1973 Excella

[cowdend]

Hi, my name is Donna Cowden and my husband, Doug, and I own a 1973 Airstream Excella. We have it on our property in NC and use it for a weekend retreat.
I re-upholstered everything, we painted out the gold/brown wall in the kitchen and it is very comfortable.
We are having trouble with the exterior door latch. It won't open and we have to open the window next to the door to open the door. It will be looked at on our next visit.
We had started to take it apart when we discovered Yellow Jackets had nested under the camper, right behind the stairs! During our frantic run-in with this nest we created a new dance, the Yellow Jacket dance! Anyway, love our Airstream and will get that door fixed!
My husband recently pulled the toilet out and took it to a place nearby and had the valve that was leaking repaired. Total cost was about $70.00 so not too bad.
Thanks for adding us to this forum.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by cowdend

Hi, my name is Donna Cowden and my husband, Doug, and I own a 1973 Airstream Excella. We have it on our property in NC and use it for a weekend retreat.
I re-upholstered everything, we painted out the gold/brown wall in the kitchen and it is very comfortable.
We are having trouble with the exterior door latch. It won't open and we have to open the window next to the door to open the door. It will be looked at on our next visit.
We had started to take it apart when we discovered Yellow Jackets had nested under the camper, right behind the stairs! During our frantic run-in with this nest we created a new dance, the Yellow Jacket dance! Anyway, love our Airstream and will get that door fixed!
My husband recently pulled the toilet out and took it to a place nearby and had the valve that was leaking repaired. Total cost was about $70.00 so not too bad.
Thanks for adding us to this forum.

Check the condition of the striker bolt and striker pocket.

If they are badly worn, then the only way to open the door, is to push the door inward at the lock, and at the same time pull the lock handle.

Andy

[Belegedhel]

You probably have what is referred to as a "KT" latch assembly. The good news is that with the door open, I think you need only remove 3 screws and the whole assembly lifts out. With it out of the door, you should be able to operate it and see what is broken/worn. I believe there are rebuild kits, or at least parts available for these.

Rebuild/repair is the way to go, as a replacement assembly is >$400! The hole in the door left by the KT latch is an oddball size, so you won't be able to just buy some other brand of latch and drop that in. You could patch up the hole and do some surgery to install a more modern "off-the-shelf" latch, and there are kits available to facilitate this as well.

good luck!

[cowdend]

We were attempting to remove the lock assembly when we were swarmed by yellow jackets! And the sliding panel on the screen door was out so they swarmed through the opening! Needless to say, they have been sent to yellow jacket heaven and we will attempt a repair on our next visit! The interior latch works, the exterior handle doesn't. We may remove it next time, seal up the opening with tape and secure the door until we get back. If we can't repair it a local locksmith who fixed the bargman lockset on our 1972 Shasta, may be of help. Thanks for the info.

[Belegedhel]

You will see how simple the mechanism is when you get it out of the door. There is a shaft with a roll pin in it, and it could be that roll pin is missing/bent/broken, and it could be a very easy fix.

[cowdend]

That's how it was acting before the handle quit working at all.

[RM66caravel]

There is a yellow jacket shuffle the yellow jacket sprint (my favorite)!
Cliff