Door hard to open from outside

bjbear wrote:

Monaramblee wrote:
Holiday rambler monaco. The door opens easily from the inside but from the outside i have to pull hard on the handle. Ive lubricated everything, its not the door sticking as it opens easily from the inside.
Any ideas would be appreciated.

Take a look at: http://www.visualsc.com/monaco_door_adjust.pdf. It has a lot of info about the door handles on Monaco Family Coaches.

Usually, if the handle has to be pulled farther than normal, it is either the bushing or the rod adjustment. The bushing is the first place to look. If left as is, so that you have to pull real hard on the door handle to open, it will result in a broken handle and you will have to replace it. Will also leave you locked out of your coach. Happened to me!!!

Until i get it properly fixed im leaving a window unlatched just in case. Yes it has to be pulled very hard ....wify cant open it at all....

Monaramblee wrote:
Holiday rambler monaco. The door opens easily from the inside but from the outside i have to pull hard on the handle. Ive lubricated everything, its not the door sticking as it opens easily from the inside.
Any ideas would be appreciated.

Take a look at: http://www.visualsc.com/monaco_door_adjust.pdf. It has a lot of info about the door handles on Monaco Family Coaches.

Usually, if the handle has to be pulled farther than normal, it is either the bushing or the rod adjustment. The bushing is the first place to look. If left as is, so that you have to pull real hard on the door handle to open, it will result in a broken handle and you will have to replace it. Will also leave you locked out of your coach. Happened to me!!!

Gjac wrote:
The Trimark door latch is problematic and can fail in a number of ways, the worst is when the latch it self just breaks, it is made from a cast zinc alloy which is not very strong. The cam is just plastic and can break also. I have replaced mine twice before I understood these two problems. You can adjust the door latch, lube the cam and latch itself, and press in on the outside door to remove some stress on the latch to make it easier to open before pulling on the handle. Eventually the latch itself will break. When mine broke for the second time I made a backing plate from steel to join the broken pieces together and so for after two years is working fine. The real solution is to have a machine shop make a one out of steel. Some one posted that Trimark now makes one with a steel latch at twice the price.

Question......if it eventually breaks is it separate from the inside handle? The inside handle works perfectly. Also there is a small panel about 10 x 10 inches on the inside of the door...its a bit higher then the outside handle but im wondering if i could access the problem from that point. Im just throwing questions out before tackling it ...

The Trimark door latch is problematic and can fail in a number of ways, the worst is when the latch it self just breaks, it is made from a cast zinc alloy which is not very strong. The cam is just plastic and can break also. I have replaced mine twice before I understood these two problems. You can adjust the door latch, lube the cam and latch itself, and press in on the outside door to remove some stress on the latch to make it easier to open before pulling on the handle. Eventually the latch itself will break. When mine broke for the second time I made a backing plate from steel to join the broken pieces together and so for after two years is working fine. The real solution is to have a machine shop make a one out of steel. Some one posted that Trimark now makes one with a steel latch at twice the price.

wa8yxm wrote:

jdc1 wrote:
Yea, They aren't made with the best of metals.

That... Is a MAJOR understatement

To the OP

If you hook your fingers on the right side of the handle.. Put your THUMB on the left just past the pivot. seems to work better. on mine.

Same with basement only it's bottom and top instead of right and left.

I will try that thanks.....made an observation this morning while the door is open. The inside handle easily opens both latches but the outside handle struggles to open only the bottom latch. Not sure how the door opens i guess it must be slightly unlocking the top latch. Anyways we are at a point now where my wife cant open the door at all and i have to use some strength. Was also wondering how the striker bolts can be removed?

jdc1 wrote:
Yea, They aren't made with the best of metals.

That... Is a MAJOR understatement

To the OP

If you hook your fingers on the right side of the handle.. Put your THUMB on the left just past the pivot. seems to work better. on mine.

Same with basement only it's bottom and top instead of right and left.

I have no clue how to upload a pic. I guess i will be opening another thread.

fcooper wrote:
I had this same problem on a 2000 Holiday Rambler Endeavor DP. I don't know if your door is the same, but maybe this can help.

I don't remember exactly how I disassembled the structure, but I found an adjustable link in the lock assembly that controlled the movement of the latch when the outside door handle was utilized. After adjusting the link, the problem was eliminated.

Fred

Thats encouraging. My concern is that we might eventually be locked out.

CA Traveler wrote:
BTW On mine the striker bolts float vs hard tightened and need to be lubed.

I suspect you have the same door....i will take a pic of the bolts and try to post.

CA Traveler wrote:
Do you see a crack on the botom outside of the latch?

No i dont.