mike48
12th April 2013, 09:57 AM
Kea Conqueror – Pop-top, Scissor Lifters, Gas Struts, Canvas, Reading Lights
My ex rental 2009 Kea Conqueror is based on a 2008 Toyota VDJ78 Troop Carrier with a 4.5 litre V8 diesel. It is the model with frig in the middle of the rear space just behind the cab. I think earlier Conquerors had smaller frigs mounted on the side behind the driver, so this info might not be exactly applicable to yours, and also the model probably changed a little over time in other respects due to product improvement and factory repairs.
At purchase, I noted that the pop-top was heavy to raise, and Kea Sydney apparently changed two of the gas struts in opposite corners to help with this, but I resolved to ease the situation more when I got home.
I was lucky to have the pop-top “canvas” replaced with a new one, so that was in good condition.
I noted that my gas struts provided the lift assistance, whilst the Breha type 1200mm scissor lifters had no springs fitted and merely located and anchored the pop-top in drive mode and in raised position.
I had the idea that I would add replacement springs to the scissor lifters (canopy lifters), and actually bought some springs for trial, but discovered later that the springs provide no lift assistance until the pop-top is partially raised anyway.
It is an “F x sin theta” situation, where theta is zero when the pop-top is down.
During all this I discovered the best method of raising the pop-top, at least for me, was by standing underneath the pop-top handles, and using my shoulder and back more than my arms.
I finally decided to replace the three scissor lifters, if only because they had two years of rental use and were grubby and worn.
I contacted Kea Sydney (now not trading as an Australian company) and then Kea NZ where the vehicle was designed.
The Conqueror was apparently made up by Kea Manufacturing Company KMC in Milperra Sydney from a flat-pack of parts from NZ. I visited the Milperra site just before they shut down.
Kea NZ were actually uncertain whether lifter springs were fitted standard, and never got back with a definitive answer, but whilst waiting, I phoned Breha Industries in Victoria about it and they remembered that they had made up a special for Kea without springs, so this was probably the type fitted.
They offered to make me up three units and were apologetic that it would take four days.
Breha recommended that I deal directly with the factory to avoid confusion with such a special order. They were $90 each delivered to Brisbane.
When the lifters arrived, I commenced replacement starting with the rear unit.
Replacing The Lifters
The lifters are attached at the bottom with two M8x40 Allen head SS316 cap screws, and for the side lifters, at the top with a mix of SS 10#x25 pan head and 8#x25 PK pan head Pozidrive and Philips recess.
The rear top rails use M6x25 SS316 screws with nylock nuts.
I made up some SS316 M8 flat washers with slight filing on two sides for use under each cap screw.
This is very important to avoid “belling” and distortion of the rail mount holes.
First problem.
When I unscrewed the rear bottom RHS cap screw, I heard a metallic “clunk” noise, and my heart sank.
The hidden threaded anchor must have somehow fallen off as the screw was fully unthreaded.
I had a look at the camper inside and my heart sank further as I realized that I would have to remove the internal rear upper fiberglass trim panel.
Big job. But, I wanted to do this anyway to fit more lights.
How To Remove The Internal Rear Upper Fiberglass Trim Panel.
Essentially you have to drill out any attaching rivets, unscrew any screws, and cut away any sealant and adhesive.
You have to also remove one towel rack, and the passenger side curtain track, at least in part, at the rear.
When I was in Milperra, a Kea factory technician told me that Kea uses Wurth KD Bond polyurethane adhesive sealant in a lot of situations, so that is probably what is used here.
It is very, very tough, and you have to cut away slowly and carefully.
I used a mix of an old eight inch blade serrated kitchen knife, and a couple of cheap 30mm wide paint scrapers, one with blade bent back into a “U” shape with 8 mm radius, and 25mm blade length in the backwards sense, then sharpened on both sides.
