the metal frame of the bed opening. There is a plastic grommet type thing that will go in this hole to make it look neat but there is room in our vans to do it - the bed opening frame looks the same.
no real concern, dont let that deter you. i'm sure there is nice plastic cap from one of the household aersols that can nicely cover off the required hole, look at the jayco website and you'll see more detail of the lady whom places the hockey stick in place.cheers.
Hi craigr,
Just been reading this thread, I have the same arms your talking about (09 model). I have not had to replace the arm but a rivet did snap due to too much stress on the arm. Instead of replacing the rivet i made a steel sleeve 6mm diameter with a 3mm hole through the centre, then i drilled out the tube and arm a tad over 6mm so the sleeve will slide through both the arm and tube and then retained by a 3mm bolt with washers both ends which stops the sleeve from coming out. The sleeve needs to be a bit longer than the tube and arm put together so when you tighten the bolt the arm and tube can pivot and not bind up. Your arm is probably bending because the tension is too great, maybe the hockey stick is the go!
Cheers
Burnsy.
If the tension is too great there are two things you can do. The base of the scissor arms are attached to the bed base with a couple of screws which can easil be moved a little to ease off the tension . The other thing is to raise the cable end inside the van by moving the bolt which holds the cable, up a hole. Obviously this raises th bed base slightly to reduce tension on the arm and canvas so the angle to the ground when the van is level may be an issue. Too much tension on my canvas was caused by a bolt becoming a bit loose allowing the bed to drop a only a few mm but enough to pull the canvas out of the slot on the top corner.
Hi glee, I thought of moving the arm but a 2nd hole would probably be too close to the first one. Raising the bed base makes sense though....good one, my canvas also started pulling out at the top and I got Jayco to fix under warranty. Will look into it!
Cheers.
Cheers.
@Hardy I have an overly detailed guide here https://www.expandasdownunder.com/threads/hockey-stick-conversion.4159/
Thanks very much, I really appreciate you posting that for me. Very comprehensive