Repair Broken Zip Dee Z-Lock

[dale farley]

For those of us who have manual Zip Dee awnings, it is not uncommon for one of the Z-Lock mechanisms to be stripped or broken. The Z-Lock is shown in the 2nd picture. The last picture shows the inside of mine that was broken with 9 teeth stripped. Sometimes this is caused by placing the lock in the closed (up) position while the awning is out. If the top brace is not in place the wind may blow the awning and cause the Z-Lock to strip the internal gears. The front one on my 23' awning was stripped as shown in one of the pictures.

I called Zip Dee and ordered the Z-Lock mechanism and installed it. I was surprised how simple it was to make the repair. They sent an instruction sheet with clear guidance. It only takes about 20 minutes to make the repair and anyone with simple mechanical skills and a few common tools can do the job. The lock on the front side is not attached to the spring mechanism, so you don' t have to worry about that during the repair. I just drilled out the rivets, removed the mechanism, installed the new part and reattached the arm. I rested the end of the awning on an 8' ladder and tied it to a stake in the ground so the awning couldn't roll in while I had the end off of it.

Picture 1 Shows the arm that is always dropped down because it is broken
2 Repair kit including Z-Lock, new screw and rivets
3 Punch to knock out rivets after drilling
4 Wrench and screw driver used to remove the head (with red Zip Dee name)
5 Required tools
6 Broken mechanism

[Gil_J]

Great, informative post!

[LarryB]

Thanks Dale, good to get some feed back from folks here on the site. You seem to be 'leader of the pack'. Wish I had your energy!

[dale farley]

Larry,

I'm just trying to go through everything on the bus and bring everything up to date. At some point, I hope to have a baseline for every system and major component. While I was working on the awning this morning, I also removed the back end, unwound the spring all the way and rewound it 32 turns. The instructions from Zip Dee says 1 turn for each foot of awning plus 7 extra. This awning is 23' so I added 7 turns then threw in a couple more. It is working much better than before.

[JIM KELLER]

Great Thread and pictures. I always wondered what that part looked like inside. So...my understanding is the lever should be in the closed [ up ] position only when the awning is rolled up and ready for travel. Is this correct ?

[dale farley]

That is correct Jim. In this picture you can see the stud that is supposed to be standing up straight. When the arm is up, the stud is locked in between the teeth so the awning can't move. When the arm is down, it lets it roll freely. The arms (with the claw on the end) that you place on the top are what actually holds the awning in place while it is open. The spring tension is supposed to be enough so that you have to start it rolling by turning it a little with your hand, and then it should go up by itself.

[cubeman]

I realize this is a old thread but on a 3 month old awning I seem to have the same issue but mine is on the rear side, the one that has tension on it . So what is the procedure to relace the Z- lock on the tension side . thank you in advance .