It helps to unzip the canvas at the driver’s side corner to get started on the top. The “U” shaped paint scraper is used to cut the adhesive at the panel top by first pulling it into the adhesive, then using a small hammer to cut side ways, thus avoiding the canvas. It is also helpful using this bent scraper going around the passenger side corner at the top.
Cut the adhesive at the bottom of the panel with a long knife. I used a hammer and knife at times to “assist”.
There is only one electrical cable in the panel void, which I think was used for the original back driver’s side rear door brake light? Mine was folded back into the driver’s side corner.
All this is not a five minute job; it took me a day to get that panel off, but then …
Now I could see how it is all made and assembled.
Clean out all the dust and rubbish, and clean up the panel.
With the rear panel removed, I could now hold the anchor plate up whilst I drilled and reattached the anchor panel.
At the end of all work, including some of the following, I replaced my rear panel with self tapping screws, and with no sealant or adhesive.
Reattaching the curtain track required finding some small self tapper screws with unusually small diameter heads to reuse the original rivet holes.
I have more photos of this area if someone needs them, including photos with all the red dust and grime removed!
I have made it a rule for myself to replace most if not all Robertson square head screws as I remove them. It is just easier when working “on the road”.
Drilling and Riveting The Scissor Lifter Anchor Plates
Safety
As you will be removing the scissor lifters at times, and as these provide positional security of the pop-top, you must support the pop-top independently from the lifters.
The pop-top is heavy and can move about if not supported. Don’t risk injury and damage.
I used four 15 x 100 mm type pine fence palings sawn so as to sit in the sliding bed recesses and against the top of the pop-top.
Process
Kea use a 2.5 mm thick 40mm wide approx zincanneal type steel strip with two 8mm nuts welded on, to use as an internal anchor plate for the scissor lifter cap metal thread screws, and mounted under the fiberglass.
Kea NZ said that this should have been glued onto the fibreglass, but I found no glue on my rear strip.
There is another smaller metal plate glued to the body fiberglass interior upper surface which is just clearance drilled.
I decided to attach each of the three metal strips by using pop rivets. I used type 73AS6-14, aluminium body, steel stems, 5mm dia, grip 21mm, (25mm long before use), obtained from a Fastener Supplier in Brendale near Brisbane, who let me buy just 20 rivets.
The rivet length is to use with the thickness of fiberglass and internal plywood bracing.
You should not normally have to remove any fiberglass panels to drill and rivet the anchor plates, but you have to drill in the correct position.
This is for my vehicle; yours may be different.
For the rear anchor plate only.
Leave the scissor lifter attached by the cap bolts; tighten up firmly.
Drill two rivet clearance holes 10 mm out from each of the ends of the lifter bottom rail.
Ensure that you “feel” the drill going through the steel panel. Insert and set the outer two rivets.
After this is successfully carried out, you can then confidently remove the cap bolts and lifter, or raise and tie up the lifter.
Insert a third rivet at the mid way point for long term insurance.
Here, you will have to very slowly and carefully drill two holes (to avoid large drillings and swarf between the steel and fiberglass).
One hole is for the rivet, and another to insert a “pull up” piece of hard wire with small hook, so as to make sure that the steel anchor plate is supported and flat up under the fiberglass before drilling and riveting.
You can countersink drill the middle rivet hole slightly as I did, but I find that this type of lifter doesn't sit flat in the middle anyway.
Seal the pull-up hole and all rivet heads with a small dab of sealant.
For the side plates only – and caution
When I attempted to use the above method for the side plates, I discovered that the plates must be just a bit different, and I have yet to actually see how they are really installed.
When I drilled 10 mm out from one lifter end, I did not feel the steel plate.
So I abandoned that concept, and the hole, and later riveted it and sealed it.
I used a new method to drill and rivet, and you can use your own method, once you can visualize how it probably is attached underneath.
I loosened each M8 cap screw and confirmed that the anchor plate must be, or should be, hard up against the underside of the fiberglass, by gently tapping downwards on the bolt head with a small rubber hammer.
