Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 09:36:59 -0800
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <albell@UVIC.CA>
Subject: Re: 80 sliding door stiff
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Hi,
i sent this to the list a couple of weeks ago, maybe it'll help.
Alistair
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
----------
>From: Sean Garrett <SGarrett@MI.STATE.AZ.US>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: 80 sliding door stiff
>Date: Fri, Jan 28, 2000, 8:25 AM
>
>Has anyone disassembled the sliding door latch on the rear of the door or
>removed and greased the cable? Mine is sticking and the door does not "pop"
>open in the back when you pull on the handle (inside or outside). After
>looking at the diagrams in Bentley I see a "tension spring" that could be
>the culprit, but I'm wondering if lubricating the mechanism and cable might
>work?
>
>Any other pointers for the novice before I remove the door to get to the
>mechanism (I know as soon as I remove it I'll never be able to get it to
>line up again like it is now). I have had bad experiences with aligning
>doors on American vehicles.
>
>Sean
>