# Damaged Roof Vent



## DL Rupper (Apr 21, 2008)

Hey folks I'm embarrased to ask but, my roof vent lid was damaged/broke back in Mar during a Georgia hail storm.  I taped it with duct tape and got by until today.  I bought a new vent lid and tried to replace my old one, however, I can't get the old one off.

The instructions say:
Crank vent lid to full open position.
Release the operator arm roller from lid slide bar, slide lid side-ways off of vent base.
My problem is that I can't get the operator arm roller to release.  It flat won't open far enough for the round roller tab to reach the enlarged round hole in the slide bar.  Is there some kind of release trick I'm missing?

Frustrated in Nebraska. :dead:


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## Guest (Apr 21, 2008)

RE: Damaged Roof Vent

DL i don't think u missed anything ,, could u'r vent have had more damage than u thought ,, ??? on the crank roller ,, u should see a worm gear,,, on that,, there should be a pin that links it to the main arm ,,, that is the pin that u need to remove ,, and then the vent will slide off the main hinge ,,, unless u got one of those keyed type hinges on the vent cover ,, if so ,, the is (or should be) a small cotter type key in it ,, remove that and slide the pin sideways ,, if this don't help let us know back  :approve:  :approve:    
U may have to force the vent ,, to get it fully opened ,, but it's ok since it's already damaged anyway ,, u won't hurt it to do more  :approve:  :approve:


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## TexasClodhopper (Apr 21, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

Hey, DL!  You have to do this from the INSIDE.


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## Grandview Trailer Sa (Apr 22, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

Tex is right.  You have to remove the 2 screws that hold the crank in place and that will allow the operator to come apart.
There are 3 types of hinges.  Depending on the age of the vent, make sure you have the right one.


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## DL Rupper (Apr 22, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

My vent has a little round plastic wheel type cranker that you turn to lift the vent lid up.  It is connected to the worm gear.  I took the wheel crank off and tried removing the screen to get at the worm gear box from inside the RV.  I didn't try to manually open/pull the operator arm roller further up the lid slide bar to the enlarged round opening with the wheel crank removed.  It may just pull out with the round hand wheel crank removed.  I will try that as soon as I can get back on the roof.

I woke up today with my equilibrium all messed up.  I hope it's just my allergies acting up.  I'm not climbing up on the roof until I get over this.  11 feet to the ground is too far for this old body.  

Thanks for the help.


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## TexasClodhopper (Apr 22, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

DL, you have to remove the whole plastic 'frame' on the inside after you remove the crank handle. That is if it is like mine.

Glad you are being safe about getting on top!  :approve:


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## H2H1 (Apr 22, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

DL be careful don't get up there if you not on even keel. make sure that you don't have to as TEX and Ken has stated it should be done inside. I wish I could help you out.


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## DL Rupper (Apr 22, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

Hey guys thanks for the info.  I was afraid I might have to remove the whole plastic frame.  I was hoping you all could tell me to just give it a little twist or tap and it would slide right up and off.  The instructions on the box made it sound like it would take 2 min to do.

Ken I did have my eye on those 2 screws and even tried to get the plastic frame out of there, but it didn't seem to want to come out very easy so I gave up last night.  I did buy the right vent lid that matches my hinge.  It's the kind that has the tabs on the end that bend out of the way to slide it off/remove.  Now I'm not ready to climb up on top.  Not sure what's going on with my equilibrium.  Kinda reminds me of my old drinking days.

Hollis, the problem is that I still have to get on top to actually remove and replace the vent lid.  It's still 11 feet down.  :laugh:


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## brodavid (Apr 22, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

Be careful and God Bless you in this time of unequalness


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## DL Rupper (Apr 22, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

Thanks Bro David, I'm feeling better this afternoon.  Hopefully tomorrow morning will be better than this morning.


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## H2H1 (Apr 22, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

GOOD DEAL, I hope tomorrow you are better and finish up your job. good luck.


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## Grandview Trailer Sa (Apr 22, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

DL,

With that type of hinge, you do not need to remove the plastic frame, just the 2 screws.  Take them out, move the lever back to the big hole in the cover and remove the lever.  Go on top, remove the cover and just reverse everything to get it back together.


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## DL Rupper (Apr 23, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

Hey Kenneth, the screen is between me and the 2 screws.  That's why I tried to drop the plastic screen frame out of the way, but it doesn't seen to want to get out of the way.  Looks like I'm going to have to remove the screws that hold the outer plastic frame to get the inner plastic frame/screen out of the way.

My equilibrium is doing better so I'll be getting back to the job as soon as the stupid severe  thunderstorms with possibility of hail goes away.  HAIL!!!!!!