The bolts did not go down (indicating a floating anchor plate), so I removed the screws on the top rail, removed one bottom M8 bolt completely, swivelled the lifter around slightly to clear the empty bolt hole, and quickly inserted and tightened an M8x40 set screw.
I then removed the other bolt, and put in another M8 set screw.
(Caution with this method, as the bolts and or holes may have some sealant which can confuse the “feel” of the bolt in the hole).
I then drilled and riveted as per the rear lifter, but placed the end rivets 30 mm on the inner side of the bolt holes.
Set a middle rivet as before.
If the anchor plate was loose, I would just have had to think of another method of safe bolt removal, without the anchor plate dropping. I was lucky.
All new lifters were cleaned with metho, and wiped with abrasive paper on the sharp edges, and installed successfully.
I keep my lifters clean and unlubricated as it just makes a mess otherwise collecting dust and insects, and if clean, they work just as well as when lubricated.
If you remove or replace your lifters, inspect them closely, as I have had one fail when only fairly new.
The scissor centre “rivet” fell out.
Most of these are proper steel rivets with heads, but the one which failed seemed to be just a small piece of one quarter inch steel crudely peened at each end. Easily fixed at home, but this is a real inconvenience on the road.
The overall quality of these lifters is not the best, but difficult to replace with other types in practice.
New LED Lights
Whilst I had that rear fiberglass panel off, I added three LED lamps, with switches. One is a bright “awning” type for external rear lighting, and pointing down over the stove area on the rear barn door.
Another is a low light level background courtesy light for the camper interior, mounted on the passenger side of the rear fiberglass panel, and facing up towards the ceiling.
This courtesy light is also parallel wired to another similar courtesy light mounted at an angle of approx 45 deg down, on the rear side fixed panel near the locker door, so as to illuminate the step tread at night, if required.
These are marine type two LED light fittings which draw very low current.
Switches are located as per photo.
I also added some small gauge twin wiring fed from the Rear Area “Lights” CB and tucked it into the space between the passenger side canvas and the side panel top, just above the passenger side rear windows, down to the front passenger side pop-top corner where Kea has cabled up to the pop-top ceiling, to feed two LED reading lights.
These lights must be low profile so as to allow the pop-top to come down fully and in correct position without fouling.
I used Velcro style tape to fix these reading light fittings, to avoid drilling the fiberglass, and small self adhesive plastic cable mounts for the cable.
Gas Struts
At purchase my struts were a mix -
Driver Front - Stabilus 400 N, 041/10, BE1/BE1, and Driver rear - McNaughton 250 N, 900x10/22
Passenger Front - McNaughton 250 N, 900x10/22, and Passenger rear Stabilus 400 N, 041/10, BE1/BE1.
I have left them for now and will consider replacement later.
Pop-Top
The pop-top is two piece fiberglass at the front, back to the start of the “top pipe rails”, and one piece at the rear.
It has two pipe rails at the rear, and I am told by Kea that this is really for panel reinforcement, not for decoration or functional use of carrying heavy items, but I intend to carry my future (light) recovery plastic “TREDZ” on them.
The hold downs are Southco types.
Adjustment of the overall position of the canopy in the horizontal plane when it is in the down position can be achieved to a degree, by elongating the mounting holes on the lifter bottom rail.
The “fit” here is never going to be perfect.
A positional shift of 5 -10mm is all that is required to achieve some benefit, although caution that your canopy doesn't snag on the lifter arms when the canopy is down.
There is minimal clearance all around the top in this regard.
Probably like most people, I clean my pop-top externally with a mix of mild detergent and a small amount of laundry bleach, using a car brush to fully wash into nooks and crannies, and the top weather sealing strip of KD Bond(?) between the Land Cruise metal body top perimeter lip and the pop-top fixed fiberglass.
Adding the bleach is important to control mould, but go easy on the quantity.
The pinch weld rubber sealing strip can be easily removed for cleaning, using the same mix, then by hosing out the small pinch weld channel. Sunlight and oxygen in the fresh air are my best friends here.
