Concerned popup owner

[Western NC]

In the couple of years and few trips I've really enjoyed my popup. But something I saw mentioned on another forum has got me worried. Cables breaking or I guess the lift mechanism failing and the roof falling!! Really? I have never even considered that happening. People putting 2x4's or PVC to hold the roof in case it falls. Does this concern anybody else? Have ya'll heard of this happening? If so how often does this happen? Grateful for your comments and advice.

[ALJO]

Maintenance and things shouldn't fail, you also will see things ahead of time.

[WeRJuliian]

Some popups come with a couple of metal "C-section" channels, which clip over a couple of the lift posts, once they're up. Our old Starcraft did.

The idea is that, in the very unlikely event of a cable failing in the middle of the night, the roof can't fall on you. (lift cables are more likely to fail while raising or lowering the top)

Some makes had them as standard, but it shouldn't be too hard to make something similar from metal or a heavy PVC tube, cut in half lengthwise.

As has already been noted - inspect and maintain your lift system, and you shoud be able to sleep soundly.

[bankr63]

It is pretty unlikely to happen. With the roof fully extended, the amount of main cable not on the winch is only a couple of inches. That couple of inches would have to snap for the entire roof to be able to drop. If one of the four cables that run to the corners were to snap, that one corner would sag a bit, but the roof would not fall.

Also note that with the beds extended, there is plenty of room beneath the roof, and most sleepers aren't under the roof. it would be highly unlikely to strike or harm anyone.

I never worried about it at all, but some people add additional safety measures. Properly maintained, those measures should not be required.

A blown RV tire is probably more dangerous and much more probable than this, but you don't see anyone inventing run flat RV/TT tires to curtail the danger.

[EvilDoer]

I did have a lift system break on our old pop up. Lack of maintenance on my part. No one was in the camper at the time. Turns out the roof is surprisingly light and we were able to lift it by hand, on person on each side, and a third person to prop it open with the C channels. Based on that, I worried about it falling on someone.

[WeRJuliian]

It's probably worth noting that winched lift systems (The Goshen type, I think?)
are more likely to fail in this way, because there is a single critical component which can bring the whole thing down... the winch cable.

On a wiffletree-style lift, there are multiple cables, individually attached to the "traveller" on the leadscrew. If one fails, a corner of your roof may droop, or not lift, but the other three will stay up.
(Yes, yes, it is possible to imagine a "perfect storm" situation, in which all the cables are so badly corroded that one failure will cause a cascade of breakages on the others... but let's not get carried away! )

[Colorado]

If you live your life worried about dying or the “what if’s” your never live. Life happens,control the stuff you can, when it hits the fan deal with it, until then enjoy the camper.