Pop Top Truck Camper Repair, Lift Roofs and Soft Walls
Written by RV Systems Lead, RV Systems and Electrical Lead, OCRV Center. Reviewed by Structural Repair Lead
In shortA pop top travels low and raises its roof on gas struts with a soft wall or on hydraulic rams with a telescoping hard wall. Which of those you own decides the entire repair list.
What does pop top truck camper repair cover?
Pop top camper repair covers the lift mechanism, the soft wall or telescoping hard wall, and the sealing line where the raised roof meets the body. Rancho Santa Margarita owners bring Four Wheel Campers and Alaskan units to our Yorba Linda shop for strut, ram and seam work.
- Strut lifted units use a vinyl or canvas soft wall
- Alaskan style units telescope a rigid wall on hydraulics
- Travel height at cab level is the whole point of the design
- The lift line is the primary water path on either type
- Lift types
- Gas strut or hydraulic ramStrut and soft wall on Four Wheel Camper style, hydraulic telescoping hard wall on Alaskan style
- Travel height
- Roughly cab heightLowered profile is what allows garage storage and low clearance travel
- Frame
- Welded aluminum tubeAluminum skin on strut lifted units, timber and aluminum on classic hard wall units
- Typical length
- 6 to 10 feet of boxDry weight 1,100 to 2,800 lb depending on shell type
- Mechanical rate
- $260 per hourLift systems and hydraulics; laminate and body work at $210 per hour
Last verified
A pop top exists to travel low. Lowered, it sits at roughly the height of the truck cab, which means it fits a garage, clears branches on a fire road and costs far less in wind resistance than a full height camper. Raised, it gives standing room. The mechanism that gets it between those two states is the vehicle's defining feature and the source of most of its repairs.
There are two quite different traditions here. Four Wheel Camper style units raise a light roof on gas struts and bridge the gap with a vinyl or canvas soft wall. Alaskan style units telescope a rigid upper shell over the lower one on hydraulic rams. They look similar parked. They have almost nothing in common to repair.
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Note
A pop top truck camper travels at cab height and raises a lifting roof once parked, either on struts with a soft wall or hydraulically with a telescoping hard wall. A slide in camper has full height rigid walls and a fixed roof, and it is covered separately.
Two different machines that look alike parked
A strut lifted pop top has a light insulated roof panel and a fabric wall bridging the gap. Everything about it is optimised for weight: an aluminum tube frame, aluminum skin, and a dry weight low enough to sit on a half ton or even a mid size truck. Its repairs are struts, fabric and hinges.
A telescoping hard wall unit raises a full rigid upper shell over the lower body on hydraulic rams. There is no fabric at all. Its repairs are hydraulics, guides and wiper seals, and its shell is a timber and aluminum structure that can be rebuilt rather than replaced. Owners of both call them pop tops, and we have to establish which one before quoting anything.
- Strut and soft wall: light, fabric bridged, strut dependent
- Hydraulic telescoping: heavy, rigid, ram and guide dependent
- Both seal along one continuous horizontal line when lowered
- Both fail at the four corners before anywhere else
Struts are a maintenance item and nobody treats them as one
The struts on a soft wall pop top are sized close to the roof panel weight, because the design goal is a roof one person can raise. That means there is very little margin. A strut that has lost twenty percent of its charge still lifts, so nothing feels broken, but the roof rises unevenly and then settles slightly.
The consequence lands on the corner hinges. They begin carrying a load the struts were supposed to hold, and once a hinge point has worn, the roof no longer comes down square on the seal. That is the sequence behind most leak complaints on these campers, and it starts with a pair of struts nobody replaced.
Note
Replace lift struts as a set, on a schedule, before the roof feels heavy. Mixed strut ages are what put load into a hinge and start the leak sequence.
The soft wall lives at the corners
Look at where a soft wall fails and it is almost never in the middle of a panel. The corners have to fold into the smallest space when lowered, stretch flat when raised, and turn ninety degrees while doing both. That is the highest strain in the material and it is also where the fold concentrates every single time the roof comes down.
Repairs at a corner seam are possible and worthwhile when the rest of the material still has life. Once the vinyl has gone hard across the panels as well, a replacement wall is the honest answer, and fitting one is quick provided the roof still lands square. Squareness first, fabric second.
