Broken roof cabling mechanism.

[chris30taylor]

Hi, this is my first post so please forgive any wrong doings.

While on holiday recently my roof cabling mechanism broke. I believe because the carpet up top was under the cable towards the front right of the roof when I shut it. The warning light was on and on reopening the roof, which worked fine, I heard a twang. On inspection I saw what looks like a bike brake cable hanging down. I inspected the components at the back of the roof, and the system, and it appears the cable which is usually connected to the front end of the roof was dislodged. I can see where it goes but was unable to create any slack to return it.

I was able to close the roof, my wife pressed the button which allowed the left side to work as normal while I pressed down on the right side. Strangely, when I asked my wife to raise the roof slightly to reallign after several inches, the roof would raise without a problem I read somewhere the cables are linked, right and left, across the back of the roof, is this true?

So to my point. It looks as though I can drop the mechanism, rails and all, and somehow create some slack to replace the cable. As you would when repairing a bike brake cable. As I have never seen a posting with this problem I fear it may be quite rare Do any of you knowledgable experienced Bongo users have any experience of this problem? I have a good background knowledge of mechanics and am quite confident with some guidance I could fix it with a friend.
I own a 2.5td bongo, M reg.

Many thanks in anticipation.

Chris Taylor,
West Cornwall.

[roofraisers]

Oh dear, sorry to hear of your woe on your first post on the forum!

A similar thing has just happened to us, our roof came down unevenly but after some calm thinking & some methodical spanner work we managed to get the roof back down & drive home so I could fully access what had happened.

What caused my cable to "show itself" was the AFT drive motor had detached itself from the roof & then it was easier for the cable to unwind from the roof lowering mechanism than it was to lower the roof itself.

You first need to remove the black plastic cover from the motor by squeezing the sides in with your fingers & pulling down.

You can get slack in the system by removing 3 x allen screws that hold the motor to the roof & then 3 x philips screws that hold up the lower/raise cables. (Might be worth checking how secure these are by tugging on the motor before unscrewing it. If it comes off the AFT roof easily they need gluing back in with some Araldite because if the mechanism comes off & you don't realise, the fibreglasss roof is in great danger of cracking)

The cables then run up the inside of the upper channel. One cable is fixed to the upper mechanism that causes the roof to go up/down & the other is the tail from the other sides mechanism.

One should just tuck back in (nothing connected to it's end) & the other may need the roof switch flicking to help relocate it & also try manually lifting/supporting the roof & then moving the diagonal bar with the rollers on. The cable surrounds then push home into the upper channel & then you need to get your screws & allen bolts relocated & tightened up.

If the roof looks square you should have fixed it. Get some assistance & lower the roof gently whilst you watch all the motors, runners, cables (that hopefully don't show again) & make sure the roof comes down square & locks down at the front at the same time. If it looks good raise the roof & reattatch the long black plastic covers.

I've attatched this thread that has some photos, read the squiffy roof link.

http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... +mechanism

Hope this is the sort of info you are looking for & that it all works out for you.

Nigel.

[Northern Bongolow]

with a forum name like roofraisers you have to believe every word. .

good one nigel.

[chris30taylor]

Many thanks.

I am waiting till I am on holiday in a week then myself and a fireman friend will take it up to the station and have a go.

If I can get the slack like you have described then I should be able to push up the cable to its correct place. The grease at the top of the channel gave me a good indication of the correct channel.

Do I need to disconnect BOTH motors to create the slack Or just the one on the side of the problem

Thanks again.

Chris.

[mikeonb4c]

I had something like this happen with mine and was very fearful. Adrian at Japan Direct in Bury (0161 763 3003) fixed it no probs (he's had to deal with my roof on three occasions). I'm sure he won't mind giving a little advice over the phone if you need it - he's a very decent guy and has done a lot of work on Bongo roof problems. Maybe say Mike O'Neill suggested you call in case he wonders. Good luck, keep us posted.

[chris30taylor]

Thankyou, Mike, really appreciate the advice.

Chris.