Stuck entery Door cant get out.

[David0725]

I never thought the Entery would get stuck that it would take me and 2 other guys 2 1/2 hours to get it open. It has been working fine till today. My grandson want inside the rv then tried to come back out and the door would not open Lucky for us I have a drivers door. So we tried to back in from the out side then from the inside. After prying on the door for 2 hours and taking the door handle apart then trying to kick the door open from the inside to get nowhere! I took a crowbar from the inside and after mangling the door little we finally got it open.. yay!! But we still cant see what was keeping it from opening :h So that got me thing what if there was a fire? How much time would have went by trying to get out that door? Or if we didn't have a drivers door. And trust me we was not ez on the door at all 3 grown man and a teenager took everything we had to get it open. And still don't have a answer why it was stuck...

[ADAD437]

DKeppner wrote:
I vaguely remember there was a recall last year (or year before) on some door latches? I do remember the year span was quite large and the recall effected a great number of makes/models. Was one of the main suppliers.

Sorry, memory fails for further details.

don't remember the details about recall but it was tri mark. mine did the same thing last summer on 2005 motor home, had to replace unit, naturally mine was not in the recall list.

[msmith1199]

You ordered a new door handle? How about the torn up door and frame? By the sounds of the description of what you did, you got a few thousand dollars worth of damage to repair. And none of it will be covered by insurance.

[hotjag1]

Travelon wrote:

hotjag1 wrote:
That happened to me a few years ago. My wife had gone into a mini-mart to get a few things and I locked the door since there were lots of people milling around. When she came out, we could not get the door unlocked from either the inside or the outside.
Luckily, she was locked outside, so I was able to just drive off. :B

"You're a braver man than I, Gunga Din!"

Travelon

Just kidding, I'm smarter than that too. Actually, we both did get locked inside and I had to climb out the fire escape window to get my tools out of the storage bay, and then climb back in the same window. I ended up taking the entire locking mechanism out of the door and finally got it open.
Just a suggestion for anyone using their fire escape window. Lay a thick blanket over the window sill...I scraped up the front side of me pretty good sliding out of that window. :R

[Travelon]

hotjag1 wrote:
That happened to me a few years ago. My wife had gone into a mini-mart to get a few things and I locked the door since there were lots of people milling around. When she came out, we could not get the door unlocked from either the inside or the outside.
Luckily, she was locked outside, so I was able to just drive off. :B

"You're a braver man than I, Gunga Din!"

Travelon

[David0725]

Ye I did use the drivers door to get in to work on the other door. Its by far the Easiest lock to work on. we did dissemble the lock took it apart from the inside and out side. there was nothing left of it to catch the door hang. the door would open at the top and the bottom but caught in the center we had the frame out bent so we could see everything and we could see even more from the inside. but after prying for 2 hr I took the growbar to it. even then it would budge. so I sais the hack with it. its coming down and finally it popped opened. I will jusy ored a new luck door handle and replace it.

[msmith1199]

That is kind of the picture I get when thinking about this! 🙂

[chuckftboy]

msmith1199 wrote:

David0725 wrote:
I never thought the Entery would get stuck that it would take me and 2 other guys 2 1/2 hours to get it open. It has been working fine till today. My grandson want inside the rv then tried to come back out and the door would not open Lucky for us I have a drivers door. So we tried to back in from the out side then from the inside. After prying on the door for 2 hours and taking the door handle apart then trying to kick the door open from the inside to get nowhere! I took a crowbar from the inside and after mangling the door little we finally got it open.. yay!! But we still cant see what was keeping it from opening :h So that got me thing what if there was a fire? How much time would have went by trying to get out that door? Or if we didn't have a drivers door. And trust me we was not ez on the door at all 3 grown man and a teenager took everything we had to get it open. And still don't have a answer why it was stuck...

So you had a drivers door so you could get in and out, but you still decided to destroy the main door with crow bars and kicking it? So now instead of replacing a lock, you're going to have to replace the entire door? I guess I miss the reasoning behind that.

