Roof question

[Leon King]

Apologies if it's a dumb question, i know you can manually lower a faulty roof, but can you manually raise and secure it again till the end of your stay or until you get round to fixing it?

[Veg_Ian]

Hmmm I guess so. The reason for pulling the roof down and securing with a rope is to counteract the effect of the dampers. So in theory if you untie the roof it should go back up again. Not sure I would fancy the pain of dragging down and tieing the thing off every morning though. Then there's driving with the windows down and the hassle with the doors .......

[rwill19050]

No, it will not go up easily, it is very heavy, despite the struts. You have to get it quite high before the struts help you. I know, as I speak from experience (It is blxxdy heavy)
If you decide to push it up make sure you support it with a length of at least 25mm x 25mm timber.
Be careful, as when it is coming down, it will get to about half way and gravity will overcome the struts (mind your head)

[Leon King]

ian,rwill, thanks for the advice, last time i had the roof up it took a few attempts before it lowered in as it should. I was just curious to know, if it happened on a site, could i live with it till the end of my stay.
If it ever stops raining and if the wind dies down and if it get's light enough(maybe round about May or June) i'll try again and use some WD40 on some parts. Cheers...

[Veg_Ian]

time i had the roof up it took a few attempts before it lowered in as it should.

Was this with or without beds and bedding in the roof? I've had similar problems when trying to lower the roof with too much stuff up there, it wouldn't lock into place. If yours won't lock when empty and assuming the netting/canvas isn't fouling the mechanism then maybe you have something out of true or indeed some lubrication is called for.....

[Leon King]

Ian, the roofspace was empty at the time. It actually took about 6 attempts to start it's journey down, the engine was on, it was in park, and the handbrake was on. Not sure what finally did the trick, maybe it's just temperamental, but it did groan a lot, hopefully it just needs some WD40.
Must prepare the rope, allen key's etc. though.

[Veg_Ian]

Definitely. But remember that WD40 is a releasing oil with water dispersant. For lubrication you would be better looking for a thin oil or an aerosol of ...... wait for it - lubricating oil. Hope that does the trick.

[white van man]

did you press the cancel button before trying to lower?

[mikeonb4c]

Interested in your comment white van man. I've looked at and fiddled with several Bongos in my search for the right one. I know there is a main raise/lower switch to raise the roof. And I know there is a switch in the roof that you have to press (and that starts a bleeping sound) before using the main raise/lower switch to bring the roof back down. Are you saying there is some other switch or button I/we should know about?

Mike

[Leon King]

The switch in the roof area is the lock/cancel switch, i did press this a few times, between the park, brake on, engine running or not, and the buttons, maybe i just need to get the right combination. I'll have another look at the handbook and while i'm there i'll find out if my Bongo has this
roof lowering toolkit.

[Athers]

I once dislodged the connector from the handbrake after I had taken the centre console of to check the oil!

It was 'only just' loose as I got the roof up, but not down again!

[Peg leg Pete]

Our roof moaned and groaned when we first used it, I lightly oiled the struts and runners, with more regular use, the groaning has stopped