Before a trip, I sometimes wipe a small amount of INOX or similar all over the front of the pop-top fixed “hump” (over the windscreen) to allow insects to “impact” then slide off. Some insects behave better than Araldite in adhering.
Pop-Top Canvas
My canvas was being pinched in the middle of the front, at the bottom of the canvas, when the pop-top was pulled down.
I have added an extra piece of 3mm stretch cord from the “D” rings on each canvas mid side position around the front, ie around the front half of the canvas, with a length adjusted on site so that the front of the canvas pulls in fully when the pop-top is nearly fully down.
The smaller stretch cord gives a sequential pull-in action, and does not interfere with the fully up canvas.
I unzip the insect screen zippers fully and wipe the teeth with a small cloth wetted with with silicone. This makes them work well.
Clean-up
As is I think typical with ex rental vehicles which only have a “surface” cleanup during rental life, I had to give my vehicle an extensive cleanup after all work to get rid of old grime and the “Australian red dust” which gets into every nook and cranny. See photos for evidence!
Hopefully all this is useful info for someone.
Cheerio, mike
Parts List -
Canopy Scissor Lifters - Breha specials 1200mm long, no springs, for Kea, cat "7-1200KEA" $90 each
Canopy lifter positions - Drv side - roller to front, Pass side - roller to rear, Rear - roller to Drv
Canopy lifter rail rivets - type 73AS6-14 (5mm dia, grip 21mm, 25mm long before use)
Lights awning (new) - Awning 12V 250mm LED - $39.70, Springers
Lights rear courtesy (new) - 2 LED, angled, Bias Boating #6819, RWB type 982 (RW Basham) $14.95
Lights reading (new) - 12 LED swivel 150mm, Dreamlighting PN0013106c white, Bias Boating #7267 $19,
Rear light switches (new) - Narva 62055BL Rocker Switch Round $6
Canopy clamps - Southco C7-20 Draw latch, large
Adhesive sealant - Wurth KD Bond polyurethane, or Sikaflex 227, white.
262780262781262782262783262784262785262786262779262787
My ex rental 2009 Kea Conqueror is based on a 2008 Toyota VDJ78 Troop Carrier with a 4.5 litre V8 diesel. It is the model with frig in the middle of the rear space just behind the cab. I think earlier Conquerors had smaller frigs mounted on the side behind the driver, so this info might not be exactly applicable to yours, and also the model probably changed a little over time in other respects due to product improvement and factory repairs.
At purchase, I noted that the pop-top was heavy to raise, and Kea Sydney apparently changed two of the gas struts in opposite corners to help with this, but I resolved to ease the situation more when I got home.
I was lucky to have the pop-top “canvas” replaced with a new one, so that was in good condition.
I noted that my gas struts provided the lift assistance, whilst the Breha type 1200mm scissor lifters had no springs fitted and merely located and anchored the pop-top in drive mode and in raised position.
I had the idea that I would add replacement springs to the scissor lifters (canopy lifters), and actually bought some springs for trial, but discovered later that the springs provide no lift assistance until the pop-top is partially raised anyway.
It is an “F x sin theta” situation, where theta is zero when the pop-top is down.
During all this I discovered the best method of raising the pop-top, at least for me, was by standing underneath the pop-top handles, and using my shoulder and back more than my arms.
I finally decided to replace the three scissor lifters, if only because they had two years of rental use and were grubby and worn.
I contacted Kea Sydney (now not trading as an Australian company) and then Kea NZ where the vehicle was designed.
The Conqueror was apparently made up by Kea Manufacturing Company KMC in Milperra Sydney from a flat-pack of parts from NZ. I visited the Milperra site just before they shut down.
Kea NZ were actually uncertain whether lifter springs were fitted standard, and never got back with a definitive answer, but whilst waiting, I phoned Breha Industries in Victoria about it and they remembered that they had made up a special for Kea without springs, so this was probably the type fitted.
They offered to make me up three units and were apologetic that it would take four days.