Do you even know how hard it is to go through the drivers door without spilling your beer? Reason enough to kick out the patio door.

[msmith1199]

David0725 wrote:
I never thought the Entery would get stuck that it would take me and 2 other guys 2 1/2 hours to get it open. It has been working fine till today. My grandson want inside the rv then tried to come back out and the door would not open Lucky for us I have a drivers door. So we tried to back in from the out side then from the inside. After prying on the door for 2 hours and taking the door handle apart then trying to kick the door open from the inside to get nowhere! I took a crowbar from the inside and after mangling the door little we finally got it open.. yay!! But we still cant see what was keeping it from opening :h So that got me thing what if there was a fire? How much time would have went by trying to get out that door? Or if we didn't have a drivers door. And trust me we was not ez on the door at all 3 grown man and a teenager took everything we had to get it open. And still don't have a answer why it was stuck...

So you had a drivers door so you could get in and out, but you still decided to destroy the main door with crow bars and kicking it? So now instead of replacing a lock, you're going to have to replace the entire door? I guess I miss the reasoning behind that.

[wa8yxm]

Tri-mark locks are the ones that I have disected.

The striker bolt has both a high stress point and a weakest point.. And if you have alrady guessd they are the SAME POINT.. You are a good guesser.

The striker bolt breaks just past where the spring cut out is,, this means the levers can not retract it, and the spring is holding it extended (latched).

I used a mechanic's pick, the kind used to remove seals,, this one was the one with the 90 degree bend.. Got it in place and basically "Carded" the latch (Depressed the spring bolt using the pic.

Now I rplaced the whole thing.. but if I had to do it again, knowning what I know, and I have done this with several of my basement locks.

Take the pieces to a good metal smith and have him carve you one out of steel.. MUCH stronger.. heck, BRASS would be stronger.

[hotjag1]

That happened to me a few years ago. My wife had gone into a mini-mart to get a few things and I locked the door since there were lots of people milling around. When she came out, we could not get the door unlocked from either the inside or the outside.
Luckily, she was locked outside, so I was able to just drive off. :B

[wildmanbaker]

consumeratlarge wrote:
The frame can definitely twist. It evidently racked and bound up the door frame against the door. Next time, try moving the jacks up or down, one at a time, until it frees up. If you're level, it obviously shouldn't do it, but all those uneven twists in the road might be what caused this. Oh yes, and temperature changes from night to day can make a difference in how easy the door is to open.

I used a dremel grinder to make sure my deadbolt was in the middle of the slot that received it (top to bottom clearance). Then, whenever I noticed a slight 'pull' on the trailer that I have set up all the time, I adjusted the jacks until it was easy again. My motorhome hasn't had that problem yet, but I dread having the lock itself fail, if that's what you've experienced.

This may be what happened. We have had ours lock up twice, and both times, it was not the latch mechanism. One time it was the striker bolt in the frame that was wedged against the door latch area, the other time, the door was actually pinched in the frame due to torsional twist or heat expansion. The time the striker time, the top and bottom of the door was movable but not the latch area. We were outside at the time, and some coaxing with a large flat blade screwdriver finally freed it. The second time, no areas of the door would move with pressure, and we were inside. A slight adjustment of the leveling system free the door, and I could see where the latch side of the door, top latch side and bottom middle had some pressure marks (scratches). It very unnerving to not be able to open the door when inside, but there are windows.

[Executive45]

How is you grandson...:h

How old is your grandson? Not fun being locked inside the coach. Why didn't you just have him unlock and open a window..? Most of these latches are easier to open from the inside not the outside.....hope you didn't mess the door up too bad....good luck...Dennis

[krivanj]

On a past coach, I would have problems with the door not opening or closing well some times. Never got stuck, but was close. My neighbor, a retired body and fender guy, came over and adjusted hinges and locks and it worked perfectly for ever more... He said they used to adjust them all the time at body shops.

[DKeppner]

I vaguely remember there was a recall last year (or year before) on some door latches? I do remember the year span was quite large and the recall effected a great number of makes/models. Was one of the main suppliers.

Sorry, memory fails for further details.