Hydraulic shells and the trouble with a weep inside
On a telescoping hard wall unit the rams are inside the living space. That is convenient for protection and inconvenient for diagnosis, because the first sign of a failing seal is usually a stain on a cabinet or a wall rather than a pressure gauge. Owners frequently report the stain as a roof leak.
It matters because the shell is heavy. One ram losing capacity lets its corner lag on the way up, and a several hundred pound rigid shell that goes up out of square starts wearing its guides unevenly. We check lift synchronisation and guide clearance whenever we service the hydraulics rather than treating the ram as an isolated part.
One horizontal line is the entire weather seal
Lowered, both types depend on a single continuous seal running around the camper: a compression gasket under the roof panel, or a wiper seal on the bottom edge of the upper shell. It gets compressed and released on every trip, and it happens to sit at exactly the height where a branch or a low awning strikes a camper.
So we treat that line as the primary inspection item rather than the roof surface. We look for a gasket that has taken a compression set, for wear that is heavier on one side than the other, and for local damage from a strike. A gasket that is flat on one side is reporting that the roof is landing out of square.
Rates, and who runs pop tops
Lift mechanisms, hydraulics, seals and fabric fitting bill at $260 per hour. Body, laminate, shell and fabrication work is $210 per hour with body supplies at $5 per body hour. A written estimate is $150, credited in full against an authorized repair.
These owners are the low profile end of truck camping: mid size and half ton trucks, dirt roads, garage storage. Many chose a pop top specifically to keep total height down, and they use it constantly, so struts and seals wear on time rather than sitting in storage. That is a much better failure pattern to work with.
How a pop top camper is built
| System | What it is |
|---|---|
| Wall system | Welded aluminum tube frame with aluminum sheet skin and a flexible vinyl or canvas soft wall spanning the lift gap on strut lifted units, or a full rigid upper shell of timber and aluminum that telescopes over the lower body on hydraulic units |
| Roof system | A light insulated lift panel hinged or guided at the corners on strut units, with a perimeter compression seal onto the body when lowered, or a rigid upper shell whose lower edge runs a wiper seal against the outside of the lower body on telescoping units |
| Chassis | No chassis of its own. Carried in a pickup bed with the floor on the bed and tie downs to the frame, chosen frequently on half ton and mid size trucks because the dry weight is low |
| Typical length | 6 to 10 feet |
| Typical GVWR | 1,100 to 2,800 lb |
What typically goes wrong on this vehicle
Gas struts that no longer hold the roof up
The lift panel is held by struts sized close to the panel weight so the roof can be raised by one person. Gas struts lose charge with age and lose it faster with heat cycling, and a Southern California summer in a lowered camper is exactly that. Once they are down twenty percent the roof will rise and then settle, which loads the corner hinges rather than the struts.
How we repair itSoft wall seams splitting at the corner radius
The soft wall has to fold into a small space when lowered and stretch flat when raised, and at each corner it does both while turning ninety degrees. That corner is the highest strain point in the material and it also collects the fold every time the roof comes down. Splits start at the corner stitching rather than in a flat panel.
How we repair itHydraulic ram weeping on a telescoping hard wall unit
An Alaskan style camper lifts a rigid upper shell weighing several hundred pounds on hydraulic rams, and those rams sit inside the living space where a weep shows up on a wall or a cabinet before anyone notices a pressure loss. Because the shell is heavy, a single failing ram lets one corner lag and the shell racks in its guides.
How we repair itWater entering along the lowered lift line
In the lowered position the entire weather seal on either type is one continuous horizontal line around the camper, either a compression seal under the roof panel or a wiper seal on the bottom edge of the upper shell. That seal is compressed and released every trip, and it is also the exact height at which branches and awnings hit the camper.
How we repair itCorner hinge and guide wear letting the roof sit crooked
Whether the roof is hinged at the corners or guided in channels, those four points determine whether the panel or shell comes down square onto its seal. Sustained use on rough roads with the roof lowered, plus struts that have faded, wears those points unevenly, and a roof that lands out of square cannot seal no matter what gasket is fitted.
How we repair itWhat common jobs run on this vehicle
Lift strut replacement and roof balance
$500 to $3,500
3 to 14 labor hours at $260 per hour, mechanical and electrical.
- Parts at $100 or less carry 100 percent markup. Parts over $100 carry 35 percent. Special order parts require a full non refundable deposit at order.
- Sales tax of 7.75 percent applies to parts and materials. Labor is not taxed.
- Struts are replaced as a set. A mixed set of ages is what makes a roof rise unevenly and load one hinge.
