Awning replacement options

[Yotahilux]

First and foremost, my apologies for the lenghiness of this post.

We have a 2019 33RBTS with a busted left arm on our CareFree Longitude 20' awning.

I have searched and read the multiple posts regarding the issues with these specific awnings. And as others I attempted to have Jayco / dealer assist with warranty (since the awning should self dump).

We picked the unit up this May and love the trailer. If the weather is forecast to be nice, I typically leave the awning out. We tested the auto dump during a couple light rains and it worked flawlessly. The wife and I were not comfortable relying on this system and would roll the awning in (last the TT had Dometic manual awnings that were kept at a decent cant to shed water) due to the inability to get a good cant for the kitchen slide.

That Friday night, a thunderstorm popped up and we were in the process of pouring things away prior to rolling in the awning when the left arm twisted like a pretzel. Keep in mind that while we're we're putting things away, the auto dump worked a couple times.

Called the dealer and explained what happened and they did their diligence and contacted Jayco and no five on the warranty due to the disclaimer from CareFree about not having the awning out in the rain.

I was able to get the awning rolled back in and it looks like the arms can be straightened for a temporary fix.

I wanted to get the opinions of the fine members here on whether or not to stick with CareFree or switch to a different brand of awning.

If the consensus is to switch, what's the pita level? Over the years, I have replaced one manuka awning, fabric, and a tube in separate instances.

[robkelly]

The only thing I like about the Carefree awnings is that the arms are higher and I’m no longer hitting my head on them. Other than that, IMHO they are flimsy junk. We have Carefree slide toppers too, and I’m not impressed with them either.

When the time comes they will be replaced with something else, but I haven’t done any research and have no idea what I’ll replace with. That said, we had Dometic awning on our last two units and they were much sturdier and worked flawlessly.

[shadester]

I can't believe they are still using the longitudes. When our longitude collapsed I called Jayco and they couldn't offer advice on any other awning option for my unit. I measured and figured the traveler would work and just told the dealer to replace and I'd pay for it. Anything with a little more strength/pitch had to be better. It's been fine ever since. What really pissed me off is about 8 months later a 2017 unit (same model as mine) pulled into the campground and had the traveler on it. Not sure if Jayco started using the traveler or what as I didn't get to speak with the owner.

[Yotahilux]

Has anyone swapped the longitude out to a dometic or others?

[rcflyer]

Pretty much the same thing happened to our TT same model, wife was putting stuff away and just about to pull the awning in and Bang. left arm twisted and cracked at piston joint, right arm twisted. trailer was new in April,
Like you I am thinking of upgrading the arms but the issue comes with the speakers in the bottom not sure if Travel'r arms have that option.

[Tomsmith07401]

I just had the same problem with my 2018 Jay feather pop up rain storm and we couldn't get the awning in fast enough.Carefree is discontinuing the longitude models And you need to replace both, they are offering both arms and a new motor for the price of one. I just did the switch and it took me about 1.5 hrs to install them. They seem stronger....but time will tell. I bring it in anytime I leave or anytime it looks like rain.. Ts