Breha recommended that I deal directly with the factory to avoid confusion with such a special order. They were $90 each delivered to Brisbane.
When the lifters arrived, I commenced replacement starting with the rear unit.
Replacing The Lifters
The lifters are attached at the bottom with two M8x40 Allen head SS316 cap screws, and for the side lifters, at the top with a mix of SS 10#x25 pan head and 8#x25 PK pan head Pozidrive and Philips recess.
The rear top rails use M6x25 SS316 screws with nylock nuts.
I made up some SS316 M8 flat washers with slight filing on two sides for use under each cap screw.
This is very important to avoid “belling” and distortion of the rail mount holes.
First problem.
When I unscrewed the rear bottom RHS cap screw, I heard a metallic “clunk” noise, and my heart sank.
The hidden threaded anchor must have somehow fallen off as the screw was fully unthreaded.
I had a look at the camper inside and my heart sank further as I realized that I would have to remove the internal rear upper fiberglass trim panel.
Big job. But, I wanted to do this anyway to fit more lights.
How To Remove The Internal Rear Upper Fiberglass Trim Panel.
Essentially you have to drill out any attaching rivets, unscrew any screws, and cut away any sealant and adhesive.
You have to also remove one towel rack, and the passenger side curtain track, at least in part, at the rear.
When I was in Milperra, a Kea factory technician told me that Kea uses Wurth KD Bond polyurethane adhesive sealant in a lot of situations, so that is probably what is used here.
It is very, very tough, and you have to cut away slowly and carefully.
I used a mix of an old eight inch blade serrated kitchen knife, and a couple of cheap 30mm wide paint scrapers, one with blade bent back into a “U” shape with 8 mm radius, and 25mm blade length in the backwards sense, then sharpened on both sides.
It helps to unzip the canvas at the driver’s side corner to get started on the top. The “U” shaped paint scraper is used to cut the adhesive at the panel top by first pulling it into the adhesive, then using a small hammer to cut side ways, thus avoiding the canvas. It is also helpful using this bent scraper going around the passenger side corner at the top.
Cut the adhesive at the bottom of the panel with a long knife. I used a hammer and knife at times to “assist”.
There is only one electrical cable in the panel void, which I think was used for the original back driver’s side rear door brake light? Mine was folded back into the driver’s side corner.
All this is not a five minute job; it took me a day to get that panel off, but then …
Now I could see how it is all made and assembled.
Clean out all the dust and rubbish, and clean up the panel.
With the rear panel removed, I could now hold the anchor plate up whilst I drilled and reattached the anchor panel.
At the end of all work, including some of the following, I replaced my rear panel with self tapping screws, and with no sealant or adhesive.
Reattaching the curtain track required finding some small self tapper screws with unusually small diameter heads to reuse the original rivet holes.
I have more photos of this area if someone needs them, including photos with all the red dust and grime removed!
I have made it a rule for myself to replace most if not all Robertson square head screws as I remove them. It is just easier when working “on the road”.
Drilling and Riveting The Scissor Lifter Anchor Plates
Safety
As you will be removing the scissor lifters at times, and as these provide positional security of the pop-top, you must support the pop-top independently from the lifters.
The pop-top is heavy and can move about if not supported. Don’t risk injury and damage.
I used four 15 x 100 mm type pine fence palings sawn so as to sit in the sliding bed recesses and against the top of the pop-top.
Process
Kea use a 2.5 mm thick 40mm wide approx zincanneal type steel strip with two 8mm nuts welded on, to use as an internal anchor plate for the scissor lifter cap metal thread screws, and mounted under the fiberglass.
Kea NZ said that this should have been glued onto the fibreglass, but I found no glue on my rear strip.
There is another smaller metal plate glued to the body fiberglass interior upper surface which is just clearance drilled.
I decided to attach each of the three metal strips by using pop rivets. I used type 73AS6-14, aluminium body, steel stems, 5mm dia, grip 21mm, (25mm long before use), obtained from a Fastener Supplier in Brendale near Brisbane, who let me buy just 20 rivets.
