Girard G2000 on 2003 U320

August 03, 2020, 06:06:24 pm

Good afternoon everyone,
I have an 03 U320 with a Girard G2000 awning. I believe it was installed at Foretravel when the coach was ordered.
The other day I adjusted the pitch on the awning after watching a video on Youtube. I also read the operation manual for the awning that i have.

I went to the Girard website and read the installation instructions and noticed that as per their website, on a sidewall application,
"Mounting brackets must be installed within 2" of the ends of the awning." My forward bracket is not 2" from the end, it is 29" back from the forward end of the awning.
The forward arm sits back about 1 foot from the forward end and does not have enough support behind it which causes the housing or case to twist as seen in the picture.

1-Does anyone else have this year and model coach with the same installation?
2_Should I try to move the forward arm back towards the brace for support? I would have to splice some wire in .
3- i don't think i can slide the actual support bracket forward because i think its drilled into the two supporting pieces behind it.

the last two pictures are the middle arm and rear arm

Thanks for you help

Re: Girard G2000 on 2003 U320

Reply #1 – August 03, 2020, 09:15:59 pm

Hi Frank,

On my coach the forward mounting bracket is about 10" back from the front of the rail.
I have no noticeable twisting of the track.
I would think you should consult with Girard and/or FOT as to the best way to fix your problem.

Re: Girard G2000 on 2003 U320

Reply #2 – August 03, 2020, 11:01:18 pm

Quote from: Lt403 – August 03, 2020, 06:06:24 pm

Good afternoon everyone,
I have an 03 U320 with a Girard G2000 awning. I believe it was installed at Foretravel when the coach was ordered.
The other day I adjusted the pitch on the awning after watching a video on Youtube. I also read the operation manual for the awning that i have.

I went to the Girard website and read the installation instructions and noticed that as per their website, on a sidewall application,
"Mounting brackets must be installed within 2" of the ends of the awning." My forward bracket is not 2" from the end, it is 29" back from the forward end of the awning.
The forward arm sits back about 1 foot from the forward end and does not have enough support behind it which causes the housing or case to twist as seen in the picture.

2_Should I try to move the forward arm back towards the brace for support? I would have to splice some wire in .
3- i don't think i can slide the actual support bracket forward because i think its drilled into the two supporting pieces behind it.

2- Probably not. I doubt there's enough space between the front and center arms, when the awning is retracted, to move the front arm back that much.
3- Moving the front bracket forward might be the only effective option, or maybe add a "shorty" bracket like what appears to be at the rear of your cassette. Ours has the front bracket forward of where yours is, and right behind the front arm.

Far as I'm aware, the only way to get at the brackets is to remove the cassette. That requires loosening the steel set set screws in the bottom of the aluminum mounts. After 17 years...good luck. I couldn't get any of ours to budge; tried every "trick" I could think of, except applying heat. Drilling them out would be near impossible since they are only a fraction of an inch from the wall skin. The only other option I could think of was to remove all of the bracket screw nuts from inside the coach, and pull the entire assembly from the coach. This would allow drilling of those stubborn set screws. I already had the rigging in-place to do this but decided against it, since all I wanted to do is re-seal the brackets to the roof and sidewall.

SteveB's advice to consult Girard is probably your best option. No doubt, they've had to attempt to remove those screws, and may have a solution to do it.

Greg

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