Date:         Sun, 2 Jan 2005 17:36:12 -0800
Reply-To:     Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Subject:      '82 sliding door report (long)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Today I finished cleaning up the various rollers on my '82 sliding door and decided to re-
install it & see how it worked. I didn't bother removing the front & rear latch mechanisms, as
they appeared to operate smoothly enough. The lower track was full of old waxy grease, and
has a well worn groove, which I sanded smooth, treated with Rust-Mort (phosphoric acic)
and lightly greased with lithium. Main lower roller bearing seemed ok after cleaning, although
outer surface of roller is roughened by all the rust & grit. Middle (rear) roller track was bone
dry & rough, so I sanded smooth & greased, again, bearing seemed ok. I'm missing the
spring on the catch which holds door in open position, will probably get whole part from
wrecker.

Door was much easier to remove/install that I expected - thanks to the tips provided on this
procedure.

Once back on, door was smoother rolling than before, but still noisier/rougher than my '88.
Closing using typical speed/force is now similar to my '88, which was a nice surprise, and
this was without any attempts to adjust the door. However, closing at slow speeds from door
at 6-12" from closed position is *much* more difficult than the '88. As soon as the rear
roller/hinge reaches the stop, and the hinge starts to swing in, the amount of force needed is
much greater, and not all that smooth. Strange, since this hinge spring was not all that stiff
when I had the door off. Some friction was coming from the front lower roller plate, which was
making contact with the bottom of the door track (on body) - wear was evident on cast
aluminum piece, and paint scraped off track. My '88 has a slight bit of wear here, but I
suspect only when grit get between the metal pieces - they normal don't rub. The '82
definitely rubs, so I added a washer between the lower & upper pieces on the inboard
mounting bolt, causing the roller arm to tilt slightly toward the van, clearing the point where it
was rubbing. This made quite a difference, although I think improvement can still be made
to reduce closing effort. The door closes with a much more violent sound than the '88,
although part of this likely due to no door panel or insulation installed.

I do not have an outer handle yet (enroute), so I can't compare that aspect, but judging by
the inner handle, I can see why the early outer handle is so big - the spring for the rear latch
inside the door is *huge*! I'm not sure why they felt it required such a large spring, but I'm
sure that is the difference in the effort needed on these early doors. Given the amount of
improve made, it appears the early door can be made quite acceptable in closing effort with
a bit more fiddling. As for roughness, I don't know if a new lower roller might help - I might
try this next. The bad news is my door has much more rust than I first thought, so a new
door will be needed eventually. :-(--
Shawn Wright
I.T. Manager
Shawnigan Lake School