Interior Door Handle Came off last night

[gadgetat]

Hi all! Hoping for some advice and wisdom.

Last night while parked in Gila Bend Jodi woke up to my battery backup alarm going off. Park power was off, and she went to check the park's power box. Well, upon trying to open the door to get out the door handle came off in her hand!!!

So @ 1:30 a.m. I was up, and we went out the emergency exit. The latch mechanism still works from the outside, but the inside door handle is completely off.

Do I need to replace the whole door latch? Can I repair and reconnect the handle. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Oh, and this is a 2004 Airstream Safari 25 footer.

[SteveSueMac]

I don't have an answer - but that is scary! So sorry you had that experience!

Does the inside of the latch look like it could be moved by a screwdriver?

Either way, good luck getting that repaired.

[cwf]

The handle should be replaceable.

[MarkJUrban]

Hey guys, I just had the same thing happen. 2016 international. What was the solution? Is this something I can easily repair or will I need to request a new one?

[Foiled Again]

Originally Posted by MarkJUrban

Hey guys, I just had the same thing happen. 2016 international. What was the solution? Is this something I can easily repair or will I need to request a new one?

2016 - under warranty - go to the factory, make them fix it.

2004 - boy I don't know but it looks like it sheared off from the picture - I'm guessing but this looks like something that will have to be replaced - meanwhile - take it apart and look at the pieces. I doubt that Airstream actually manufactures this piece. They ASSEMBLE Airstreams using a lot of standard industry parts. It's likely that the same lock is used on dozens of SOB's so it's likely you can find a replacement at any dealer or any RV junkyard.

Let us know how it works out please - I have a 2012 - so sooner or later - snap and OH (edited out for good taste).

Paula

[MarkJUrban]

Airstream mailed me a replacement handle. It was not something I could have fixed. The handle is a pressed fit into the bracket.

The fist pic is the handle that fell off

[MarkJUrban]

Replacement handle pressed fit.

[sallye]

This happened to us last week. It's actually pretty easy to fix. The door mechanism is made by TriMark, but you don't need a anything but a screwdriver and hammer to fix it. The trick is getting it back together properly. MarkJUrban is correct, it is just a press fit. (Cheap way to make it, IMHO.)

All you do is remove the 4 screws of the black panel that the door handle fits into - it's on the inside of the trailer. When you do that it's likely that the "D" shaped piece falls off, since the press fit failed. So, put it back together, and make sure the door lock slide is in the unlocked position. The handle should be positioned relative to the panel so that it would be parallel to the floor if it were in place, and that "D" piece is placed with the two little legs pointing down towards the floor.

Take a hammer and pound on the edges of the square so that you flare the metal a little bit, creating a new press fit. Now all you have to do is put the panel and the handle back on with those 4 screws.

The tricky part is getting the feet of those little legs in the right place in the mechanism so that the handle works again. This is difficult to describe and impossible to actually photograph, but the notch that is cut to make the little legs is there for a purpose, and you have to get each leg on one side of part of the mechanism. The location of the holes for the 4 screws will more or less tell you where it goes.

We no longer use this handle to close the door from the inside. The handle on the screen door works just fine to close both doors.

But, as I said, this isn't a terrific design. There is a little hole in the middle of that square part of the handle, and that should have a screw that holds a little washer to hold the whole thing together. But, I don't know if there is room in the mechanism for all that. My plan it to take it apart again and reinstall it with a little bit of putty or clay with a piece of plastic wrap on it (so it doesn't stick except to one side). I'll put the panel back together to squeeze down the putty, and then take it apart again. The thickness of the putty will let me know how much space there is and whether I can put threads inside that little hole and fit it with a metal screw and washer. If there is no space, then this won't work of course. . . . . and I'll have to think of something else or just live with the risk of it failing again.

BTW, your indication that the handle is about to fail is that the door handle seems a little sloppy.

[Rubeyjj]

This happened to us this weekend. My wife was inside and shut the door. I was outside when I heard her shout to me that she couldn’t get out, and needed me to open the door, because the handle fell off when she shut the door. Our trailer is 2-1/2 months old. I didn’t want to take the door apart without calling AS first, but it was 3:50 on a Friday afternoon. All they could do was send me to a fellow’s voicemail, and I still have not heard back. I called coach net, but was told these doors are too expensive and they wouldn’t touch it. Sooo, I took the black interior plate off, and had the same black handle pressfit into the silver metal piece as shown in the earlier photo. Instead of hammering the handle, I cut a 1” square of handkerchief (yeah, I’m over 50), and put it over the end of the handle and pushed it through the silver piece’s square hole. Got a nice tight fit, put it back together and it works for now. Definitely not using the handle to close the door, only to unlatch it. Emailed AS to see how to fix this permanently. Moral of the story, don’t have an issue on a Friday at 4:00, and don’t pull your door shut with the black handle.

