I started to extend the powered awning this morning to clean it before we left for the next camping trip. I noticed one end was not extending properly. It turns out that the upper pin that links the gas spring to the aluminum rail had fallen out and the spring was not pushing on the rail to extend the awning. All the linkage pivot points are steel pins with a push-on spring washer to retain it in the rails. (About as cheap as you can make it, I think.) The push-on spring washer was missing but the pin was still hanging in the track. I compared the steel pin length with the other pins in the awning and it was about 1/8" shorter than all the others. I managed to get the awning fully extended and propped open. The gas spring can't be collapsed by hand but when the awning is fully extended, it is virtually fully extended also so I was able to reposition it in the rail and hold it roughly in place with a drift pin. I machined a wedge to drive between the gas spring end and the inside of the rail and tapped it in to compress the gas spring enough to push the pin in. I also needed to make some plastic spacers to keep the gas spring centered in the rail since the original spacers were gone. I drilled and tapped the pin end and used a machine screw, washer and some loctite to keep the pin in the rail. Good thing this happened in the back yard and not at a campsite. I checked all the other pins and made sure the push-on washers were sufficiently seated.