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garyemunson's avatar
garyemunson
Explorer II
Jun 06, 2018

Trouble closing door on Class A

After 2 years of having to slam the door on our Winnebago Vista a couple times to get it latched in the fully closed position, I decided it was time to figure out what was wrong. What I discovered is that with motorhomes needing to have automotive style door latches that 'capture' the locking pin so a twisting of the door frame won't allow the door to pop open, the outer flange on the locking pin was striking the door frame inside the locking cavity. This was making the door frequently bounce back open to the 'safety' position before the latch took hold in the fully closed position. Taking my Dremel tool, I used a small grinding stone to make a crescent shaped 'relief' on the frame where it was hitting. I also noticed the washer where the pin screwed to the door frame was also touching the door assembly. I also made clearance with the grinding stone for it. Right in the center of the first picture you can see the 'divot' where the end of the pin was hitting the frame, the second picture after I did my grinding. Apparently the clearances are so close with these door lock assemblies that any minor deviation in construction makes things interfere with correct operation. The third picture shows the locking pin with the offending flange on the end and the washer against the body. Once done with the grinding, the door operation was perfect!


  • OP ..timely post... thank you

    got me to thinking about my entry door, not always working smoothly

    and i went and adjusted it, seems to be better

    next few days will tell
  • Yeah mine does that if the rig is sitting a certain way. The truck chassis is more flexible than you might think. When parked at Pocono Raceway last weekend it was terrible. I must have said "just push hard on it" a thousand times when people couldn't figure out how to get out. Now that it's back home and leveled up it's fine.
  • We've also noticed this problem when we are not level! If level it hasn't happened.
  • I was having a similar issue but my solution was to loosen the locking bolt and adjust it slightly down. It doesn’t allow much adjustment but in my case just enough.

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