Door Latch Handle

[becker]

Once again I go to the magnitude of my peers.....

I have an 2008 Monaco Dynasty. I went to open door to fill my fresh water tank in anticipation to our upcoming two week camping trip. I just brought it home from the shop getting my generator and my rooftop solar panel checked out.

This compartment is where my fresh water fill is, also my black water tank, and also my grey water tank, also my 50 amp shore line hook-up.

When I reached to open this compartment (you have to pull up and then out and the door raises) the handle came apart in my hand..... as if it was already broken. I don't know if the shop broke it or it just happened. I am of the opinion it just happened.

My question is: Have any of you with Monaco motorhomes had this happen..... and if so how did you replace it. There is no way I can get into the compartment with it shut.

Any help is tremendously appreciated.

becker

[becker]

Update of my broken door handle......

Update....We finally got the door open...... there was a little sliver of the handle left in the door handle..... I took a channel locks and pressed down on the sliver and pulled it upward.... good luck has it that it unlatched the top of the door.... we (two of us) reached in the 4" opening at the top and pulled up of the bottom door releases and "walwall" (an expression of joy) the bottom of the door unlatched.

We now have the door open and I can hook the coach to electricity.

Thanks Mark, you helped me get the door open.

becker

[Mr_Mark1]

DSDP Don, as luck would have it, our tanks were getting full. I opened both 'spin-on' covers from the bottom to try to pull my macerator hose through. There was no way I could get the regular slinky hose through there with my hand. I'm thinking now I had two holes to work with but still couldn't get it to work for some reason (this was later in 2008).

My macerator hose was mashed up in the bay from the hinge of the door so I couldn't unhook it to pull it down. Oh well.

I hate to admit it, but I let my grey water release slowly on the grassy site that we were in. It was also raining. We had to have room in our grey tank to take showers, etc. The black tank was OK but getting near full. We had to get that bay door open ASAP!

MM.

[dougrainer]

Monaco still sells those handles. Just replaced one on a customers 2008 Patriot. Doug

[DSDP_Don]

I actually broke a handle on my 05 Diplomat. I was able to epoxy the components back together and add a metal rod to it and worked for as long as I owned. You can still work the mechanism to get it open. The reason I repaired mine was the cost of a new one. When mine broke, Trimarck wanted something like $225.00 for the handle and it would need to be painted.

Here is something I started to do....I had a couple of doors that still lifted upward. I learned to grab the bottom of the door and lift up, rather than put all the stress on the handle itself.

If you can't get the mechanism to work, you can spin open the black tank drain cover and reach up into the bay and possibly open it.

[Mr_Mark1]

Yes Becker, I had exactly that same thing happen with our 2008 Monaco Dynasty.

We were just out of warranty but Monaco covered it since it needed an adjustment under warranty.

Well, it won't be easy to get open. What you have to do is, is to get the handle mechanism to some how 'mimic' like it's opening normally. I'm not sure how much of your handle is left but you have to turn what bits are left with pliers or something. You can look at a good handle to see how it operates.

I called a mobile service tech to come out to open our door and I was really the one who got it open. By turning the broken ends with pliers (if you have that part remaining) you may can get it open.

Once opened, the mobile tech removed the handle from the door. So, we just had a hole where the handle was located. I had to pull two rods together with my hands to open the bay door.

When the new handle arrived and installed, I removed the bottom mechanism at the bottom of the door as it really did nothing but made the door harder to open as it had to be adjusted perfectly.

I never lifted the door by the handle again. I always released the door and lifted the door with my hands from the bottom. I should have had a handle installed at the bottom to grab as I released the handle.

Good luck, I hope I explained the procedure we used to open the door clearly.

MM.