Raising the Roof

[Larryjb]

I have heard of owners raising the roof, but I've never read any comprehensive instructions for doing so safely, and raising it enough to remove a lift arm. This has presented a huge challenge for me, but I believe I now have it figured out.

Disclaimer, if you are not comfortable making the jigs yourself like I have, you should in no way attempt this yourself. If you need to make a repair like this and you are not comfortable, AND you do not live a reasonable distance from the Trailmanor factory, try to find a willing member here who lives closer to you, and supply him/her with lots of beer or wine.

I will divide this into several parts:
Part A: Making the jig

Part B: raising the roof

Part C: lowering the roof

[Larryjb]

Part A: Making the Jig.


Because the roof has a slope, you will want to make the end of your vertical 2x4 with a slight angle. To find this angle. hold the 2x4 vertically against the roof and scribe a line, then cut the end off:

It is probably easier to do this after you have made the rest of the jig first because you can use the jig to hold the 2x4 vertically to the roof.

Materials:
several 2x4's of various lengths. You will need at least 2 that are about 6.5 feet long.
foam to line the supports against the roof.
1x6's for the pads supporting the roof
lots of wood screws: 1.5", and 3"
2 bottle jacks (2 ton is plenty)



1) design a 2x4 base to fit underneath the roof where you are going to jack up and support the roof. This should be as close to the sides as possible. The base should be secured in some way. It was easy to secure it in the dinette area because I could screw it directly to the dinette structure.

2) Design the vertical 2x4's so that a 3rd 2x4 can slide up and down between them. These need to be secured as shown in the diagram with short pieces of 2x4, then screwed into the base.

3) Add a diagonal support to prevent the vertical support from collapsing forwards/backwards.

4) Add 2 2x4's spanning the length between the vertical 2x4's. These should be level to the ground/floor. Attach them so that your bottle jack will fit between a pad made with 1x6 and 2x4, and a 2x4 base on top of this span. These will provide a secure base for bottle jacks, so make sure they are level to each other as well.

5) Design the vertical adjustable supports. Cut the top end of the vertical adjustable 2x4 so that it will mate with the roof evenly. Screw a short 2x4 to the end of this 2x4, then an 8" long 1x6. Line the top of the 1x6 with foam to prevent scratches on the roof.

6) Screw a short 2x6 or a couple of short 2x4's beside the vertical supports. This will be the base for your bottle jacks.

7) Make similar pads for the bottle jacks out of 2x4 and 1x6 and line the top of these pads with foam.

[Larryjb]

WARNING!!! Use the supports on the inside to steady the roof. Do not try lifting the roof from inside. I tried this and it worked flawlessly for about 6 times of lifting the shell out of the lift arms. One time the wall separated from the roof. I could not see anything snagging. All it took was a little extra friction of the lift arm inside the pocket stop. Lifting the roof from outside and supporting it with the jig seems to work safely enough.

After inspecting the damage, it wasn't nearly so bad as I expected. There are about 4-5 2-1/2" No. 10 screws holding the wall to the roof from the top. Mine are somewhat rusted, reducing the holding power of the screws somewhat. I will probably add an extra screw beside the one that failed. My original method should have worked just fine, using the bottle jacks inside with the pads. As you raise the roof make absolutely sure there is nothing dragging, including the lift arms inside the pockets.

Part B: Raising the Roof

1) Place the adjustable vertical supports in place.

2) Lift up all the vinyl flaps, open the door and release the lower door from the shell.

3) Use a hydraulic jack to raise the shell from the outside, lifting the shells from the bottom of the shell walls.

4) Begin raising the roof slightly to ensure the weight is off the pivot shoulder bolts.

5) Lift up and press the vertical support into the roof. Drive 2 screws through the sides of the vertical base to hold the support against the roof.

6) Use a ratchet strap to hold the lift arms centered in the pocket stop. Use just a slight tension at this point.

7) Using an Allen key and a 9/16" wrench, unscrew the castle nut from the shoulder bolt. The shoulder bolt should come out easily if the weight was released from the bolt.

8) Once the shoulder bolt is out, raise each side in turn 1" only.

After every inch of lift, raise the vertical 2x4 support against the roof, release the tension on the bottle jack, and move to the other side to repeat.

9) Strap the lift arms so they are free inside the shell. The torsion adjustment bolt should probably be backed off completely as well. It is a good idea to count the turns of this bolt.


10) Continue to lift the shell until it is free from the lift arms. The lift arms may "pop" out from the pockets. You may wish to have some one else hold the lift arms so they don't drag or damage the lower edge of the wall as it comes out.

11) Make sure the vertical 2x4 supports are screwed in securely to the vertical base. If you base is solid as I designed mine, you roof will be safe and secure.

[Larryjb]

Part C: lowering the roof

1) As you prepare to lower the roof, position the door inside the trailer. If it is outside, the roof could end up sitting on the door and break something!


2) Lowering the shell is pretty much the reverse of raising, but:

3) The lift arm needs to be guided into the pocket. Using the straps helps, but you may need to guide it in yourself or have some one guide it in for you.


4) If the lift arms were removed from the torsion bars, reattach them and make sure they are parallel with the trailer.


5) Make sure the torsion bar is fully seated in the lift arm


6) If you have to adjust the height of the shell. Remove the bolt that is closer to the middle of the trailer. The torsion bar is not pressing against this bolt at all, and you can now see and make sure the torsion bar is between all 4 bolts. This is important, and I now recommend this be done ALWAYS when adjusting the height of the shell.

These new torsion bars can have a LOT of opening tension to them. If you have the shell too high, the torsion bar will bend and make a big mess of your lift arm. Also, make sure the lift arms are torqued down well around the torsion bar. Mine slipped out while closing and damaged the lift arm.


7) Once the lift arms have been guided into the pockets, you can watch the hole opening and slowly lower the shell and adjust the strapping to line up the bolt hold. The shoulder bolt and castle nut can now be installed.

[FlyboyTR]

Great job. Good info. Thanks!

[ShrimpBurrito]

Wow, what a job. Great job pulling it all together, and thanks for taking the time to post. Very informative.

Dave

[Larryjb]

Having done this now, it's not nearly so daunting as I feared before. Even doing torsion bars is not a problem for me now.

(Maybe Trailmanor can hire me as a Canadian service agent and I can make my millions...

I'd better keep my day job.)

[Peterbug]

Larryjb,
I dig your jig, but only in a carpentry sort of way. It represents problem solving at it's best. No instructions to follow, just get in there and assess the parts and the system, and design a solution. Kids need to see this in order to develop the right 'can do' mindset. So do adults.

[Larryjb]

I may, in the future, show a more detailed how-to for the jig. However, if you have a slide lounge or bed model, or if you must raise the centre of the roof, much of the jig would have to be redesigned.

Because of so many variables, and the issue I had with the wall separating from the roof, I only wanted to provide enough detail to inspire some one else to build upon my ideas. Someone may be able to take what is seen here and come up with a much better idea.

I'm sorry you felt wanting for more detailed instructions. But I wouldn't want you or anyone else to make the same mistakes I made that caused certain issues. I do have slight indentatios in my roof now. They may have been from my earlier attempts without the foam. At least the indentations are not structural problems. The wall sepion would be prevented if I lifted the shell by lifting the base of the wall. But, I had problems with this method also.