Soft wall repair or replacement
$400 to $2,500
2 to 10 labor hours at $260 per hour, mechanical and electrical.
- Parts at $100 or less carry 100 percent markup. Parts over $100 carry 35 percent. Special order parts require a full non refundable deposit at order.
- Sales tax of 7.75 percent applies to parts and materials. Labor is not taxed.
Hydraulic ram service on a telescoping unit
$500 to $4,500
3 to 18 labor hours at $260 per hour, mechanical and electrical.
- Hazmat and disposal $45 flat when chemicals, refrigerant or LP is involved.
- Parts at $100 or less carry 100 percent markup. Parts over $100 carry 35 percent. Special order parts require a full non refundable deposit at order.
- Sales tax of 7.75 percent applies to parts and materials. Labor is not taxed.
Lift line seal replacement and roof re-square
$400 to $3,000
2 to 14 labor hours at $260 per hour, mechanical and electrical.
- Parts at $100 or less carry 100 percent markup. Parts over $100 carry 35 percent. Special order parts require a full non refundable deposit at order.
- Sales tax of 7.75 percent applies to parts and materials. Labor is not taxed.
Corner hinge and guide rebuild
$1,000 to $50,000+
6 to 250 labor hours at $210 per hour, body and paint.
- Parts at $100 or less carry 100 percent markup. Parts over $100 carry 35 percent. Special order parts require a full non refundable deposit at order.
- Sales tax of 7.75 percent applies to parts and materials. Labor is not taxed.
- A 50 percent deposit is taken at authorization on any job over $2,000, with an additional 25 percent when parts arrive on any job over $10,000. Final balance is due at pickup.
- The top of this band is a full shell rebuild on a classic hard wall unit, which is restoration rather than repair.
Will it fit in the shop?
Pop tops are the easiest campers we handle for access and the ones that most need vertical clearance in a working position. Raised, a pop top on a one ton truck reaches around ten feet, and the roof has to be cycled repeatedly during seal and hinge work, which our high bay handles without moving the vehicle. Because dry weight is low, we can set one on stands quickly and put the truck on a lift beside it, which is how tie down and floor work gets done properly.
Insurance considerations for this vehicle
- Soft walls are treated as fabric and excluded as wear, exactly like an awning canopy. A split at a corner seam after eight seasons is maintenance, however inconvenient that is.
- Damage sustained while driving with the roof raised is a common and expensive event, and carriers treat it as operator error rather than a covered peril in most policies we have seen.
- On classic hard wall units the value is frequently much higher than a valuation guide suggests, so an agreed value policy matters. A restored Alaskan is not comparable to a mass produced camper of the same age.
Appendix: questions and answers
- My pop top roof rises and then settles slightly. What is that?
- Faded gas struts. They are sized close to the roof panel weight so one person can lift it, which leaves almost no margin. A strut down twenty percent still lifts, so nothing feels broken, but the roof settles and the corner hinges start carrying load the struts should hold. Replace them as a set.
- Why do pop top soft walls always split at a corner?
- Because the corner does the most work. It has to fold into the smallest space when lowered, stretch flat when raised, and turn ninety degrees doing both, and the fold concentrates there every time the roof comes down. Splits begin at the corner stitching rather than anywhere in a flat panel.
- There is a stain on the cabinet of my Alaskan style camper. Roof leak?
- Check the hydraulic rams first. On a telescoping hard wall unit the rams sit inside the living space, so a weeping seal shows as a stain on a wall or cabinet long before a pressure loss is noticed. Owners routinely report it as a roof leak and it is coming from the lift system.
- Where does a lowered pop top actually leak from?
- The lift line, which is one continuous horizontal seal around the whole camper. It is compressed and released every trip and it sits at exactly the height where branches and low awnings strike. A gasket flat on one side only is telling you the roof is landing out of square, so squareness gets fixed first.
- Why do you ask whether my pop top uses struts or hydraulics?
- Because they are different machines that look alike parked. A strut lifted unit has a light roof and a fabric wall, so its repairs are struts, fabric and hinges. A hydraulic unit telescopes a heavy rigid shell, so its repairs are rams, guides and wiper seals. Almost nothing transfers between them.
Open a file on this repair
Tell us the vehicle, what happened and whether a claim is open. We will tell you what the scope looks like and what it takes to get you back on the road.
Or call (949) 799-3387