14' Series Poptop alignment

[Hylux]

Hi all,
My pop top roof is opening and closing fine but when down it's 10-15mm to the door side. (Equally front to rear). So much so the right side clip are getting harder to close because they are hitting the van and the seal on the door side is starting to hang over the edge.

My thought is can I move the internal brackets/leavers 10-15mm to compensate? Seems a logical problem/solution or am I missing something?

Struts look fine, bracket/leavers don't look bent to the eye. Tried open close front/rear combinations. I think the awning has gradually caused over the years.

 

[Bluey]

Yep the arms inside I think may have slots so they can go side to side a bit that's how they did mine I wouldnt go drilling any holes don't want heaps of holes up there the roofs are always going out of line the weight of awning annex air con solar the whole lot only struts hole it up really nothing holds it in line

 

[BJM]

The lift arms inside are what dictate the line up of the poptop.In my last J OB poptop I had to shift front one over nearly1/2 an inch.The 17.58 JOB poptop I now have still not 100% line up.Remember the weight of the awning will pull the top over a little.Also the lift arms can get bent out of shape .

 

[Drover]

If one of the Rams is getting slack it will push to one side. You wont be able to tell by looking at them though but check the knuckle joint fittings to make sure they are locked in. Give the shafts a good clean and lube.......

 

[chartrock]

I have two support posts I push under the pop top when the awning is out to stop the roof pulling over when I tie the awning down. The roof still drops slight to the awning side but can be corrected by pulling the other way when dropping it.

 

[Hylux]

Thanks all for the feedback. I only have a solar panel on one side and tv aerial of the other, so not much weight.
I did check the struts not long ago and seemed ok.
Not really keen on drilling new holes and moving the brackets side ways.
BUT I have a new idea. I'm going to assume the pull down brackets are actually bent caused by the awning being setup over the years and often secured with guy ropes (always used the ones with springs) and wind rocking the awning around.
Sooo if I swap the front bracket with the rear it should move the roof back the other way and hopefully settle back toward the centre. It shouldn't take long as they simply unscrew.
Here's hoping

 

[Drover]

So its in the right position when up but when lowered it has slid to one side, have had that before , forget how I fixed it......... .................. I always lowered one end then the other.................... with roof lowered undo the top or bottom mounts of you internal handles, see if you can position the roof to where you want it, check mounting points to see if they align, if you can move the roof this should at least show you how much things are out but if its all square and okay when lifted up I doubt things are bent, it would be wonky when up, when lowered the arms exert no force, just being latched so it doesn't fly open, check to see if when pulling down one end, if it swings itself to the side and when lowering the other end if it just swings over, if the panel is on the door side then its weight may be exerting more load on those rams ................. I would be marking the rams, removing and swapping them to the other side, an easy job but you do need a good ladder or paint stage and a tie down strap to hold and compress them, if its a lazy ram then the roof should lay to the other side...

 

[lee]

We had the same issue so we just replaced the lift up arm inside the van and problem fixed , we got darts mobile caravan service to replace them