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Entry Door Won't Open or Needs Adjustment


Go to solution Solved by Tom Cherry,

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14 hours ago, LakeBob said:

Replaced the door handle and adjusted the unlocking rod nuts on the upper and lower latches on my 09 Dynasty.   Now the door does not seal well and whistles loudly at highway speeds. The wind noise appears to be coming from the upper door latch area.

The door was usually whisper quiet before, in some cases we had some wind noise and it required opening and closing the door firmly. 

During my repair I removed the door frame on the outer edge to remove the inner door panel, however I did not touch the latches or the striker bolts, other than clean and lube.  The striker bolts move freely up and down. 

Anyone have any ideas why I'm not getting a good seal now?

Is there an adjustment to the latches?

Is there an adjustment to the striker bolts?

Do you think I might have the upper latch adjusting nut too tight?  Not allowing the latch to close to the second position?

The door does have an air seal and Tom Cherry has provided some insight on trouble shooting, however I don't understand why the air seal would fail from the repair performed. 

One thought I had was the door "flatness" may have relaxed when I removed the outer frame and now doesn't have the same fit up against the opening.  I tried loosening the outer frame screws and placing a 2x4 in the lower door opening, then applied pressure to the top of door while tightening down the door frame screws.  This had no effect.  

Another question: Found the document below on-line (nice explanation of the adjusting job).  I did not find any "gasket at the 45 deg corners of the door frame, anyone familiar with these gaskets?   Should I improvise a seal at the corners?

I'm on the road now, however will be stationary for a couple days starting tomorrow and will be able to take a look. 

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions!!

Adjusting entrance door.pdf 338.74 kB · 6 downloads

My comment on the air seal was to test it IF you thought it was the issue.  It was also informational and generic as many members have experience and their engagement and operation and troubleshooting might not apply since Monaco was constantly “improving or changing or experimenting”.

A wild card if the door is out of square would be the lack of proper fit for the air seal as the seal has very little movement.

Along the vein of “being Monaco”, my 2009 door has the gaskets on the outside.  A friend’s 2009 Camelot had these same gaskets reversed and mounted on the inside of the frame.  They were the same, as best we could tell, the same design and such, but the assemblers didn’t have the same method or technique.  The doors looked totally different from the outside….

So never depend on Monaco for consistency.  To my knowledge, your issue is unique.  You may be onto something as the door itself could be “out of square”.  But if you DO RUN the air seal function test, then you do know it is working.  I totally agree that working on the lock should not have impacted the air seal.  

One more off the wall comment.  You had, I think, to remove the inner frame of the window.  IF the seal was broken or compromised on the external side, then you WILL get some noise.  The simple test.  Put blue painters tape on the exterior frame and then drive it.  Make sure it is really sealed on the front and top and bottom edges.  I don’t know if your frame is curved or has mitered joints, but a joint on my drivers window was not “sealed” and whistled.  We recently had someone with a windshield issue.  Before I did any “forced reassembly”, I would seal the window frame on the outside with tape and drive it….just an off the wall idea as you can never depend on Monaco to seal every joint or such…..as well as the sealant breaking down and shifting as time goes on.

I don’t have any ideas on how to get the door, if it is out of square, back to the original factory configuration.  I also don’t know if these assemblies were a “fitted frame and door” and were assembled as such or if there were a shipment of frames and another shipment of doors and they were interchangeable.

Wish I could help more.  Good Luck

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Update, I had a few minutes to work on the door last night.  I did determine that the upper "bear claw" latch was not closing to the second position.  I adjusted the striker per the manual, moving it outward as the mount allowed.

Closed the door and I could see that the bear claw latch was in the first position, used a hook tool and was able to pull the latch to the second, fully closed position, Test drove for 4 hours down to the Texas hill country.  WHISPER QUIET!!   Now to determine how to get this upper latch to close to the second position in normal use. 

Tom: My Monaco has the air seal gasket mounted on the inner part of the door frame; I believe it is working correctly.  Per the manual, it states that it inflates when the transmission hits second gear.  I would love to try your suggested test at a later time!

I've used my 2 inch painters tape on many joints.  Even hanging out the passenger window after closing the door to tape the door frame.  

The "out of square" problem with my door may be an issue, I'll continue to tweak and advise. 

Thanks all!

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11 hours ago, LakeBob said:

I did determine that the upper "bear claw" latch was not closing to the second position.  I adjusted the striker per the manual, moving it outward as the mount allowed.

If the latch is not closing to the 2nd position, I believe you would need to move the strike in, not out, to allow it to latch to the 2nd position.

