Another sprung door

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by ALUMINUMINUM

Hi There Andy too,

The cast frame of my 1968 GT door is cracked on both sides. Total of three cracks, above and below hinge, and at latch, all of which had been previously welded, but welds failed. This is how it was when I purchased it... Only the exterior skin is attached. The inner panel rivets have all failed. The outside rivets are all in place and appear firmly attached.
The door wags like a flopping fish. A good replacement door would be best, but I don't want to wait for one to surface, so I'll try to repair what I have.

Any suggestions beyond grind, jig and TIG???

V groove the cracks so that plenty of weld takes place.

Use new holes for the interior metal, and then, and only then, fill up the old holes with rivets.

All the metal must be removed, inside and out.

Andy

[manymemories]

mine doesnt have any cracks.there is about 1/2 inch gap at the top of door on the latch side.it fits good at the latch and at the top curve but there is a gap in between.i still have both inner and outer skins on and they all have tight rivets.im sure i will have to take the inner one off but not sure what to do after that.i do have a torch set but i do have my reservations about heat and alluminium.any other tricks in your bag besides cutting and welding?by the way,thank you andy for all your threads here.every problem i have with my AS you have answered in other threads.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by manymemories

mine doesnt have any cracks.there is about 1/2 inch gap at the top of door on the latch side.it fits good at the latch and at the top curve but there is a gap in between.i still have both inner and outer skins on and they all have tight rivets.im sure i will have to take the inner one off but not sure what to do after that.i do have a torch set but i do have my reservations about heat and alluminium.any other tricks in your bag besides cutting and welding?by the way,thank you andy for all your threads here.every problem i have with my AS you have answered in other threads.

Your door has a cast frame.

You will need to remove the inner metal.

Then, and this won't be easy, locate the point where the frame stretched. Then you will need to cut the frame at that point, and have it welded.

Reinstall the inner metal, using all NEW holes. after that's done, the fill all the old holes with rivets.

Attempting to rebend the door frame back to it's original shape, usually leads to more problems, such as cracking the frame.

Typically, the frame stretched at the door lock area.

Andy

[dejahardy13]

Your gap is only 1/2"? Mine's about an inch.
How do you get the door off?
How do you get the door back on?
One of the forum post says that you can use heat to make the metal remember its shape. How much heat?

I live in Seattle, so I don't have many dry days to work on the door. Is there any way to bang it back into shape while it's still on the frame?

I just fix the floor and now it's raining on it. Arrrrggggh!

[LI Pets]

build a jig based off the trailer frame, trace the shape out of a 2x6, use clamps or screws thru the old rivet holds to bring it back to shape 100%

[JohnRFunderb]

My door was vandalized , and bent out from the lock side by a crow-bar by about a foot!

Following Bob's guidance, I built a 2" by 6" wood jig by tracing the curvature of the doorframe, but cut about 1/2-inch extra wood off the bottom 2 feet of the jig, so I could stress/over-flex the major bent part of the frame, in case it had some rebound. Then, I screwed the upper half of the frame to the jig with # 6 screws that approximate the door skin rivets diameter, and fit the holes in the door frame perimeter.

For the warped bottom half of the door, I then heated the frame with a heat gun, and gradually strained the bottom of the frame down onto the jig, using the ratcheting cargo straps. This process for the bottom half of the door took over an hour. After the bottom of the doorframe fit the jig, I screwed it onto the jig too, then more heat gun, and then about 4 hours of cooling.

Don't forget that you have to put the outer skin back on first, and then you have to tighten the door part of the hinge apparatus - you can only tighten the hinge nuts from the "inside" of the door. I did not MARK the hinge original positions on the outer door skin, and I had trouble with the door fit (same width on left and right sides, inside the door frame). Then I realized the weight of the door was a big factor in the alignment, and fixed that by doing adjustments with the door placed on the hinges with pseudo-hinge pins, while the inner skin was OFF. Once I had the hinge placements tightened up, everything fit.

Total time to remove the hinge pins, outer and inner skins, build jig, warp the door (with heat) back on the jig (twice), and re-align, and re-assemble the door, was about 24 hours.

But it beats the $4,000 I was quoted by the local AS dealer for a new door! After parts and cost of a heat gun, I was paying myself about $150/hour.

In my opinion, this amount of work is not worth the time, for door adjustments of less than 1/2-inch. I think there is an easier way.

[Eaglemate]

can you purchase new doors from airstream or buy it from a used parts airstream
dealer?

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Eaglemate

can you purchase new doors from airstream or buy it from a used parts airstream
dealer?

New entrance doors are available, but rather expensive.

