Compartment door hinge/safety latch/wire

[rideair]

Looking for a way to build a hinge or safety latch/wire for the compartment doors on a 1966 model Airstream. As you may know, to open/unlock the door you must first slide the lip up into the door frame then lock or unlock. I thought of using a cable type of safety wire. The only problem with it is if the door comes loose, it then bangs against the trailer until you see it. Could cause more damage. Any ideas? Maybe the use of a childs safety latch??

Paul Waddell
WBCCI/WDCU/VAC 1270
1stVP (to be impeached)

[jdizon]

BTW for those of you who care, more adults are killed by doors than children. installing the sensors anywhere other than thier intended location is just plain foolish. While you're at it, go ahead and remove the smoke detectors in your house, after all, it's not on fire right now. You could try door alarms or running a short piece of wire connecting the terminals. I have my sensors on top of the opener taped together facing each other. I live alone so no worries about anyone or anything getting crushed.

[overlander64]

Greetings Paul!

I have been thinking about the same thing for my '64. It can even be worse with it as the compartment doors don't have hinges they just have an interference fit in a grooved portion of the door frame -- if one pops open the door is lost.

I have been working from an idea gleaned from visiting with Pearl Main at my first International Rally. She had attached a pair of eye-hooks in the lower corners of each compartment door of her '64 coach -- then to the hooks she had attached a length of chain that was permanently attached to the floor of the coach inside of the compartment -- if the lock failed or the door popped open it couldn't leave the coach and would dangle at the side.

My plan is to work from this idea with a slight twist. Using either eye-hooks or small bracket formed from aluminum and riveted to the interior of the door -- one would be placed in each corner. Corresponding eye-hooks or brackets would be installed in the floor and ceiling of the compartment -- small bungee cords (tight enough to secure the door yet allow you to pull it open to release two of the cords) would then be stretched between the hooks to hold the door gently in the closed position. While I haven't tried this yet, I did find a tube of small bungee cords at a reasonable price during my last trip to WalMart so it is on my list of near future projects.

Kevin

[glogeo]

I need to replace the wire rope on my rear hatch door. I have found the wire but not the eye terminals to attach to the wire then rivet to the door. Can anyone give me an idea of where to find eyes? Lowes, Home Depot nor Tractor Supply had anything except the ferrule & stop set.

[Tim_S]

Please advise if you found the crimp eye hooks you were looking for. I need the same. Thanks.

[glogeo]

tsupler
never found the eyelets..even at fastenal..can order from some marine supplier but at $19 @ decided to use 3/4" steel hanger strap instead..just attached the new wire rope to it and riveted it back to door...we'll see how that works....we'll watch to see if someone else can locate the eyelets cheaper and will post the info...sorry

[Frank's Trailer Works]

wow this post is from 2006. Wonder if Paul ever found a solution to his issue...
Paul have you?
I think if the door was cut down lower than the upper lip of the opening, you could put a hinge either top or bottom. Weather stripping would need to be added in.