New 1995 Jayco Eagle 10 - questions

[mattlreese]

I posted earlier that I might buy a 1995 Jayco Eagle 10, and I ended up making the purchase. I have been working on it all weekend and I have a few questions.

1. Racking - The roof has a lot of sway back and forth, way more then I think it should. When I rented a popup over the summer it had metal bars that went over two of the lifts which helped with this. Is my popup missing those parts? Is there anything else I can do?

2. Smell - yeah its old and it smells. I have pulled all the mattresses and covers they will be replaced, washed the curtains, and washed all the canvas with oxi clean. I plan to pain all the wood with stain blocking primer as it smells a little too. Anything else you recommend?

[Jeff in NC]

The metal bars you talk about are safety supports they keep the roof from dropping in the event a cable fails. I don't think they will stabilize the roof much because you can slide them up & down an inch or so. I would guess you can still get them from Jayco.

[Sneezer]

Most Jaycos of that vintage did not have them. The lift system is such that with the door in place there should be no issue. My manual from 1999 does not even mention safety bars.


That being said, this summer I did fabricate some to use. I picked up some aluminum L-brackets from Lowes. I cut them to fit the length of the roof supports less about an inch. For mine I used a total of braces, with 2 on each post. I used some Velcro straps that have a buckle (used for securing stuff to backpacks, etc.) and get those nice and tight around the two brackets, essentially making a square cover for the support. I put them on opposite corners of the roof. So far so good for piece of mind.