Awning Groaning When Moving (CRC Power Lube to the Rescue!)

[howson]

Both of the Dometic awnings on my 315RLTS groaned during deployment and retraction. Thought I'd jot down what I learned during my search for answers how to address the problem.

First thing I did was identify the awnings and look for the manuals.

The awnings are the Dometic 8952 series. The sticker was inside of a rail.



Took me a bit to figure out, but the manual is the Dometic 9100, Hardware 8952(XXX), FRTA 91(XXX)(YY) version since my awning is a 8952xx3.xx (earlier manual is for xx1 and xx2 models). Manuals for Dometic Awnings are here: https://documents.dometic.com/search...y=Power+Awning


The "FRTA" is the actual roller assembly which has it's own sticker. As you can see the FRTA on my awning is a 91 series (look at the MFG No.).





Unfortunately nothing in the manual addresses ongoing maintenance, so I hit every bushing and pivot with good ol' CRC Power Lube. Now everything is smooth and quiet during operation. One more thing to add to my regular maintenance routine...

[bellis]

howson

I just bought some of this for the stabilizer jacks....I will try it on my awning and see how it works....mine too groans when moving. Thanks for the tip.

[Jlawles2]

howson Howard, I just lubricated all the points on mine, but I think it's actually the gas cylinders that were making the noise. The seals seem to be tight as they get closer to compressed. I cleaned and silicone lubricated the chrome shafts on the gas cylinders as they were a bit dirty with some grime. Who knows where from since the unit is less than 6 months old.