How do I remove/replace battery compartment door

[jad050]

Hello,  had a brush with back right side of RV,  thought is was a shrub, was actually hiding a lurking barrier...  Ended up crushing battery compartment door a bit, including the aluminum frame at bottom..  I found a replacement door at a salvage yard in CA, made my day a 'reasonable' repair.  My battery compartment door lifts up, the hinge is a curled metal strip at top of door that locks into the belt line running across top of door panels connecting fiberglass sidewall to bottom metal boors/fenders..  
A little background,  I once had a door fall off when the strut failed and I over extended the door lifting it up in a hurry,   so I thought  "this will be easy".  Wrong!  nothing is easy with an RV.  What happened by accident is not easily reproduced by 'gentle' encouraging.   
Has anyone done this?  is there 'trick/technique to get doors to pop off this funky hinge.  When door popped off a couple of years ago, I was able to get it back on by holding door upside down, pushing door into hinge and swinging door down, I seem to recall a 'pop' when door hinge engaged.  As I age I have learned force is not always an answer, so I seeking knowledge from those with experience. 

JimD 
2005 Monaco Knight 38PST

[jacwjames]

If you have a 2 piece type hinge the ideal way to remove it is to slide it off, which depending on where it is located may require you to remove multiple doors.  The extrusions are still available from REV, here is the portion that mounts on the door https://parts.revgroup.com/search?keyword=S08410937

If you don't want to remove the door as above you could drill out the rivets and pull the door out of the hinge but getting the door out of the hinge could be a challenge and may require driving a wedge starting on one end.  I had to remove 4 doors total and had to replace the hinge on 2 of them  and it was a chore to separate the door from the hinge.  In my case I didn't have a choice as the hinge was crushed when my wife side swiped a post at a filling station.  The door was pretty much in tact but the hinge was completely destroyed. 

[jad050]

jacwjames, that exactly the type of hinge I have.  My hinges are  good,  my door is damaged in lower section, I have a used door with good hinge piece..  did the doors slide easily if hinge is intact? Did you have to loosen the rail the door attach to (i.e. other 1/2 of hinge)?  Guess I got lucky when my door fell off a couple of years ago and I was able to pop it back in..  My post was hidden in brush, and luckily for me, it had been hit before and was leaning away from road so damage was only to bottom of door.. Did you have to  slide off the wheel fender as part of you quest to door?

JimD 
2005 Monaco Knight 38PST

[jacwjames]

The doors slide easy once you took the end of the support struts loose.  At the end of the hinge portion that is attached to the side of the motorhome there should be a rivet that holds the doors in place, you can drill this out.   If needed you will have to remove any other door that may be the way of sliding the damaged door out of the hinge.   

I'd keep the old door just in case.  A new skin be made and attached if it would fit in another locations. 

[Larry Laursen]

The hinge is connected to the panel with pop rivets.  Remove the rivets and replace the panel if the hinge hasn't been damaged.

[jad050]

jacwjames, your suggestion worked great, except I did have to loosen the back 6 screws holding to part of hinge, since my back cap has a moulding strip that blocked the exit for hinge, once done I had doors out in 10 minutes...  move pieces to new  door, replace put all doors back on top hinge in less than 10 minutes.  On the plus side when loosing the top hinge I found a few rusted/broken screws,  so I put in a new set an inch away from old... 

Thanks again!!!!   JimD

[heathbus]

I have a 2002 Monaco Knight.  My bay doors have the same hinge arrangement as described above.  The doors slide forward and rearward when opened and closed and sometimes get into a position where they will not latch.  There are no rivets holding individual doors in place (prevent them from moving forward or rearward).  Should there be?

[jacwjames]

On mine there is only a rivet/screw at the end of the track to keep all the doors in place.  The hinge at the top of each door should be slightly longer then the door, this is what keeps the doors apart.  

When I had to cut new hinges for my doors I had to copy the old ones and make sure I had the offset correct. 

If yours does not have this you my have to put a spacer of some sort in and/or a rivet in the track to keep the doors aligned.