Forum Discussion

dog_house_Jim's avatar
May 20, 2013

basement doors slightly shifted, can not close or lock .

I have a 2000 Bounder 39Z DP. the basement door for the batteries, LP, electric, and water( the last two in the same space) have shifted enough that the doors can not be closed and latched. I know there must be an adjustment somewhere on the top hing, but I can't find it and truthfully don't want to drive with them unlatched. anyone have any suggestions? I've already tied tapping them with a rubber malliad

6 Replies

  • If a number of the doors are out of whack, sounds like the frame is tweaked, as mentined above. Perhaps futzing with the jacks, lowering or raising fronts or backs, will get everything back in whack. Never know till you try. Just make one change at a time, then inspect.
  • doxiemom11 pretty much hit the nail on the head. There is a tab with a single screw holding it in place at the middle of the top of the door on the inside. When that breaks or the screw backs itself out, the door will slide forward and backwards even at a stand still. When you open or close the door, the piston will help slide it in one direction or the other.
    Open the door to the point that there is not pressure on the piston and gently tap the door in the direction with the palm of your hand. Then replace the screw or tab.
  • Sounds like you're stationary at the moment- is this something that just happened? I ask because you might just be slightly "tweaked", position-wise, throwing the frames a bit off-square. This seems especially likely if more than one door is affected.

    Just moving the rig may square things up.
  • Our top hinges are connected so that they slide (with effort). Over time, they do slide from traveling and we will first notice that the gaps are not even between the sides of the doors. We just open the door and apply pressure at the top to move it back, starting with the most rear door. We haven't had them bad enough to not latch, but it probably could happen if we didn't adjust them when we notice this. We have done it maybe 3 times in 2 years. If we could always have smooth even roads, it wouldn't happen. We notice it after driving in some of the awful campground roads with dips and hollows.
  • The hinges on my Winnie, seem to have play in them, and I can just life them and play with them, to get them back aligned....and I figured this was the way they were made?

    It is strange that your doors are all of a sudden out of whack...with no accidents or anything that might figure into the problem.

    Sorry I can't offer more advice?

    Good luck:)
  • Find the cause of the misalignment and correct it.

    Worst case: your frame is warped.

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