Andy

[MIKO92]

My ARGOSY door sprung at 60mph, and now I have a problem I hope soeone can help with.
I recently picked up my ARGOSY from the shop, so this was the maiden voyage. While at the shop the new latch had to be pushed in hard to catch, but I didn't think too much about it,and the dead bolt was very hard to get in. In fact the dead bolt never really seated and thus the sprung door later that day on the first leg of the journey.
At an interim location I removed the door, inner skins, weather bead, and latch/lock assy. I rebent the frame, and installed a long piece of AL on the door's latch side that I riveted the hell outta because the door cracked at the latch hole. The door is firmly holding its shape. I had to order new AL for the interior skin because the old skins have gaps in the corners with the new "improved" door shape. The Al will be in on Tuesday/Wed...next week.
Now the door is hung nicely (sans interior skins), it fits flush, and the latch hole doesn't line up at all. If the door is pushed in, past flush by 1/4" - 1/2 ", until it bottoms out in the door frame, the the latch will barely catch. Not only is the latch hole in the trailer frame not matching up, but the latch is only going in by about 1/8"! No wonder the door sprung! If I slide the door forward on the hinges so the latch can hold, then there will be a huge gap at the rear and there will be no space for the weather seal at the front! What gives!
I'm at the end of my rope and the trip hasn't even started yet!
Thanks!
MIKO in Tennessee.

[MIKO92]

Here is a picture of the ARGOSY latch dilemma.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, instead of moving your door forward, maybe you space back your striker plate.

[MIKO92]

I attach 2 drawings of the current door situation (which may or may not have been precipitated by the blow-open incident).

It seems that moving the striker plat may be an option, if one were installed. The latch was fitting (albeit with great effort and compression of the weather seal) into the "pocket" that is cut into the door jamb, before the incident. The door was also not flush when closed, before the incident. Now that I know a little better, I would like to fit the door flush when the latch engages the striker/pocket hole. perhaps getting and moving a striker plate might help? I will ask the local RV shop, and see what they can supply me with, in terms of striker plates, eh?

Please note that the latch is shown only to relate its position in the door and the jamb/pocket.

THANKS!

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by MIKO92

I attach 2 drawings of the current door situation (which may or may not have been precipitated by the blow-open incident).

It seems that moving the striker plat may be an option, if one were installed. The latch was fitting (albeit with great effort and compression of the weather seal) into the "pocket" that is cut into the door jamb, before the incident. The door was also not flush when closed, before the incident. Now that I know a little better, I would like to fit the door flush when the latch engages the striker/pocket hole. perhaps getting and moving a striker plate might help? I will ask the local RV shop, and see what they can supply me with, in terms of striker plates, eh?

Please note that the latch is shown only to relate its position in the door and the jamb/pocket.

THANKS!

Drill out the rivets that hold the striker plate, and move the plate as necessary.

I suspect that the plate was previously moved to compensate for excessive wear on the old lock's striker bolt.

Andy

[MIKO92]

Andy,
Thanks for the suggestion.

There is no striker plate, now. Should I get one? If I install it and line up the opening in the striker plate so the striker will go into the striker plate, then the striker will not be in the pocket, and only two rivets will be holding the whole door closed. Is this normal? More importantly, is that safe? Is the striker designed to fit into the pocket?

Is it possible that the door itself is not matched with the trailer? The door I bought the trailer with had blown open several times before, and there was extensive cracking on the door frame. As part of the work I had done, I asked the fellow doing the work to see if he could get a new door frame. He said that he "found" a new door frame (when I picked the trailer up after a new floor and paint, the door frame was not cracked, but it was very hard to close - had to go in past flush to get the striker to catch ). Could the new door be wrong? This seems hard to imagine because the physical constant is the lock assembly dimensions, and the distance from the striker pocket to the outer edge of the trailer skin.

Thanks a lot for looking into this. I appreciate your time!

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by MIKO92

Andy,
Thanks for the suggestion.

There is no striker plate, now. Should I get one? If I install it and line up the opening in the striker plate so the striker will go into the striker plate, then the striker will not be in the pocket, and only two rivets will be holding the whole door closed. Is this normal? More importantly, is that safe? Is the striker designed to fit into the pocket?

Is it possible that the door itself is not matched with the trailer? The door I bought the trailer with had blown open several times before, and there was extensive cracking on the door frame. As part of the work I had done, I asked the fellow doing the work to see if he could get a new door frame. He said that he "found" a new door frame (when I picked the trailer up after a new floor and paint, the door frame was not cracked, but it was very hard to close - had to go in past flush to get the striker to catch ). Could the new door be wrong? This seems hard to imagine because the physical constant is the lock assembly dimensions, and the distance from the striker pocket to the outer edge of the trailer skin.

