Hi,
I do not have any info on those articles, but I've replaced the living hinge on many Apaches, and it is really not hard. Do not let anyone sell you accessories that you "need" to do it, as long as you have the hinge, a phillips head screw driver, a pair of heavy duty scissors, and a pair of needle nose pliers....you are good to go.
While camper is up, work on ONE sliding bed end panel at a time. After the camper is open, slide the panel back so that you can reach into the camper from the outside.
On each side of each bed end (inside near mattress) there will be a screw that holds the sliding side walls hinge in place. Remove and save the screw.
Completely remove the sliding panel from its track (assuming it didn't already fall off when the old plastic hinge broke)
Remove any remaining plastic living hinge from the panel and the track on the bed end. (it can be a little tricky sliding out the pieces if they are broken)
Cut the new living hinge to a length slightly smaller than the length of the panel bottom...doesn't need to be perfect.
Slide hinge halfway into the track on the camper bed end. (1/2 of the hinge is now loose and hanging out towards the interior side. Carefully support the panel and slide the top half of the hinge that is hanging out into the hinge track on the panel. (the bottom of one end has been fed into the lower track on the camper, the top of the other end is in the panel)
Now slide the panel down the hinge until both are about even. Then pull the hinge toward the very end of the bed end and reinstall the screw so that it holds the hinge in place. Finish sliding the panel all the way in.
The folding roof/camper end panels are harder.
There are often plastic end pieces that prevent the hinges from coming out. They are a pain to remove, but they have to come out. (If you are real ambitious, save them and reinstall them when you are done. I don't think they are really needed with the new cloth hinges, so I usually don't bother to put them back in)
With the panels in their normal position, remove all old hinge material. Be careful not to knock the panel off the camper, because there is nothing really holding it on once a hinge is broken.
Cut the hinge to length (or shorter if reinstalling the plastic end pieces)
While standing outside the camper, leaning into the inside (the sliding bed end panels have been pulled back about a foot) carefully thread the hinge into both the top and bottom tracks AT THE SAME TIME. Be prepared to use four letter words, especially if it is a hot day) It takes many tries, lots of patience, and a heck of a lot of luck to get both top and bottom of the hinge in at the same time.
Once one end is threaded, lay in bed end (make sure you have the camper stabilizers or jacks down) and use the needlenose pliers to pull the hinge along the track. You sometimes really need to TUG to pull it through, as it easily catches as you pull it along. (It is very helpful to have someone "feeding" it while you pull it through the track, as long as they do not mind four letter words:)
Thats all there is to it. Feel free to email me if you need further explanation. The new hinges will outlast all of us, compared to the poorly designed plastic ones.
Take care,
Jim
njjimf
