Another saggy door story

[Siddhartha]

The top hinge on my 1990 300LE MC door is loose and the screws are stripped. There must be an easy way to secure it so I don't have to pull the door up and slam it so hard each time. Yes? What does one do for stripped mounting screws?

Thanks,
Sid

[bake315]

Hi Sid,

I don't know if this will help you or not, but I had pretty much the same issue on my trailer; couldn't get the screws to tighten on the hinge where it attached to the trailer. Inside the wall there are nuts on the other end of the screws. A lot of Sikaflex, or possibly Vulkem was used to seal around them on the inside. At some point, those nuts worked loose, breaking free from the sealant, and would then just spin on the end of the screws, unable to re-seat themselves. I had to drill the rivets on the door frame trim, and ease the interior metal back to the point where I was able to at least get a wrench on them. They are still not as tight as I would like - will have to go back in at some point in the future and see if I can snug them up a little more. You can get to them, but that's sort of what's involved.

[Siddhartha]

Thanks for the quick response Dave. I don't think I'm ready to drill rivets just yet. But I'll save your solution.

Sid

[overlander63]

The drilling isn't that bad, just take your time with it. At least your hinge mounting point isn't behind a ton of "stuff", it's relatively open in that area. Many of us have counters, cabinets, etc. there.
Are you a Herman Hess fan?

[Siddhartha]

Good call. After a long and arduous search, Hermann Hesse's protagonist found nirvana at last on the bank of a river, listening to the water flow. I've found mine on the side of the highway, listening to the cars and trucks go "zoom, zoom", so I thought it fitting.

"There is no reality except the one contained within us," Hesse once said. "That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself."

[3 Dog Nite]

I recently stopped by the Airstream factory for a tour. While there, I inquired about purchasing some new screws as I thought they were stripped out too. A mechanic came out to look for the proper screws. After a quick look, he told me that they normally tighten the screw & nut, then they put a second nut to hold it tight. I asked why not use Loc-tite? He said it will just come loose again over time. Unfortunately, you still have to pull the inside panel off to gain acces to the nuts located inside the door jamb. I'm not looking forward to doing it as I'm fulltiming without a shop to work out of. I figure I'll just do it in a hardware store's parking lot after removing the panel. I wish us both luck in this paticular repair.