[RFP]

A couple of years ago, I posted a simple 'mod' that you can do to your Airstream to be prepared just in cast your door handle breaks... Sure is better than trying to crawl out of wherever you crawl out.

Check it out here: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f453/broken-door-handle-be-prepared-with-this-simple-mod-150277.html

Rob

[RFP]

Originally Posted by SteveSueMac

< snip >
Does the inside of the latch look like it could be moved by a screwdriver?

Well, yes and no... See my post #10 above for a how to be prepared for a broken handle.

Or here: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f453...od-150277.html

Rob

[AirstreamInc]

Hi Rubeyjj2,

We're very sorry to learn about your door handle. Please send us a direct message with your contact information and the last 6 digits of your VIN so we can share it with our Customer Service and Technical Support team.

Thank you.

[ondaroadagin]

Originally Posted by AirstreamInc

Hi Rubeyjj2,

We're very sorry to learn about your door handle. Please send us a direct message with your contact information and the last 6 digits of your VIN so we can share it with our Customer Service and Technical Support team.

Thank you.

We too had this problem 2 months ago. We were locked in when the handle fell off on the inside, and had to call 911 and a sheriff freed us!. I pulled the door mechanism off, and saw a poorly constructed press on fit, and no solid fastener to hold in a handle that sees so much force to close.

I pulled out my micrometer, measured the inside diameter of the hole of the square assembly rising above the latch, found the correct stainless machine screw and washer set to fit, drilled a new hole, tapped threads, then lock tighted the screw. Now the handle doesn't wiggle in place as it regularly did, and opening is smooth and solid.

For Airstream's famous door robustness pitch, my cost factor to repair and upgrade was:
Tap handle-$ 12
Tap drill-$2
Tap-$5
Screw and washers-$1.50
Locktite-$3

This improvement was better than factory engineering. Hope no one else has to go through the embarrassing encounter of responding to a rescuer, that the solution to our problem was "To just reach out and open our Airstream door!"

I'm a retired professor, and would be happy to contract with Airstream to tighten this engineering flaw.

[Rubeyjj]

Awesome solution, agreed, that's how it shoulda been done in the first place. Sooo,
I've never tapped a hole before. Can this be done by hand with a hand drill, a tap, and a vise, or do I need a drill press? Don't want to ruin the handle...

[delrossa]

I always worried about pulling on that handle. I didn’t want to slam the door either.
I rigged up a pull strap and that worked good but I didn’t like the strap hanging on the door. Today I installed s pull knob and I really like it. It works great.

[Foiled Again]

Originally Posted by delrossa

I always worried about pulling on that handle. I didn’t want to slam the door either.
I rigged up a pull strap and that worked good but I didn’t like the strap hanging on the door. Today I installed s pull knob and I really like it. It works great. Attachment 316368

Nice knob

[Rubeyjj]

Well after posting that our handle fell off, I was contacted by Airstream and they sent me new parts, which appear to be assembled much better. In fact they sent more than I had requested, which is great if I ever have other issues. So by exceeding my expectations I am very happy again! (Nice job Michael)

[DocHalo]

Thanks to all of you who posted “Interior Door Handle Came off last night” contributions. I’ve installed a “footman” handle to close the door (see attached). I’m a little confused (nothing new) about a final “tapping the handle fix” (thanks for pics, but ...). I’m uncertain exactly how to do this ... thanks in advance for more guidance.

[RFP]

Originally Posted by DocHalo

Thanks to all of you who posted “Interior Door Handle Came off last night” contributions. I’ve installed a “footman” handle to close the door (see attached). I’m a little confused (nothing new) about a final “tapping the handle fix” (thanks for pics, but ...). I’m uncertain exactly how to do this ... thanks in advance for more guidance.

Good morning, Doc !

This should get you started: https://www.airforums.com/forums/f45...ml#post2193874

If you have more questions, just send me a PM, you can do this!

Rob

[waninae39]

the handle is a cheap cast part.

go through this forum . there are many suggestion on how to
1. make the handle better
2. access the door to open , if the handle breaks again