Zip Dee find

[MJMarkhams70]

found a 31' Sovereign today that we will be purchasing for parts. Has all the awnings still intact. Curb side full length, street side full length window awning, and rear bath window awning. As well as other parts that we will need.

The street side awning will fit as is on our 27' Overlander as well as the rear bath awning. The plan is to cut the street side awning down to fit the appropriate length. The fabric will need replacing anyway, so I wont have to worry about that part in the cutting. thoughts?

[Becky B.]

I just cut down a rear window Zip Dee last week. It was really very simple to do. There is a spring in the roll that only is attached to one arm. All of ours have the spring on the left side of the roller. You can check yours by moving the arm in a circle & seeing if it springs back (don't roll it a bunch of times, that could smart if it hits you!) That is the side you DO NOT want to cut. Now, remove the rivets from the end of the roll that doesn't have the spring in it. Pull off the end of the roll. Take your measurement that you need for your new length & mark it on the roll with a marker. The roll is galvanized, so a hack saw worked fine. Roll the roller & saw around the roll rather than through it so you get a straight cut. If you have a chop saw with a metal blade, more power to you! Put the end back on & rivet it back into place (after you drill 3 new holes). Put your new fabric on & you're all set! EZ for me! You will probably want to shorten the rail too & that should be cut to the size of the roll. A hack saw is fine for that too (I used my bandsaw & it went very smoothly!). I also shortened the aluminum protector by cutting it on my bandsaw. Good luck!

[MJMarkhams70]

thank you greatly. I was reading another thread that was saying that you had to measure our from the center of the awning and shorten it on both ends due to the center support mounting position...

[mello mike]

Will you be using the Kitchen Counter Assembly, by any chance? I need one, if you're willing to sell it and has a walnut finish.

[Becky B.]

Originally Posted by MJMarkhams70

thank you greatly. I was reading another thread that was saying that you had to measure our from the center of the awning and shorten it on both ends due to the center support mounting position...

I'm not sure what thread you were reading. It may be different for the curbside awning, I'm not sure. I know all of mine on the streetside only have the spring attached on the left side.

[MJMarkhams70]

it may be that the spring in only on the left side, as the installation instructions only mention tensioning the spring on that side. I was guessing that there is a hole or some fastener for the center support rod on the roller tube that was the reasoning for cutting both ends... I really appreciate you Becky...

[Bowmans]

MJ,
We just removed our roadside to repair the fabric. Ours is 30 years old and Zip Dee original. One side tensioned as Becky said. As far as centering for the hold-down strap, that strap is riveted to the roll just like the awning. I had to make a new one for our streetside. If that is the case, just remove it with the awning fabric, cut off the one end of the roll to resize it and when you put new fabric on the awning roll, just measure and put the strap back in the new position. When we re-attached our material (PO had them all redone but this one was upside down with the flap on top) we had to drill new rivet holes for the material and strap anyway.

[bwoodtx]

MJ- I also have a 27' Overlander. If you have any parts you would want to sell I would be interested,

Thanks, Bruce

[MJMarkhams70]

well. priced new awning covers from Zip Dee...man are they proud of them. they base the price on the length of the awning. our awnings will be 17' long. the curbside awning is priced at $31.00 per foot of length, and the street side window unit at $25.00/ft... that comes to $952.00 OUCH! time to start saving for that.