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## Grandview Trailer Sa (Apr 23, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

Your vent is different than the current ones.  Guess you will have to remove the screen to get to the screws.

We had hail the other day, but not big enough to hurt anything.


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## DL Rupper (Apr 23, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

After $7000 damage to the Dodge CTD I'm getting paranoid about storms. :dead:


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## Grandview Trailer Sa (Apr 23, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

I understand.  The year we moved to the location we are now, we had a hail storm that just tore up the storm side of all the aluminum sided trailers.  Thankfully it was on the back of all the trailers.  After the insurance settled, we were able to sell all of them at cost and did not have to fix any of them.  We did have to replace a lot of roof vents.


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## elkhartjim (Apr 24, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

DL..how are you feeling?  Stay off that roof til you're perfect.  An eleven foot fall will cost much more than $7000 hail storm.


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## DL Rupper (Apr 24, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

Hey Jim, doing better each day.  Thanks for asking.  Can't figure out what made me so goofy.  It was like being drunk.  Real tipsy.  Now lets not hear about how much diesel smoke I've been smelling. :laugh:  :laugh:


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## elkhartjim (Apr 24, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

Ifin yur drunk on diesel smoke, then yew got mor money than me.  Its means yur lettin it idle while your standing at the tailpipe.  That means you aint making miles.  Find sumthin to hang on to, the storms are coming yur way..according to the news.  Glad yur not feelin as goofy.


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## Grandview Trailer Sa (Apr 24, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

DL, you will like what I am going to say.  We had a trailer delivered today by a driver in a Dodge.  Did not ask him what year it was, but it is the current body style, Crew Cab Dually.  He had 348,000 miles on it and got 14 mpg towing the 33' trailer from Indiana


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## H2H1 (Apr 24, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

OH BOY Ken that going to inflate DL head :laugh: you know how much he loves his Dodge.  :bleh:  :bleh:  and got 348,000 mile with 14 mpg DL may just want to trade. DL you know I am JK. but it does sound tempting  :laugh:


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

hey hollis ,, u ready to take off yet ,, i bet u are ,, i know i am ,, u want to trade places ,, i'll take u'r retired job ,, if u take mine ,, sound like a deal???? Come on ,, u know u want to work a few more thousand yrs ,,,     :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :evil:  :clown:  :blush:


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## Grandview Trailer Sa (Apr 25, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

DL
Your head will explode with with one.  Just had ANOTHER Dodge here.  477,000 miles.  First transmission made it to 400,000.  Second trans. was not right and he just had 3rd installed.  He said that one is shifting correct.

Still the record in recent memory is a 2005 Chev. here that had 498,000.  That was a year and a half ago.  Who knows what is one it now.  That guy had no trans. problems.


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## Guest (Apr 25, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

thanks ,, Ken ,, now nobody will sleep after DL gets thru     :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:


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## DL Rupper (Apr 26, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

Hey Kenneth, thanks for the Dodge info :approve: I just got over the equilibrium problem and now I have stomach flu.  Maybe next year I'll get to the vent.

Hope my Dodge keeps on going.  It will be paid for in 7 mos so I'll be able to afford more diesel fumes, oops I mean fuel.


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## H2H1 (Apr 26, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

DL get well soon we miss your 2 cents which is very valuable to us newbie :laugh: has Ken been boosting your ego about the dodges he has seeing lately? :laugh:  :laugh:  :approve:  :approve:


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## DL Rupper (Apr 27, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

Thanks Hollis,  for the kind words.  I told my lil honey it wasn't time yet to give me the gun.  I still have a few miles left.  Enjoy your outing.

Yes Kenneth has been doing a good job keeping me  focused on Dodge CTD's.  I'll be out here for another 20 years if my Dodge Cummins makes 300,000 + miles.


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## DL Rupper (May 17, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

Hey, the weathers nice and I finally got around to replacing the vent lid in the bathroom and the vent lid to the Vent Fan-tastic.  The bathroom vent lid was a piece of cake after the plastic casing was removed.  Thanks for the info.

Kudos for the Vent Fan-tastic folks.  They sent a new vent lid free.  Throughout the years they have provided free parts to keep the Vent Fan-tastic running.  When I replaced my rubber roof, I had a new Vent Fan-tastic installed and would always buy their product based on their great customer relations.  Besides it's a great Vent/Fan.


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## elkhartjim (May 17, 2008)

Re: Damaged Roof Vent

Its been so long I had forgotten about the vent....then of course I can't remember if I had my prunes this morning.  I'll know tomorrow heh heh heh.


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