Forum Discussion

dpscll's avatar
dpscll
Explorer
Apr 02, 2016

Cargo door locks

I have an automatic door lock on one of my cargo doors that won't open. I hear the mechanism working when I hit the unlock button on my remote, but the rod that holds the door locked won't retract. Any suggestions?
  • I recently had the same problem. The bolt, on my rig, is plastic. It broke at a point where the mechanism would retract half of the bolt but the balance of the bolt continued to prevent the door from opening. I was able to push the broken bolt back to get door open. After I got the door open I replaced the latch. You can get latches with metal bolts.
  • Sounds like the latch is not pulling back. Must have gotten disconnected or broke. You should be able to crawl in from the opposite side if it is a see through compartment and get to the latch from the inside where you can just pull it and unlock it.
  • This is not an unusual problem. Are you sure it's not unlocking or a single latch is not retracting, there is a big difference between the two
  • Thanks for the tip. I will try opening up the lock panel on the inside of the door and see why its sticking before I take the door off. Since I hear the mechanism clicking when I hit the remote, Im hoping its just a minor problem. My auto lock system locks all doors including the cargo doors when activating the alarm, so it would be hard to turn off the auto lock on just the cargo doors.
  • dpscll,

    I recently experienced the same issue with several of my automatic cargo locks and used a key with some; however, since your actuating rod, for unlocking the door, is in a different configuration, you will have to gain access opposite the cargo door and try to unlock from the inside.

    If this is not possible, try removing the door from the hinges when you open the door slightly. In my case, I tried several options i.e. unlocking from the inside, using the key and removing one cargo door via of the hinges.

    I will be replacing all actuators at some point. Presently, I just use a key to unlock the cargo doors.
  • The keys work independently of the auto lock system. The auto lock uses a rod that works off a separate lock below the key lock.