Sliding door interference

[Pahaska]

Over the 14 months that we have owned the AI, an ongoing irritant was the necessity of slamming the sliding door to get it to latch.

I found that the image of the frame and the stretchy cords framing the storage cubby at the bottom of the door was deeply imprinted on the door panel, indicating that the door was rebounding off the frame. I temporarily removed the frame and found that the door closed much easier. I use the cubby for storing my tire gages, so I wanted to keep it.

I removed the cubby box and used my bandsaw to cut off the flange at the top and bottom that is hidden under the frame. I still wanted the stretchy cords, so I used my table saw to cut a shallow trench for the toggles at the ends of the cords. I drilled holes through the remaining plywood for the cord. The toggles lay in the trench so that they don't protrude past the ends of the cubby box and prevent reinsertion.

With the flanges gone, I needed something to support the rear of the cubby box. I used my planer to cut some plywood to the depth of the outer lip so that the box will be supported.

A few screws and the job is finished. Since we have an intermediate stop on the door, the door is seldom opened far enough to see much of the storage cubby. The only things noticeable are the shiny screw heads. Sometime when I have time, I'll put a spot of black enamel on the screw heads to make them pretty much invisible.

[Titus]

Two years ago I removed the box and it did not close appreciably easier. So I need to go a step further - either removing the bottom part of the mouse hair panel (to gain another 1/8") or cut back the floor (a lot of work).

[Pahaska]

I'll give it a few days use and see whether the depression on the door panel has lessened. First indication is that the door closes more easily. We leave Wednesday for a 5-day rally. That should tell me whether there is an improvement.

I haven't lost any functionality, so the worst that can happen is my labor was wasted.

[Titus]

I can easily imagine that the tolerance on the edge of the floor is 1/4". So some doors are fine as-is, others (yours) works with a small increase in clearance, and some (mine) need more drastic measures. My next step is to temporarily remove the mouse-hair door panel to see if that increased clearance helps. Then I will decide how to best achieve that increase is a visually attractive way. Or maybe I'll just keep slamming the door shut ...

[Boxster1971]

This thread details how I solved the problem on my van.
Sliding Door Would Not Open
http://www.airforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165207

[Pahaska]

Use during a four-day rally showed that getting rid of the frame of the storage cubby at the bottom of the sliding door definitely helped in ease of closing the door.

The remaining interference is now at the top of the door. The outer edge of the gray plastic cover that conceals the vent pipe for the black tank is deeply embossed into the mouse hair panel. It looks like I can temporarily remove the gray cover and trim a bit of the edge of the plywood panel. If I can do that, there should be be no significant interference with the sliding door.