Ok, we finished replacing the Soft Connect on our main awning (Carefree Eclipse model). Since I could find no information on this task, here’s how we did it...
Purchased the replacement part direct from Carefree. Cost was approx. $170 delivered.
Started by partially deploying the awning about 18 inches by hitting the “extend” button and then quickly turning off the power.
Then parked our towed vehicle beside the drivers side of the coach and tied ropes to both the front and rear bumpers. Then tossed the loose ends of these ropes up on the coach roof.
Then used a step ladder to shove crushed cardboard boxes between the slide topper and the aluminum shell that the awning retracts into. Did this at both ends of the slide. The purpose was to take the weight off of the old Soft Connect.
Also, used the ladder to disconnect the power plug to the awning, just to be safe.
Next, climbed onto the roof and tied the ropes to each end of the awning frame to prevent the awning from falling away from the coach if we had to destroy the old Soft Connect to remove it. (This protection turned out to be unnecessary but we didn’t know what we were getting into.)
I then used a screwdriver to remove the screw from each end of the channel in the aluminum shell. These screws lock the Soft Connect bead into the channel. (The Soft Connect is a bridge between a large channel along the edge of the roof and this small channel in the aluminum shell.)
At this point, I was able to pull the old Soft Connect a few inches toward the rear of the coach. Much relieved at this point that we would be able to simply pull the old Soft Connect out gradually from the back, as we inserted the new one into the front.
Next, I returned to the ground and used the step ladder to access the awning channels at the front end of the coach (above the coach entry door). Now that the old Soft Connect had been pulled back, I used a file and a moto tool to smooth the edges at the mouths of both channels (the small channel in the aluminum shell and the big one in the coach roof).
Then I sprayed silicone into each channel and fed the two beads of the new Soft Connect a few inches into the two channels.
Used rope to suspend the coil of new Soft Connect above the coach entry door so it could be more easily spooled as we inserted it into the mouths of the channels.
Finally, wife and I both climbed onto the roof. I pulled the old Soft Connect a few more feet out the back (toward the rear of the coach). (Carefull to disperse our weight by never standing close to one another!)
Our process was that she would feed the new Soft Connect into the channels at the front of the coach while I would pull it’s leading edge rearward, periodically going back to pull a few more feet of the old one out (so that, between old and new, the awning remained connected to the coach). We shared the spray can of silicone and both used it liberally.
The key to pulling the new material was to sandwich it between two small pieces of steel, clamped tightly together with vice-grips. A pair of quarters would probably have worked too.
Finished up by trimming excess with a knife, and replacing the locking screws in both ends of the smaller channel.
Much relief when we finished. Took about 1.5 hours total. Old Soft Connect had all the strength of a piece of paper! Could have easily torn completely in a side wind with catastrophic results.
Our coach is 11 years old and our old Soft Connect was totally shot. I encourage you to check the condition of yours. I can imagine some very bad consequences of one lets go while extending the awning or at freeway speeds.
-Will
