My friend has just purchased a T2 Campervan and a Devon poptop, the previous owner(s) have fitted a poptop cap, but didn't replace the springs so it dosn't stay up. Question. Can the springs be replaced with the poptop on, and how to you remove them if the cap has been glued on covering the brackets. Any help would be appreciated.
Yes by unscrewing the bottom central brackets with the roof propped up and judicious use of ratchet straps because those springs are strong even if they fail to keep the top up.
Good luck! I've done my own, it's ok if you plan and keep your fingers out of anywhere they might be guillotined off!
I know the set up that you have and what I’m guessing you’ll find if it’s a Devon 69-76 is that a multitude of indifferent repairs over the years have made the pop top rather heavy and eventually someone has covered the lot over with the pop top cap which is very effective water wise but also additional weight. If all the stuff was cleared out and the cap refitted to a skeletal reinforced frame you’d be camping in Narnia. All that said, it’s probably watertight with the cap on and replacement slightly steroided springs is a fairly logical solution. If you replace the springs with standard types that haven’t been to the gym, I doubt you’ll achieve a long lasting solution. I’ve tried various methods when messing with these springs and they are very serious with attitudes. You may think the old ones are feeble but they will still pack a serious punch. I’ve never reassembled the ones that you have but I’ve done similar with the later model Devon roof after 76 that has similar springing set up but at the ends of the Poptop and not on the sides. Best solution I came up with was as Zed says up there ^^^ Get the roof up as it almost halves the compression of the springs. Then use a ratchet strap around the whole spring making sure it is evenly over the ends and secure it with cable ties in loads of places along the spring but primarily within an inch of the ends so the strap stays centred at the ends. Before you unscrew the spring mounting plate, make sure you can compress and release the springs with the straps so you have an inkling of what’s happening so in effect using the straps to lower the roof. Once you’ve done that, support the roof as best you can but remember it’s heavy very very heavy, any props you use will need a pad to spread weight distribution on the floor and on the the roof itself , it’s very heavy . I found all this out when a spring sprung then made a bid for freedom on a donor van I was removing bits from , this bid for freedom was almost successful too Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,through the floor
Uprated springs are available, I expect JK sells them as they also sell the roof caps, or did last time I looked. I have them in mine though I haven't got a roof cap and it's pretty snappy in an upwards direction.
Thank you for that info. My van's poptop is currently in bits and am slowly rebuilding that, but I want need to change my springs.
As an afterthought, when using the ratchet straps to tension these springs steroided or standard I used cable ties to keep everything in place but I used reusable cable ties do that you can adjust them and add them and reposition them easily. They’ve become a valuable part of my tool arsenal and great for camping too with a multitude of uses. Ozziedog,,,,,,,,B&Q s were bestest
We did have trouble with some uprated springs on @scrooge95's poptop - we dont know their provenance but they were coil binding before the roof came down fully so the best we could do was increase the pre- tension in the original springs with spacers. On mine which for identification purposes is a Devon, but it has a double skinned one piece aluminium poptop without the rubber seals on top, the springs are swaged into the struts so I had to cut and weld the struts to fit uprated springs. Classic Devon has a removable pin holding the springs in so its easier...
Someone might have already slipped something into the bottom tube in an attempt to increase the tension? Not hard to imagine something like that jammed in the bottom of the tube. I realise a brainy person would put such a spacer above the spring but not everyone considers the long term problems they create.
I've got a pop top with stronger springs (bought as a kit from JK) and as far as I am concerned, the stronger springs are rubbish. My roof won't stay up even with the stronger springs.
Sorry to hear that, how disappointing! Do you have a roof cap? I don't but my OG springs couldn't keep the roof up and the JK ones are definitely stronger, it fairly blats up and no chance of it falling down. Whether they're enough for a roof cap I have no personal experience but... from your post obviously not.
I do have the roof cap (good bit of kit so well). TBH, roof hasn't been up much of this year so it may be a case of propping the roof up to give springs chance to expand a bit.
Maybe, at least the new spacers were/are loose. As I said we dont know too much about those springs except they were the correct diameter, and that when coil bound they were maybe 1-2 cm too long. On mine the stronger springs definitely make a difference to holding the roof up, and also as they are , as designed, over centre when its down, its substantially harder to pop the roof up from when it is down.
Seconding that, springs dont " get better ".. they may lose their pre-tension if held compressed over many years, or lose springiness if they crack or are corroded or really overheated. When new they are their best.. then its all downhill.
Scrooge was told they were updated for her type of roof but after much faffing we realised that side by side the ‘new’ ones were actually longer. nothing stuffed down the tubes. As Mike said, we used parts of the new set to reduced tube length.
I fitted 2 new JK springs as old ones were weak. Helps roof with extra weight from the lid to stay up. I used blocks to support the weight and undone the screws slowly. Definitely have someone on hand to help as it's quite difficult to avoid them flying out and smashing into your hands, likewise even more difficult to compress them and put screws in. I didn't try the ratchet strap n cable tie method but will on the other 2 I have to replace.
