How do I manually retract my RV’s electric awning?

Dear Dave,
My RV awning has an electric motor. To manually retract most motors you can use a 7/16 socket, I believe. Most motors have an access hole to retract the awning, but my awning motor has no access hole. There is no nut, but there is an Allen wrench screw where most others have a nut to use to retract. How can I retract my awning with only an Allen wrench? My motor is a Lippert #266149. Can you help? —Gary, 2015 K-Z Vision

Dear Gary,
According to Lippert Technical Assistance, the replacement motor for Lippert #266149 now comes with the 7/16 nut instead of the Allen style head that your motor has. Here is a picture of the replacement motor.

Changed to nut from hex

Notice the 7/16th nut on the shaft in the same position as the one on yours. I believe they changed to the nut as the hex can be easily stripped if the wrong size hex is used. The nut looks like it can be replaced by loosening the set screw on the side.

I also think the original cover has been removed from your motor assembly as the motor would not be exposed to the elements. Here is one we worked on last summer that has a defective module in the arm. We had to manually open the awning to access the module.

This one did have the 7/16th nut which we used with a 3/8” drill adapter and cordless drill to manually open the awning.

Hex bit set

I would suggest getting a hex [hexagonal or six-sided] bit set that matches the size of your Allen style nut, which you can get on Amazon here.

You do not want the Torx bit set as that is more of a “Star” design rather than the six-sided hex. I have also found that a 3/8” cordless drill socket adapter fits, as well. You can find this on Amazon here.

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Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and the author of the “RV Handbook.”

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