Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 22:44:01 -0800
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Subject: Sliding door handle
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Tom wrote compaining of a droopy handle...
Some thoughts...
Remove the interior handle, held on by a screw which is probably loose.
Remove the rear handle if present.
Take the door panel off, do this in a warm place or else you will break at
least one of the plastic clips. A putty knife is handy for prying.
Have a look at mechanism. Note the cable running to the rear latch
mechanism. The tension of this cable can be adjusted which affects the ease
of latching/unlatching the rear meachanism.
You can remove the outside handle and have a look at the plastic "washer"
that goes between the handle and the door, maybe its worn out?
Replace both inner and outer handles, use locktight on the screw that hold
the inner handle on. If that screw is tightened too much the handle is
stiff, too little and your handle droops.
Its a compromise, all the parts are getting worn and old.
Clean and lubricate lightly both the front and rear latches. I found some
stuff at CT called, and I kid you not, "Nutz-Ease" which works well on
locks (despite the name it doesn't seem to makes things stiffen up in the
cold).
Have a look at the spring loaded mechanism at the rear of the door that
travels along the rail on the side of the body. Its the "U" shaped bit.
Clean and lube that too. If that part is cruddy and bound, the rear of the
door will not pop out smarlty when you open the door and the interior rear
handle (if fitted) can hit-scrape the body door opening.
Clean and lube the top and bottom door glide assemblies. The top is a nylon
block and needs more cleaning than lube, the bottom is a two wheel assembly
which is no doubt filty and gritty.
If you notice that the bottom "track" in the door opening is scraped at the
point where it makes a bend into the van then you might be want to do the
following fix.
The scraping is made by the bottom L shaped bracket that supports the front
of the door. Actually the scraping is being made by the cast metall part
attached to the "L" shaped bracket. The bracket is held onto the door by
two 13mm bolts. Support the door and marke the position of the bolts before
removing them. Now you have the L shaped assembly complete wtih crungy
wheels that you can take to the benche and really clean.
Now to correct the age induced sag, undo the two 13mm bolts that hold the
cast metal wheel piece to the stamped metal L shaped bracket. Find a washer
similar to the ones used on the bracket. Place that washer BETWEEN the cast
metal part and the bracket and lining up with the INBOARD bolt. Put both
bolts back on an tighten. Now the cast assembly is cocked slightly (by the
thickness on one washer) with respect to the bracket.
Put the bracket back on the door and realign/tighten bolts.
The door should open and close easily reducing the wear and tear on that
poor handle!
I apologize for such a sketchy outline, but its late....
Alistair