Door latch

Slamming the door shut will cause the latch to become even worse. It's like a truck tailgate--if you have to slam it, it's time to break out the spray lube.

DutchmenSport wrote:
If you are tightening your stabilizer jacks to the point you are near lifting the camper, it's possible it's causing the frame to flex, thus throwing the door frame out of alignment, causing the door to open and close hard.

We had this same thing happen on our TT after we first got it. Couldn't get the deadbolt to work with the stab. jacks down and even when they weren't snugged up very tight all. DW used to panic about ax murderers getting in at night. We have a very HD frame on our TT compared to the standard (8" tall + thicker steel) and couldn't believe it still flexed enough to affect the door lock.

There was no adjustment left in the strike plate and I had to take it out and file the opening downwards. Worked great after that. One annoying thing was we had the dealer check it out and they could not fix it (typical with them)...

If it's worse with the stab. jacks down and you have one of the more flexible type frames out there plus poorly installed strike plates, this can easily happen. The strike plate may need to be moved inwards/outwards and/or up/down. Try putting on a piece of green painter's tape on the strike plate and see if you can make the latch and deadbolt make a mark on it - or make some careful measurements.

If you have to slam it, something is wrong. Sometimes you can just pull the handle inwards lightly to get the deadbolt or latch to slide in better. Or from the outside, push the door inward lightly. I assume the doors are prehung in the frames by the manufacturer (Lippert?) so can't blame the RV manufacturer.

Oil the latch. It will fall shut.

Use dry graphite lubricant on locks.
Available in spray can at HD.

tenbear wrote:
Its interesting that leveling jacks appear to cause a problem. None of my RVs have had leveling jacks. We have always leveled by driving up on wooden blocks.

Do you have to slam the door when the trailer is sitting on its wheels?

I think the references were to stabilising jacks not leveling jacks.

To me levelng jacks should help avoid the problem. When we had our Class A, the leveling jacks kept everything pretty much square.

I think using stabilising jacks to try to level will contribute to the issue.

... Eric

Its interesting that leveling jacks appear to cause a problem. None of my RVs have had leveling jacks. We have always leveled by driving up on wooden blocks.

Do you have to slam the door when the trailer is sitting on its wheels?

DutchmenSport wrote:
If you are tightening your stabilizer jacks to the point you are near lifting the camper, it's possible it's causing the frame to flex, thus throwing the door frame out of alignment, causing the door to open and close hard.

Dutchmen has it right, if you overdo the stabilizers you will throw things out of square. I've found I can make the front ones pretty tight but I have to be less aggressive on the rear.

We have never slammed our door. We life the latch, close the door, release the latch, push in the door the last little bit then lock the door.

toedtoes wrote:
I found that if you lift the latch as you close the door that it latches just fine. The more you slam the door, the worse it gets. Lift the latch and quietly close the door.

I don't think they use regular door knobs because they are trying to keep it streamline with few things sticking out to get hit.

Yes, that is what we do. Always hold the latch "open" when closing the door. Our screen door will just swing closed, but I don't think the main door will close just by slamming it - I always have to hold the latch.

Also a HECK of a lot quieter! lol!

X2 on tinkering with the adjustment and lubrication. They CAN be made to close easily.