The rivet length is to use with the thickness of fiberglass and internal plywood bracing.
You should not normally have to remove any fiberglass panels to drill and rivet the anchor plates, but you have to drill in the correct position.
This is for my vehicle; yours may be different.
For the rear anchor plate only.
Leave the scissor lifter attached by the cap bolts; tighten up firmly.
Drill two rivet clearance holes 10 mm out from each of the ends of the lifter bottom rail.
Ensure that you “feel” the drill going through the steel panel. Insert and set the outer two rivets.
After this is successfully carried out, you can then confidently remove the cap bolts and lifter, or raise and tie up the lifter.
Insert a third rivet at the mid way point for long term insurance.
Here, you will have to very slowly and carefully drill two holes (to avoid large drillings and swarf between the steel and fiberglass).
One hole is for the rivet, and another to insert a “pull up” piece of hard wire with small hook, so as to make sure that the steel anchor plate is supported and flat up under the fiberglass before drilling and riveting.
You can countersink drill the middle rivet hole slightly as I did, but I find that this type of lifter doesn't sit flat in the middle anyway.
Seal the pull-up hole and all rivet heads with a small dab of sealant.
For the side plates only – and caution
When I attempted to use the above method for the side plates, I discovered that the plates must be just a bit different, and I have yet to actually see how they are really installed.
When I drilled 10 mm out from one lifter end, I did not feel the steel plate.
So I abandoned that concept, and the hole, and later riveted it and sealed it.
I used a new method to drill and rivet, and you can use your own method, once you can visualize how it probably is attached underneath.
I loosened each M8 cap screw and confirmed that the anchor plate must be, or should be, hard up against the underside of the fiberglass, by gently tapping downwards on the bolt head with a small rubber hammer.
The bolts did not go down (indicating a floating anchor plate), so I removed the screws on the top rail, removed one bottom M8 bolt completely, swivelled the lifter around slightly to clear the empty bolt hole, and quickly inserted and tightened an M8x40 set screw.
I then removed the other bolt, and put in another M8 set screw.
(Caution with this method, as the bolts and or holes may have some sealant which can confuse the “feel” of the bolt in the hole).
I then drilled and riveted as per the rear lifter, but placed the end rivets 30 mm on the inner side of the bolt holes.
Set a middle rivet as before.
If the anchor plate was loose, I would just have had to think of another method of safe bolt removal, without the anchor plate dropping. I was lucky.
All new lifters were cleaned with metho, and wiped with abrasive paper on the sharp edges, and installed successfully.
I keep my lifters clean and unlubricated as it just makes a mess otherwise collecting dust and insects, and if clean, they work just as well as when lubricated.
If you remove or replace your lifters, inspect them closely, as I have had one fail when only fairly new.
The scissor centre “rivet” fell out.
Most of these are proper steel rivets with heads, but the one which failed seemed to be just a small piece of one quarter inch steel crudely peened at each end. Easily fixed at home, but this is a real inconvenience on the road.
The overall quality of these lifters is not the best, but difficult to replace with other types in practice.
New LED Lights
Whilst I had that rear fiberglass panel off, I added three LED lamps, with switches. One is a bright “awning” type for external rear lighting, and pointing down over the stove area on the rear barn door.
Another is a low light level background courtesy light for the camper interior, mounted on the passenger side of the rear fiberglass panel, and facing up towards the ceiling.
This courtesy light is also parallel wired to another similar courtesy light mounted at an angle of approx 45 deg down, on the rear side fixed panel near the locker door, so as to illuminate the step tread at night, if required.
These are marine type two LED light fittings which draw very low current.
Switches are located as per photo.
I also added some small gauge twin wiring fed from the Rear Area “Lights” CB and tucked it into the space between the passenger side canvas and the side panel top, just above the passenger side rear windows, down to the front passenger side pop-top corner where Kea has cabled up to the pop-top ceiling, to feed two LED reading lights.
