Check this out

[Rock]

Appears a new problem has came up. Slide toppers ripping off and crushing the edge of the roof. I just noticed my slide was tilted way in going out and seemed slower. Gonna check out the topper tension on mine, hopefully just nothing but now paying more attention after seeing these. Anyone see this before? I made another post about my drip rail being upside down on drivers side. Jayco said it was put on that way for topper clearance. I figured that was a song and dance. Well I guess there answer was correct. Three units that had this occur on the drip rails are upside down or as Jayco said installed correctly. The folks said it ripped the brackets off the slide holding the topper and the roller flew back into the roof. They reattached the brackets just for transport to hold in place. Fiberglass roof replacement needed and units are out of warranty.

[Grumpy]

Where they factory or after market toppers?

[Rock]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

Where they factory or after market toppers?

Factory they are the same one that are on mine. It would seem for whatever reason they get hard to unroll and rip off the slide and fly back into the roof.

[Rock]

Well just looked at mine and not good! The rear slide topper is fine. The brackets are straight up and the roller is straight and about 1 1/2 to 2 inch from the slide. Driver side topper big problems. The bracket arm insets are starting to rotate towards the slide. Both brackets have sheared one of the two arm screws. Middle of roller is bent in and rubbing on slide. I can not with two hands even turn the roller. Way, way, way too much tension. As soon as the remaining screws shear the arm will swivel in whacking the top slide trim and roller will keep slide from closing at the top. It is a Solara topper LCI. If the brackets rip off first than the roller will bust in the fiberglass roof like others have had. You need to check yours ASAP especially if you notice your slide tipping in more while going out.

[Rock]

Called Jayco and they will pay to remove the material so I can open my slide without ripping off the awning. The topper design from LCI is terrible. You have to take the awning apart to get the material off the inner roller. It’s a two person job even the instructions say that. My FW carefree awning was simple. Local shop can do it in two weeks and $400 labor ( they do not do Jayco warranty). Even they said it’s a PIA. He also said it should be a recall they have seen 4 fail and rip off into the roof or damage slide top trim boards. Jayco said gets pics so when I get it to my Jayco dealer in Gainsville they can warranty the entire topper.

[Rock]

Went out to my unit today slides closed to get more topper pictures. Now the forward topper bracket arm has both screws sheared. Just sitting there closed the other screw sheared. The roller tension is insane. I cannot even unroll it. I am going to buy the center roller that LCI recommends for over 16 ft toppers. I will pay for the install when my dealer replaces the awning under warranty. That should fix the problem. I just ordered the center support for the passenger side awning. I will mount that to keep that big awning tube from bending while traveling. If I had know I would have did that before my Alaska trip. Now it has sagged down in the center a bit. When I unroll it now the arms wobble some because the roller is not straight. You all should consider these two supports before problems occur.

[Tadsher]

I was planning on putting a topper on my slide out this spring, it's now off my to do list. Thanks for posting this!

[Rock]

Originally Posted by Tadsher

I was planning on putting a topper on my slide out this spring, it's now off my to do list. Thanks for posting this!

I have always had slide toppers. This is the first problem I have had, but also the first LCI slide topper. This is model
1000 they now have a new model 5000. Never had an issue with carefree. I think a slide topper is a great addition. My back topper is fine. There problem on the big slide topper is to much tension and no center support roller. This caused the tube to bend in against the slide and bind along with the tension. There installation directions say 14 turns on the tube. But it should go by how wide the material opens.

[kcabelin]

Not only is the tension to much they use cheap self tapping screws to attach to the slide. Mine ripped off twice once after being repaired because they used the same junk screws. I ended up doing the repair myself. I used a 1/2in drill, 1/2in wooden dowel, new rust free wood screws and wood glue to repair it. Drill out the holes glue in the dowels use wood screws and set the tension. No issue’s since.

[archbarb!]

Originally Posted by Rock

Went out to my unit today slides closed to get more topper pictures. Now the forward topper bracket arm has both screws sheared. Just sitting there closed the other screw sheared. The roller tension is insane. I cannot even unroll it. I am going to buy the center roller that LCI recommends for over 16 ft toppers. I will pay for the install when my dealer replaces the awning under warranty. That should fix the problem. I just ordered the center support for the passenger side awning. I will mount that to keep that big awning tube from bending while traveling. If I had know I would have did that before my Alaska trip. Now it has sagged down in the center a bit. When I unroll it now the arms wobble some because the roller is not straight. You all should consider these two supports before problems occur.

Do you happen to know the Lippert part number?

[Rock]

No just that mine is the 1000 series. Now they have the 5000 series. If you go to there website they show only those two. And for the 1000 they show a center roller add on for 16 ft toppers. Mine is 13 ft but I will add this when it gets replaced under Jayco warranty. I will buy it and pay for the install when they replace my topper. After my Jayco warranty is up i am gonna add a thru bolt thru both topper hex arms. They just use set screws and mine are twisting. Drilling and thru bolting will fix that issue along with the center roller.