Need help with awning support clamps

Yes, using as much force as i can muster.

Thank you for posting this!  I had the exact same problem this weekend, and read the forum to get the same answer, however it honestly feels like I will snap those things off!  It’s only 2 years old, but the clips seem a little bit brittle. I suppose I could seek out replacement parts prior to forcing so that if/when it breaks I have a fix already in mind. It’s also counter intuitive to flip the things UP-outward instead of downward to lock into place. I even watched a few YouTube videos and the make it look super easy!  I honestly feel like I’m doing something wrong, or it’s a really hinky design. 

Originally posted by Ciberpine Thank you to those of you that replied.  Just an update.  I let it rest for a day and went out and tried again to get the latches to "latch" and sure enough it worked.  We had a significant change of weather for rain and cool to dry and warm and maybe that is the factor, but for some reason I was able to get them to latch. Now, in my trying to figure this out, I took one of the latches apart and, of course, lost the little spring.  I cannot find any place that sells replacement parts of this.  Does anyone know of a place? Thanks again for the help on this.  -Scott

I'm glad it latched for you. Now, as for the spring, look and see if you can find anything similar, like a ball-point pen spring or something in the hardware store that is about the same size and shape. I don't know of any source for springs.