These lights must be low profile so as to allow the pop-top to come down fully and in correct position without fouling.
I used Velcro style tape to fix these reading light fittings, to avoid drilling the fiberglass, and small self adhesive plastic cable mounts for the cable.
Gas Struts
At purchase my struts were a mix -
Driver Front - Stabilus 400 N, 041/10, BE1/BE1, and Driver rear - McNaughton 250 N, 900x10/22
Passenger Front - McNaughton 250 N, 900x10/22, and Passenger rear Stabilus 400 N, 041/10, BE1/BE1.
I have left them for now and will consider replacement later.
Pop-Top
The pop-top is two piece fiberglass at the front, back to the start of the “top pipe rails”, and one piece at the rear.
It has two pipe rails at the rear, and I am told by Kea that this is really for panel reinforcement, not for decoration or functional use of carrying heavy items, but I intend to carry my future (light) recovery plastic “TREDZ” on them.
The hold downs are Southco types.
Adjustment of the overall position of the canopy in the horizontal plane when it is in the down position can be achieved to a degree, by elongating the mounting holes on the lifter bottom rail.
The “fit” here is never going to be perfect.
A positional shift of 5 -10mm is all that is required to achieve some benefit, although caution that your canopy doesn't snag on the lifter arms when the canopy is down.
There is minimal clearance all around the top in this regard.
Probably like most people, I clean my pop-top externally with a mix of mild detergent and a small amount of laundry bleach, using a car brush to fully wash into nooks and crannies, and the top weather sealing strip of KD Bond(?) between the Land Cruise metal body top perimeter lip and the pop-top fixed fiberglass.
Adding the bleach is important to control mould, but go easy on the quantity.
The pinch weld rubber sealing strip can be easily removed for cleaning, using the same mix, then by hosing out the small pinch weld channel. Sunlight and oxygen in the fresh air are my best friends here.
Before a trip, I sometimes wipe a small amount of INOX or similar all over the front of the pop-top fixed “hump” (over the windscreen) to allow insects to “impact” then slide off. Some insects behave better than Araldite in adhering.
Pop-Top Canvas
My canvas was being pinched in the middle of the front, at the bottom of the canvas, when the pop-top was pulled down.
I have added an extra piece of 3mm stretch cord from the “D” rings on each canvas mid side position around the front, ie around the front half of the canvas, with a length adjusted on site so that the front of the canvas pulls in fully when the pop-top is nearly fully down.
The smaller stretch cord gives a sequential pull-in action, and does not interfere with the fully up canvas.
I unzip the insect screen zippers fully and wipe the teeth with a small cloth wetted with with silicone. This makes them work well.
Clean-up
As is I think typical with ex rental vehicles which only have a “surface” cleanup during rental life, I had to give my vehicle an extensive cleanup after all work to get rid of old grime and the “Australian red dust” which gets into every nook and cranny. See photos for evidence!
Hopefully all this is useful info for someone.
Cheerio, mike
Parts List -
Canopy Scissor Lifters - Breha specials 1200mm long, no springs, for Kea, cat "7-1200KEA" $90 each
Canopy lifter positions - Drv side - roller to front, Pass side - roller to rear, Rear - roller to Drv
Canopy lifter rail rivets - type 73AS6-14 (5mm dia, grip 21mm, 25mm long before use)
Lights awning (new) - Awning 12V 250mm LED - $39.70, Springers
Lights rear courtesy (new) - 2 LED, angled, Bias Boating #6819, RWB type 982 (RW Basham) $14.95
Lights reading (new) - 12 LED swivel 150mm, Dreamlighting PN0013106c white, Bias Boating #7267 $19,
Rear light switches (new) - Narva 62055BL Rocker Switch Round $6
Canopy clamps - Southco C7-20 Draw latch, large
Adhesive sealant - Wurth KD Bond polyurethane, or Sikaflex 227, white.
262780262781262782262783262784262785262786262779262787