How to fix a wind-up camper

The wind-up camper trailer is a simple, practical camper design that has been an enduring part of the Australian RV landscape since the 1970s.

This type of camper is compact and light for easy towing and doesn’t need much storage space at home. They’re also a lot like Dr Who’s Tardis; most wind-up campers within 10 minutes of winding up the roof, sliding out beds, fitting bed supports and tensioning canvas, transform from that little compact box you were towing into a large interior living and sleeping quarters.

The key to all this is a properly functioning wind-up roof mechanism – if it breaks, your camping holiday will be cut short.

Different designs

There are a couple of different wind-up roof designs, but the most common method, as used by Coromal, Goldstream, Golf and Jayco, has an internal steel cable pulley system.

A high-quality cable (wound on to the spool of the winch), attaches to an adjustable distribution block that via a pulley system and spring rods exerts pressure on telescopic rods that then raise the roof.

The spring rod isn’t used as a typical spring – for storing or absorbing energy – as it is too closely wound for that. Rather it’s solid enough to push up the roof yet also flexible enough to be pulled around the 90-degree corner bend between the floor track and the telescopic rods.

A relatively simple and proven design, not much goes wrong with a cable wind-up mechanism and they require little maintenance. Some silicon spray carefully applied to the telescopic rods (protecting the canvas so that it’s not also sprayed with silicone) is all that they need.

The cable-operated wind-up camper mechanism is not totally reliable or foolproof though. If you forget to undo any roof securing latches and then try to wind up the roof, it’s easy for a cable or cable end to break or spring rod to bend. If a spring rod bends, it has to be replaced rather than straightened as the steel retains ‘memory’ of that bend and will do so every time pressure is applied on it.

First up, the roof was raised using the winding handle (and some helpers pushing up the sagging offside front corner) and pieces of timber of equal length inserted -- one at each corner to support the raised roof.

The front seat cushions and seat base were then removed to expose the winding mechanism.

This winding mechanism broke a cable on the offside front winder at the floor track.  The end swage (clamp) broke away from the cable within what is called a ‘slug’ (which is the component at the end of the cable that exerts pressure on the spring rod). In this case, the cable needs to be replaced from the eye bolt at the distribution block to the slug that pulls up the spring rod within its track.

So, the first thing was to release the eye bolt at the distribution block by undoing the securing nut. Then the screws holding the floor track end were removed and the slug and broken wire pulled out.

Next was the spring rod which was removed from the floor track so it could be checked for damage (as mentioned earlier they can bend and become unusable).

New cable needed

A new piece of cable was sourced and looped at one end and swage sleeves slid onto the cable. The cable was then crimped with the swage sleeves, ready to slot into the slug.

The other end of the cable (which attaches to the eye bolt) was measured, then cut with electrical tape over the cable to ensure the steel threads did not fray.

Then the looped end of the cable was enclosed within the slug, ready for retro-fitment. The cable has to be re-installed within the floor track in the same position it was when removed.

Next, the cable was threaded through the pulley and back to the eye bolt and the spring rod is fitted in the floor track. Also refitted were the floor track retaining screws.

With the spring rod in place the slug was inserted behind it in the floor track; the cable then looped through the eye bolt and secured by crimping it with new swages.

Take away the timber

After removing the pieces of timber supporting the roof, one of the timber pieces was used to check camper roof height levels were equal (at the same points the timber were used to support the roof). It’s very likely that the corner with the new cable will not be level with the other corners and so will need adjustment.

Height corrections were made by adjusting the nuts on the eye bolt. Each adjustment at the eye bolt was then checked outside with the piece of timber.

With adjustments done, the camper was wound up and down a couple of times to make sure it all worked smoothly. Provided there are not any snags or inconsistent levels when raising and lowering the roof, the seat base panels and cushions can go back in place over the winding mechanism.

Final advice

The wind-up camper design does require some care – as mentioned earlier, a light application of silicone on the telescopic rods should be applied from time to time.

You should always check to see you have properly released the latches before winding the roof up and if an awning is fitted, care should be taken not to peg out the awning under tension without pegging the roof on the other side. If you don’t do this, the telescopic rods can bend and cause problems in the future.