Awning installed unevenly

EagleandFox · 05-09-2017, 04:39 PM

Something had been bothering me every time I looked at the awning on our new 5th wheel - I finally figured it out - besides wishing that the awning was a bit longer, I realized that the awning is installed unevenly! We've camped once already and had no issues and it's been out and retracted a few times in our driveway - but is this something that could cause issues eventually? The awning bracket near the front is installed higher than the back one.

66joej · 05-09-2017, 05:10 PM

I see you have a manual awning. It would be easier to adjust the awning to your liking than taking off the mount and re applying it level. JMHO.

Edit: I stand corrected it is powered. Although it is still adjustable.

Tbos · 05-09-2017, 05:51 PM

Wow, I don't know if I would have ever noticed it. Once I did it would bother me too. I think it would definitely be worth talking to your dealer. I'm not sure how they will fix it.

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**sourdough** · 05-09-2017, 05:56 PM

What's the measurement from the top of the trim molding under the awning arms on each end? Looks like it might be a little off but....on the other hand, it would aid in water runoff

bobbecky · 05-09-2017, 05:59 PM

Look on the bright side, the water will drain off better. Don't see where the slight tilt will affect the operation or life of the awning. It's possible that there was something installed on the wall that made it impossible to place it perfectly level.

Tbos · 05-09-2017, 06:03 PM

Looking at the picture again, it almost looks like the slide isn't square.

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**sourdough** · 05-09-2017, 06:18 PM

Looking at it I'm not sure what's going on without hands on.

Looks like the ends of the awning struts may be a little off from one another (from the seam for the skirt). But, looking at the braces as they pass by the sides of the windows they look square. The slide looks like it's not square due to the line of the awning. Maybe all just an illusion of some sort.....

The problem as I see it is that the awning top should be plumb with the top of the slide...it's not.

**chuckster57** · 05-09-2017, 06:52 PM

Couple of questions:

Are the awning arms equal length?

With the unit LEVEL front to back what is the measurement from the ground the bottom of the arms?

With the roof line, it looks like things are crooked, but it may be an optical illusion. The tape never lies.

EagleandFox · 05-09-2017, 07:08 PM

Thanks everyone! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me too, so I did measure - the 2 awning arms are the same length but the front one is about 3" higher from the bottom of the camper than the rear one is. Maybe it's not a huge deal, so far no issues with it, but we've only extended and retracted it a handful of times. Yes, the arms do seem square as far as vertical and that's probably all that really matters? It's probably not an issue functionally, but thought I'd throw it out here. My husband will look at it a bit more tomorrow - he's working now, so all he has are the pics I sent him too!

EagleandFox · 05-09-2017, 07:19 PM

Photo I found on the internet - can't see full awning but it looks like our speakers are installed a bit higher than they probably should have been - maybe they had to just roll with it.

theeyres · 05-09-2017, 07:36 PM

It looks like there is an obstacle that prevented them from lowering the front arm and they couldn't raise the back arm or the awning would be above roof level. Doubt it will hurt anything but if I'm right they should have used a different awning with a little shorter arms. What? Do it right the first time? Ha!

canesfan · 05-10-2017, 06:25 AM

It looks like the speakers are in the way of having the front of the awning down a bit to make it level/square. And the back can't go up anymore. Someone put a hole in the wrong place. Oops.

It would drive me crazy, too. But I don't think it should cause any operational issues.

bsmith0404 · 05-11-2017, 03:09 AM

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I believe the awning has to be installed a specific height above the door to allow enough clearance for the door to swing open without contacting the awning. The roof line doesn't allow the rear to go any higher so the awning would need to be installed slightly out of square. Although looking at it all closed up may be noticeable and a bit irritating, it's not nearly as irritating as having the door hit the awning every time you open it.

Javi · 05-11-2017, 04:25 AM

Out of curiosity, have you leveled the trailer and checked the awning with the level...

It is a complete pain in the butt for the door to hit the awning every time you open it.. My old trailer would do that if we tilted the awning even a little to get runoff..

EagleandFox · 05-12-2017, 06:00 AM

Thanks for the input everyone! I think we have come to the conclusion - with all the feedback here, that it should work just fine. Upon closer inspection, we noticed that we can see the led light strip on the front end when the awning is rolled up, but not on the back end - another indication that it's not on quite level. But, we are thinking as long as the brackets are level vertically, that's what really matters, right, since the arms travel up and down? I just hope the little bit of uneven front-to-back isn't pulling the awning tighter on the front end, causing it to pull away in the future, but it doesn't appear to be, so far.

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