sliding door problem

[acw]

Hi All
i will start with a couple of photos.

dooroutside.jpg

doorinsite.jpg

my van (1981 airccooled ) has developed a problem with the sliding door getting harder and harder to close. the photos show that the door isn't closed properly at the front but it is shut and locked at the rear.
as i understand how it works is that the rear slider moves along the rail and when it gets to the end a small catch locks onto the lip at the end of the rail.
the u shaped arm pivots and forces the door forward and the rails move the door in at the front and the rubber cone in the photo is pushed into the cup.
the rear of the door swings in at the rear and the lock catches.

problem seems to be that the catch on the rear carrier pops free of the rail end, the u arm moves back, and the door isn't forced in far enough at the front .
if you slam it and push on the rear it is forced in and it locks

question - do i get a new rear catch/slider unit, or just the slider block - its fairly worn.
or is the problem at the front of the door, something wrong with the seal not allowing the door to move forward far enough forcing the catch to pop off.
or is the catch worn.


thanks for the advice

[King Kenny]

Hi. Can't answer your questions direct but my sliding door was getting harder to shut without slamming it hard and pushing it into place at both end at the same time. Couldn't shut it at all from inside. It seemed to slide on the runners ok so thought it might need new catches or something. I took off the panel at the rear, covering the centre rail. Cleaned, greased and oiled all three rails. Now it slides shut without any effort. It might be worth you trying the same before replacing parts.
Good luck, Kenny.

[acw]

Thanks Kenny
greased and oiled all moving parts last week but no improvement.
bucketing down with rain all day so i think i will leave any further investigation till next weekend

Cheers

[King Kenny]

OK, just a thought. It's raining here as well. Had a late night and lost an hour so just sat in front of the fire today. Hope you fix the problem without too much expense.
Kenny.

[Plasticman]

hi
take the slider cover off and take some clear and detail picks of the mechanism at the end where the arm cranks round,and also show the middle runner with any signs of wear, and also take some picks to show the door gap at front and rear
mm

[acw]

OK MM will do - still raining like mad up here so it will have to be Tuesday night.
still time to celebrate as the old girl passed her MOT today

Andy

[acw]

Hi all
first photo is of the slider bush, you can see that its very worn , gap is about 5mm

slider.jpg

the gap between the bumper when shut, if the catch was secure the gap would be almost zero.

bumper gap.jpg

the catch, the lower part should be locked onto the end of the rail. when the rain and snow quits i will go and clean and oil it all, not sure what the upper part of the catch is supposed to do but if it was sticking to the lower it would stop it holding on properly when the door was shut. i think if the slider was moved forward in the door the gap would be less and the catch less likely to jump off. the problem is when the door is opened the slider moves back and the door catches on the cover, it should pivot out so the door clears the rail cover then when fully open the cam on the u arm releases the catch so it can move.

catch.jpg

at some time the door has been caught on something and it has a scrape just next to the slider, cant be helping.

Thanks for any ideas as i now have another year on the road its time to tidy the old girl up a bit

[CovKid]

Like looking at the medical records of a man in his 80s.

It all wears/rusts out in time.

[acw]

Hi finally got round to posting a reply with the solution to my problem (holiday)
it seems that if you clean and oil the moving parts - replace the worn out bits and adjust the latch- it works properly.

working.jpg

the photo shows the catch now locks on to the end of the rail, problem was that the top and bottom parts were moving together so when the door closed the top catch pulled the bottom part off the rail end.

it now works as it should - as the door closes- the top catch that holds the door away from the body - it is released by the rail end allowing the door the swing inward at the same time the lower catch holds the slider at the rail end forcing the door forward and in.
when opening the slider is held at the rail end until the cam on the u bracket releases the lower catch and the upper catch engages holding it fully open - it can then slide backwards.

new door card required as its all chewed up by catching on the body


thanks for the help

Andy

[Plasticman]

and see that little grommet ,well if thats missing the door is a pig to use
mm

[MidLifeCrisis]

Just doing the very same job now - although as usual it has expanded into a general rust removal and respray of the area too so it's taking a little longer!!
But on the plus side I now know how the confounded door open/closes - as usual it's quite neat and clever but given the state of it when first taken apart, like yours, it was such a grotty mess it's a wonder it worked at all.

What grease/lubricant did you use on the rail - I was thinking of trying something 'dry' rather than grease to try to reduce the amount of 'attracted' dirt?? Thoughts?

Mm - which grommet are you referring to? The stopper on the end of the rail or something else??

[Plasticman]

Yes ,the small stopper if you look when closing the door,it causes the mechanism to start pivoting around to closure,without it the door still sort of closes nut what happens is the oval rubber at the front mashes itself up on its receptical on the B post
mm

[MidLifeCrisis]

Yes ,the small stopper if you look when closing the door,it causes the mechanism to start pivoting around to closure,without it the door still sort of closes nut what happens is the oval rubber at the front mashes itself up on its receptical on the B post
mm

Gotcha - thanks - just wanted to make sure that there wasn't another mystery grommet that I didn't have! Cheers!

[acw]

Hi nothing special to lubricate the system, grease on the rail and oil on the catch mechanism.
cleaning helped as it looked like any hint of a problem was fixed by spraying with wd40 and slathering on grease.
an annual clean will probably help more than anything

Good luck

Andy