ARB 2500 Awning Full time?

[4RunnerINprogress]

I just picked up an ARB awning. Just curious for the peeps that have these. Do you leave them on your rig full time? or just when you are going out. Most the time I am by myself and it is a PIA to take it on/off. Just wondering if anyone else out there leaves it mounted all the time and how you wash your rig with it on?

 

[Jhalko]

About to take mine off for the winter, it's been on since the beginning of May. I wash around as well as washing the cover, I only do touch less car washes in winter to get the mag chloride off. Otherwise hand washing it's not really in the way.

 

[mikey's2010SR5]

I just got a 2000 series and waiting on my GOBI rack mounts. Once it is on there it will stay on permanently. My Tepui tent has been on the roof for over a year without taking it off. Plus I park outside (hopefully will change with the new house).

 

[Titanpat57]

24/7....365

 

[High_Country]

I think it depends on your frequency of use and your mounting setup. I have one and unfortunately get to use it only a handful of times / year. My mounting solution takes me about 10 minutes so I generally put on/take off so I'm not driving around with it all the time.

 

[Salvo Jimmy]

While expensive, this mounting scheme would seem to lend itself to rather quick on/off

https://bomberproducts.com/products/awn-lock

 

[Antman]

Mine stays in the garage until I plan on using it, then I keep it on a few weeks. Takes less than 5 minutes to mount with the GOBI brackets, and even quicker to remove.

 

[LawnDart]

24/7....365

Bingo, not sure why you'd take it off. Maybe aesthetics?

It doesn't impact my vehicle use in any way.

 

[Jhalko]

Bingo, not sure why you'd take it off. Maybe aesthetics?

It doesn't impact my vehicle use in any way.

Because I ski in the winter and it's in the way to load and unload them. With the mag chloride use it is also really nice to just drive through a touch less wash to get that coating off, don't want to damage it.

 

[4RunnerINprogress]

Ok cool...sounds like it will be 24/7-365 for me then. I purchased the Gobi mounts. How secure are they? As in should I be checking them everyday to make sure they are on tight so my ARB doesn't make a new home on the freeway?

 

[LawnDart]

Ok cool...sounds like it will be 24/7-365 for me then. I purchased the Gobi mounts. How secure are they? As in should I be checking them everyday to make sure they are on tight so my ARB doesn't make a new home on the freeway?

Some loctite to be safe is always a good idea. I use a red paint pen and witness mark all my bolts to see if they're turning. I actually didn't witness mark my gobi rack's bolts up top and thankfully [MENTION=68685]Ducmonsta[/MENTION] checked them for me and tightened them down.

Around the clamp for the Gobi's awning mounts I also put a heavy duty zip tie, so that if the bolts were to come loose I'd have a fail safe.

But nothing has budged in 30K miles.

 

[Ohio_Steve]

On since July 2015 (Outback, then 4Runner.) Mine has about 18,000 mostly road miles on it, including two cross-country trips. It lives outside, as the garage is full of other toys.

The only negative I've seen is a bit of wear on the awning material where the Velcro straps wrap around it while rolled up. I've started wrapping them a bit looser so the bag takes more of the load. And here in the humid midwest, there is a bit of mildew on the bag that comes off with some Simple Green and a stiff brush.