Chameleon curtainside.

Discussion in 'Flatbed Trucking Forum' started by HighwaySuperTramp, Mar 9, 2019.

  1. HighwaySuperTramp

    HighwaySuperTramp Medium Load Member

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    So my boss bought a couple chameleon curtainside systems, and I'm currently pulling one on a standard High boy. I'm trying to find out something but there are no manuals for them, and all the pictures that I see show something different than what I'm looking at.

    When I first got the trailer, the curtains would fall out pretty bad in the Wind, and it was impossible to see down the sides of my trailer. I figured out how to tension the curtains, but now I have this issue where the latches at the end stick out past the back of my trailer. That and now I need to use a snipe bar to lock the front of the trailer in place. Does anyone else here have this system and could possibly enlighten me a little bit? Maybe even show me some pictures. I would appreciate any help.

    And just to make sure I'm only asking about the chameleon system, I don't care who has what other kind of systems or how the other systems work. Just the kind that I'm pulling
     
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  3. Ruthless

    Ruthless Road Train Member

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    I have a chameleon.

    Post a couple pictures of what you’re talking about. I have the owners manual in my truck at the yard at the moment, and I ain’t about to be down there today. If you have to use a bar to tighten the front, you have it way too tight.
     
  4. TripleSix

    TripleSix God of Roads

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    Hey Ruthless, when I grow up, can I be like you without any copyright infringements?
     
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  5. HighwaySuperTramp

    HighwaySuperTramp Medium Load Member

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    My tensioners on the back of the trailer are almost all the way to the back, and they are sticking out past the rear most part of my trailer. If they aren't there then when I'm driving down the Road my curtains sold out because of the wind over eight in and I can't see past my trailer. Even now with the tensioners back where they are my curtains flap in the wind quite a bit in my opinion. I have to use the hole on the front tensioners with my winch bar to take the tension off to open and pull them shut. I'm wondering if the system was installed properly or if there's another way to possibly adjust the curtains

    Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, and I am not in a position to take any right now
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2019
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  6. HighwaySuperTramp

    HighwaySuperTramp Medium Load Member

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    ?
     
  7. G13Tomcat

    G13Tomcat Road Train Member

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    .... so NOW you wanna grow up?!?!? C'mon Six... we like you just the way you are...LoL~!
     
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  8. Ruthless

    Ruthless Road Train Member

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    The tensioners in the back aren’t adjustable beyond the rear of the trailer on a chameleon I’ve seen; which is why I asked for pictures.
    Can you adjust your mirrors outward on the arm & then fold the face back to get more sight lines beyond the curtain, flapping or not? That’d be my first suggestion. Flapping tarps is bad for the fabric: yoking it so tight it’s giving you the issues you’re describing is going to lengthen the life from no flapping, and shorten the life from stretching the areas around the rivets/ if you catch a tree branch with zero give it’s gonna slice thru the tarp.




    Does your tensioner look like this?



    9CAFD2F8-6380-4641-93F2-79F1422B07A6.png

    The bronze bracing bar with cutout for the tensioner nut shouldn’t be mounted far enough back that the rear of the unit can come past the rear of the trailer. That’s the part that’s mounted to the trailer, not the part that’s mounted to the sliding carbody carriage.
     
  9. Ruthless

    Ruthless Road Train Member

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    I don’t think in my life anybody ever told me they want to be like me hahahahaha
     
  10. HighwaySuperTramp

    HighwaySuperTramp Medium Load Member

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    I think I found what my problem was, I finally managed to get my hands on an installation guy. My issue is I have the rear tensioners as far back as I can get them, or as far back as I feel comfortable. The bracing bar is in a good spot but the slider and where the pin goes in hangs over the back of the trailer by about an inch to an inch and a half. I tried tensioning the bottom, because the top is loose and slaps around excessively. When you see pictures of this system all their trailers are nice and straight with no crease lines, my shows lines at the very top
     
  11. Ruthless

    Ruthless Road Train Member

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    Mine does as well on the top, most noticeable on the rear most section of the unit, both sides.


    Might could see it if you zoom?

    671FE766-0391-47F9-8352-7A362E5A305B.jpeg
     
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