[Kevin245]

Laird,

Newer torsion spring sets are adaptable to your curved arms if you really want to stay with them, and don't mind spending an afternoon doing the work. You need a belt sander, a few hand tools, a drill, and access to a lathe.

Here's My Plunge....

I wanted to keep the curved arms (like the look) but was concerned about the degraded end caps. I went to the trouble of making new ones out of billet aluminum before I found a replacement that was similar to the original (new one gets riveted on). But I still wanted to get away from the plastic. When I disassembled mine I found some pretty serious wear and corrosion issues. I quickly found out that replacement parts are hard to find. The issue of replacement parts should a spring, or shaft fail is a big deal that can mean the end of a vintage awning system, unless adaptations can be made.

I had several spring assemblies left over from other projects and started measuring to see if something I had would work. With a little effort I was able to adapt an A&E spring set to work on my old Carefree setup. Most people don't notice the difference. The big change is that the new springs have a built in ratchet locking mech., so it clacks when being opened, or closed.


Modification

Word of Caution...The energy stored in an awning spring is very dangerous and can cause serious injury. Do not work on an awning unless you fully understand how it functions and are capable of doing it safely.

There are two key changes:

1. The overall diameter of the star wheel that rides inside the roller.

2. The shaft diameter where it connects to the curved arms.

They are both slightly larger than the original and would not fit my tube.

The star wheel modification was fairly simple. I used a belt sander to reduce the diameter by approximately 1/8". It took a few test fits but I was able to do it in less than 5 minutes. With star wheel now fit in the roller I moved to making the curved arm connection work.

This is a little more involved. The existing shaft on the AE spring assembly I used was a 3/4" diameter hollow aluminum tube. In order for it to fit the Carefree arms (as shown in your photographs) I needed to reduce the end diameter where it connects to the curved arm to about 5/8". Doing this made the tube to thin, and would not leave enough shaft material to support the roll tube.

To solve this problem I replaced the tube with a 3/4" diameter aluminum. I then turned down the end of the bars to a diameter that fit into the curved arm connections (approx. 5/8"). This took about 30 minutes for both shafts, and the new solid shaft was much stronger than the tube one.

Then I disassembled the AE spring assembly and replaced the hollow shaft with the solid one. The keeper (spilt pin) hole was then drilled and the spring assembly was re-assembled.

I didn’t photo document the modifications as I was going along. But I do have another set that I want to modify for my other trailer. I plan to do this later this month and will document the mods and post some pictures.