bloomin roof

[novocaine]

thanks for the other thread
I now see what Geoff means, which means I am very very worried about putting the roof back up again as I am sure the passenger side motor will have moved. guess I'm lifting the roof from the rear now to get to the motors and disconnect them to get the mounts secured again before I lift the roof a proper.

thanks guys.

[g8dhe]

Ah yes that makes sense! Two cables but both linking between the motors to ensure the sync.

[dave_aber]

So, the next question (for me) - apologies to novocaine for the hijack of the thread - how much weight can a roof motor lift, assuming no added pulley system / mechanical advantage.

And how much lift (distance) is there on the teleflex cables. I'm guessing 450-600mm or so, looking at the roof mechanism

[novocaine]

1. highjack away, it's all interesting stuff.
2. lift distance is the length of the runner, so about 800mm.
3. Geoff was spot on, the cable had fallen out when I raised the roof on sunday. got away without it getting damaged and reinserted after chocking the roof up and removing the motors. managed to get the plate back to where it should be and glued in, moved the arms back as far as I could then put the motors in and tried it. worked as it should, the lock cancel button did what it should, the close button did what it should which suggests one arm wasn't fully back and the microswitch wasn't doing what it should. only issue was that the motor then came away from the glue and moved back again, so back up the roof went, reinserted the cable and more glue was applied before locking the plate in place with a piece of wood for the next 24 hours (roof up over night). will check it when I get home, hopefully the araldite will have set hard and I can put the motor back in and see what it does this time.

all in I'd say it was good news.

on a lighter note, £1.20 for fitted car mats. isn't IKEA a marvelous place.

[dave_aber]

800mm would be excellent. I have a cunning plan involving an elevating bed. Not in a Bongo though, something a bit bigger.

[novocaine]

the motors are pretty high torque and geared down nicely, but they don't really lift a lot of weight, more that the gas struts do the lions share all the flex does is overcome their pressure. for an elevating bed I don't think you'd beat small hydraulic units.

[garethjr]

Going back to Novocaine's original post, he mentions 'getting the allen keys out' to lower the roof. How does this work? I can't find anything about it. It would be useful to know, just in case!
Gareth

[novocaine]

to take the roof down you need to turn the centre of the motor drive shaft on both sides till the arms are beyond the lock point then tie a rope at the top of each arm before releasing the motors at the 3 bolts so you can pull the roof down with the rope and tie it off on the passenger side handle inside the cabin.

I didn't want to do this so kept winding the motors down a little bit at a time until the roof was almost down, at which point the system worked and I could lower it the rest of the way.

there is a pictorial diagram in the owners handbook on how to do it properly my way takes for ever and will only work if you can drive the roof down the last bit.

[garethjr]

Thanks Novocaine,
I've ordered the translated manual, so I'll have a look when it gets here.
Gareth

[novocaine]

well all is well that ends well (for now). we seem to be working again. glue had set and seems to be holding fast. at some point I'm going to make new knurled brass inserts for it as I think the holes have worn larger, looking at it I'd say it has been glued before.
roof was fully open at this time and the unlock button did what it should, as did the close button. going to try again next week as now I'm wondering if the roof wasn't going fully up. think new struts are in order.

whilst up there I gave the channels a quick clean and a spray of lithium grease which should help too.

onwards and upwards.