Thanks a lot for looking into this. I appreciate your time!

It appeasrs that the door was not installed correctly.

The hinges should be loosened and the door moved closer to the jamb, on the opening side.

Next, a striker plate must be installed, and yes, with 2 3/16 inch pop rivets.

Striker plates have been installed that way for many decades.

Make sure you install the plate so that the door is properly latched, when it's flush with the door jamb.

Andy

[MIKO92]

Hello, all.
I am very thankful for the advice and experiences of the whole forum. Thanks to Andy from Inland RV who took time while in Hawaii to write!

I installed a home made striker plate (attachment 1) and got the door closing flush. Attachment 2 shows a top view of the striker plate. Note that the hole (pocket) is outside of the pocket in the door jamb (attachment 3) and the striker plate sticks out...is this normal? I put on new inner skins and made sure the door fit flush.

Then I installed the weather seal, and it got in the way. The seal was getting between the door and the striker, keeping it from closing and latching (where the yellow 3M sealant is in attachment 4) , so I trimmed the seal, but now I am not too sure whether that is the way things usually go...because the striker plate was hitting the seal (where the yellow 3M sealant is in attachment 4).

When the door fits flush from the outside, the seal has about 1/4 inch of sunlight coming through the top of the door frame. What is the next step?

The frame, incidentally, is from another airstream of unknown year or type. The shop that painted the ARGOSY had a frame that wasn't cracked, like the one I got from the PO, so they skinned it and painted it and it is what is hanging in my doorway, now...kind of like getting a new door I suppose. Is it possible that the frame I got was the "wrong" size? How much door size variation is there between model years?

Thanks alot for the time and I really am enjoying this...
MIKO in Tennessee.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by MIKO92

Hello, all.
I am very thankful for the advice and experiences of the whole forum. Thanks to Andy from Inland RV who took time while in Hawaii to write!

I installed a home made striker plate (attachment 1) and got the door closing flush. Attachment 2 shows a top view of the striker plate. Note that the hole (pocket) is outside of the pocket in the door jamb (attachment 3) and the striker plate sticks out...is this normal? I put on new inner skins and made sure the door fit flush.

Then I installed the weather seal, and it got in the way. The seal was getting between the door and the striker, keeping it from closing and latching (where the yellow 3M sealant is in attachment 4) , so I trimmed the seal, but now I am not too sure whether that is the way things usually go...because the striker plate was hitting the seal (where the yellow 3M sealant is in attachment 4).

When the door fits flush from the outside, the seal has about 1/4 inch of sunlight coming through the top of the door frame. What is the next step?

The frame, incidentally, is from another airstream of unknown year or type. The shop that painted the ARGOSY had a frame that wasn't cracked, like the one I got from the PO, so they skinned it and painted it and it is what is hanging in my doorway, now...kind of like getting a new door I suppose. Is it possible that the frame I got was the "wrong" size? How much door size variation is there between model years?

Thanks alot for the time and I really am enjoying this...
MIKO in Tennessee.

Looks good, but, one problem.

The sharp edge of your striker pocket will cut a groove into the striker bolr, as the trailer moves.

There is a brass shim that Airstream uses on other striker pockets to avoid the issue.

But, in your case, the shim would have to be added from the outside, inside of the inside as designed.

Andy

[MIKO92]

Thanks, Andy. I appreciate the time.
I have one more question: if one were to take the door off (leaving the hinges on the trailer) and make a jig to reshape the door (skins off), then one shapes the frame, attaches the skins and the door is shaped...how does one get the door back on the hinges without taking the skins off (again!?) to access the hinges? Should one remove the hinges, and keep them on the door through this whole process? Thank you, Shannon.

[MIKO92]

Originally Posted by tonyp

So the door of my '59 Flying Cloud is a little tweaked and the rivets of the door skin are mostly all loose. To follow the process of straightening the door by re-riveting how does one go about removing the door from the hinges? Do the hinge pins come out on a '59? Do I drill out all the rivets from the hinges on the body or just the ones on the door? I probably will remove at least the bottom hinge from the body because it seems a little sloppy and I want to reinforce behind it. If I do remove the rivets from the body what is the best way to re-attach the hinges, rivets or stainless bolts?
Thanks,
Tony

I didn't see any reply to Tony, so I will request any input from others about how to get the door back on, or the hinges back on...or how this is supposed to get done?
Thanks
Shannon in Tennessee

[Knudsvig]

Door misaligned-how much would expect to pay for a door realignment?
Newbie-just bought a '97 excella