Shower door adjustment

[dmnichols]

2014 Classic Limited has a sagging door that has been adjusted at the factory but is sagging again making it difficult to close. Looking for experience before I tackle the job. Documentation is poor and doesn't appear to have adjustments other then squaring the door jam. Any input would be appreciated!

[dznf0g]

I think you already know the answer. My jamb wasn't square. Fortunately , for me , the problem lay totally in the way the bottom frame and seal assembly was mounted to the vertical "kick panel". Completely removed it and trimmed, and shimmed until parallel with the bottom of the door. It's been good for 4 years. Need some seal attention, however.


Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums

[dmnichols]

Got it! Thanks for the quick response!

[Howard L.]

Same problem, but wasn't the jam. That was square, the door just set too low. I pulled the clear rubber drip strip from under the door (not needed as there is the raised edge on the hallway side of the bottom door jam to catch water). Then, raised the door 1/32 inch by placing a small piece of "starboard" (rubberized plastic used in the boating industry for many things) under the bottom edge at the door right at the hinge. The door now needs a very small extra push to close but hardly noticeable and gives extra security in case you travel and forget to swing the lock latch closed.

[Howard L.]

I'm a 30 flying cloud. May be a different door in your Classic. Sorry, but worth a look by you anyway.

[Uncle Bill]

I just encountered a shower door problem on a trip to Alaska. The pivot pin at the bottom of the hinge broke and the door dropped to the door Sill. There was no fixing it while on the road, making the shower door very difficult to open and close. I contacted the mfg of the door, Shower Enclosures of America, Inc in CA (800-536-7324) and talked to "Traico" in parts. The necessary parts were at my home in Florida in three to four days. I have installed many shower doors while I owned and worked as a handyman after retiring.
The Inner Adjustable Hinge Jamb is "U" shaped and fastened to the shower wall opening. After the Inner Adjustable Strike Jamb on the strike side, opposite side of the door opening, and the Sill is installed, the Hinge Jamb which is fastened to the door, is positioned over the Inner Adjustable Hinge Jamb at the desired height, it is then fastened with three self-tapping screws. That is how the door is supposed to be installed. (The factory personnel put silicone caulk between the Inner Adjustable Hinge Jam and the Hinge Jam all the way from top to bottom before installing the three screws.) If the door needs to be raised or lowered, the silicone between the two Jams needs to be removed/cut after the three screws have been removed. VERY BAD INSTALLATION and very difficult to remove.
By moving the Inner Adjustable Hinge Jamb up or down the desired amount, it can be reinstalled by the three attaching screws at different locations. This most likely is necessary as you will be raising or lowering the door a very small distance. (Maybe 1/8 inch). Now, when you reinstall the door and replace the three screws that fasten the Hinge Jamb to the Inner Adjustable Hinge Jamb you have the new desired door height.
Note: Silicone really sticks to metal, and there is no chemical known to desolve it. Scraping as much of the silicone off is necessary to remove it followed by mineral spirits to get the last residue removed. I used a nylon scratcher with the mineral spirits to do the final removal.
My final addition to the installation after my repairs was to make a small aluminum block and place it just under the lower hinge Pivot Pin so that the Pivot Pin now sets on top of the newly added block. The up and down motion of the trailer is now less likely to break the Pivot Pin. Re-caulking the door with clear silicone including that newly added block finalized the job.
Another note: Fresh silicone is sticky and very messy. Install it in small (16-20 inch strips) smoothing it out with your finger dampened with white vinegar. Yes, when silicone is uncured, vinegar will cut it. And, be sure to wipe your finger clean, get the excess silicone off, before proceeding with the next strip. Take your time.

Uncle Bill

[BAB]

....or do what I did. Rip out the entire, much too cheap door and replace it with a door that has a pivot hinge. The crux of the problem is the entire weight of the door hangs on a cheap, pot metal screw which inevitably breaks. I went to Lowe's and fixed it right with a Sterling door. Granted, it was a hassle to remove the old door, frame, caulk, etc. But after just completing 8,200 miles over some really bad roads, my door works perfectly. BTW, I noticed that the '15's have a different door. I wonder how many warranty repairs were done on the unsatisfactory model that we suffered with!

[dmnichols]

My unit goes in for repair this month and I have forwarded your comments to my dealer and Randy at Airstream. Since I posted the original inquiry my wife opened the shower door and the frame separated at the top and the door and glass hit the floor. I put it back together and now it doesn't totally close due to the frame damage. Still under warranty so I imagine they will replace with the same model. Thanks again for your support!

[Jim J]

I have experienced the same problem on my 2014 FC 30 and called the shower door manufacturer to get some help. The good folks there told me how to fix it and sent me a kit with the necessary hardware.

You have to remove the 3 screws that hold the door to the jam, raise the door and drill new holes, then install new screws.

In looking at how to do that I found that the door has about 1/4 to 3/8 inch of vertical play in the hinge, so that if you are holding the door in place where you want it then drill the holes, the door is likely to be 1/4 to 3/8 lower than you want it after you are done.

Make sure you allow for that when you do your adjustment by measuring your play, holding the door up that much higher than you want it to be in its final position and making sure the door is up and the hinge is down when drilling the holes.

If you do not want to go to that trouble, the starboard solution mentioned in a prior post is a good one. If you do not have starboard, go to the kitchen and get an old plastic cutting board and cut out a piece of that.

For a temporary fix on the road, I took a large plastic wall anchor and cut it to the right height with a knife and pushed it under the hinge of the door to hold it up 1/4 inch higher and clear the sill.

[BAB]

I find it very discouraging that this perpetual problem just doesn't get attention at JC. As I sit and wait for my '15 Classic, I'm already prepared for the eventual replacement of this subpar door, just as I did with my '12 Intl CCD. The door on the new Classic has exactly the same mechanism. I would really like to know what the warranty (and non-warranty) costs have been for this cheesy door mechanism. But, I know how to install a Sterling (Kohler) pivot door as I've had "experience". Not a tough install, but it'd sure be nice if Airstream did it right in the first place.

[AnnArborBob]

We had a similar problem with our 2014 Eddie Bauer. The factory installed a small plastic block "shim" under the door as shown in this picture:

[AJMattern]

So we were frustrated with the other solutions and came up with our own.
1) Take out the 3 screws on the inside frame of the hinge.
2) use leverage to lift the frame with the hinge attached about 1/2"
3) screw new holes in the under frame and re-attach the screws. We used a dab of gorilla glue to the screws for extra insurance.

After caulking and putting a new door sweep on it looks pretty good and swings close just fine. Time will tell.

[ctdair]

Stoett Nautilus retractable shower screen.
Sooo much better. There was a thread on the forums about them. I converted ours and love it.