VW T5 Trooper

There is no disguising the fact that they are pretty heavy, and the mechanism does not have any facility to use gas struts (which is what makes other types of roof easier to lift).

One thing to check is that the hinges at front and back are not corroded or in any way misaligned.

Unfortunately it's very much dependent on your height. Below a certain height they can be quite difficult to deal with, and there is not much you can do about it - it's difficult to stand on something while lifting because of the need to move to lift the side panels.

The compensation is that they are quite spacious compared with most of the alternatives, and relatively secure and warm (unless yours is the type where A/S chopped a slot at the top of one side to provide mandatory ventilation!).

And if you're not particularly tall, some of the end-liff alternative roofs can be quite hard to pull down, so there are a lot of pros and cons.

Yes - I think a certain technique helps, but it's very much dependent on your stature. I can put just a little bit of right shoulder into the first inch or so of movement which helps - but you have to be really careful with that type of move as it's very easy to twist your back and cause an injury.

Have you checked the spring part above the cab for corrosion? It's a bit of an area for rust because water can pool under the front edge of the roof, depending on the slope where it is normally parked.

fibi128 wrote:I wouldn't have a clue as to what it should look like

It's actually a really simple device, so if it looks Ok then it almost certainly is Ok. If it has very heavy surface rust on the spring then I guess it could bind and provide less assistance - but I think that would be visibly obvious. The only other issue (that we had initially on ours) is that if the catches are out of adjustment it can be difficult to start lifting - but that again should be obvious, as you will feel initial resistance which will go immediately, as soon as the roof moves half an inch or so.