It is not closing enough to reach the 2nd lock position.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/22/2022 at 5:55 PM, LakeBob said:

Replaced the door handle and adjusted the unlocking rod nuts on the upper and lower latches on my 09 Dynasty.   Now the door does not seal well and whistles loudly at highway speeds. The wind noise appears to be coming from the upper door latch area.

The door was usually whisper quiet before, in some cases we had some wind noise and it required opening and closing the door firmly. 

During my repair I removed the door frame on the outer edge to remove the inner door panel, however I did not touch the latches or the striker bolts, other than clean and lube.  The striker bolts move freely up and down. 

Anyone have any ideas why I'm not getting a good seal now?

Is there an adjustment to the latches?

Is there an adjustment to the striker bolts?

Do you think I might have the upper latch adjusting nut too tight?  Not allowing the latch to close to the second position?

The door does have an air seal and Tom Cherry has provided some insight on trouble shooting, however I don't understand why the air seal would fail from the repair performed. 

One thought I had was the door "flatness" may have relaxed when I removed the outer frame and now doesn't have the same fit up against the opening.  I tried loosening the outer frame screws and placing a 2x4 in the lower door opening, then applied pressure to the top of door while tightening down the door frame screws.  This had no effect.  

Another question: Found the document below on-line (nice explanation of the adjusting job).  I did not find any "gasket at the 45 deg corners of the door frame, anyone familiar with these gaskets?   Should I improvise a seal at the corners?

I'm on the road now, however, will be stationary for a couple days starting tomorrow and will be able to take a look. 

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions!!

Adjusting entrance door.pdf 338.74 kB · 9 downloads

I've determined that the solution to my problem was adjustment to the striker bolts.  The upper bear claw latch was not closing to the second postion.  Following the instructions in the manual, (below) and multiple adjustment attempts I can get the upper bolt to latch most of the time. I can pull in slightly on the upper window frame (I have removed the screen for better view during travel) and get the bear claw latch to close to the second position if needed.  The door seals properly and the ride is quiet.   As time allows, I'll try to fine tune the adjustment, however, it may be as good as it gets due to the door or door frame being out of square.  

My air seal works as intended, the best I can determine.  I did not test with a gauge; however I would like to try Tom's suggestion.  

If anyone has any suggestions for fine tuning the striker bolt adjustment I would appreciate any pointers! 

Thank you! 

Bob

 

Adjusting the Entry Door Latch:
Determine which bolt needs adjustment.
Observe the latch and strike bolt
alignment while slowly closing the
entry door.
DO NOT attempt to latch
if alignment is off. If the alignment is
correct, allow the latch to catch in the
frst (primary) position only.
The latch should move to the second
position with just slight pressure applied
to the entry door. Upper and lower
latches should be evenly timed. Press on
the entry door to see if there is further
movement of the door.
The handle should operate with little
effort to open the entry door. Excess
amounts of pressure indicate the bolts
are set too far back.
With an Allen Wrench, loosen
the movable strike bolt. Make all
adjustments in small increments. Tighten
the bolt frmly after making adjustments.
The bolts should have slight up and
down movement for vibration control in
travel.
Test the operation of the dead bolt lock
to ensure proper function.
Apply silicone weekly to the entry door
rubber gaskets to prevent squeaking
while the motorhome is traveling. Use
a one inch sponge paint brush, sprayed
with silicone, for easy application.

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

Something about “Happy Wife” moved adjusting the door to todays project. She was having problems pulling on the outside handle enough to open it.
While the video below is good, I’m surprised he only adjusts the 2 nuts at the latches… there’s a 3rd adjustment that was more important in my situation… the 2 nuts (in the video) only needed half a turn…not much.
The 3rd adjustment is just below the handle but you still have to loosen the door’s inner lining to get to it. Item 13 is what lets you  shorten the rod but it’s not a turnbuckle (no lefthand  thread) so you have to take one end loose to turn CW. Mine took 2 turns so both rods moved immediately when pulling on the handle.
I can now open with one finger. Make sure you look at which way the black screen door latch points. Hate to admit it took me awhile to turn it around so it pulls the screen door with the main door.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D6-SFexjNuU

447D39F2-8DE7-4E3B-9F1F-ACD1542EE150.png

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Getting ready to adjust the door and gathering the parts. The information suggests replacing the door bushing and is the correct size is not available to buy 1/4" id flange bearing and drill it out or have one made. Can't get one made locally here for a reasonable cost . I have tried to drill one out x 4 but cannot stabilize it in the drill press the new drill bit grabs it and it spins in the vise or anything else I try to hold it with. If you put it in the vise too hard the bushing deforms.

Two questions does anyone know where to get the correct size or how to hold the busing and drill it.

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Hotrod; I glued mine to a piece of laminate I had laying around, used cutting oil and drill very slow! You can also use a milling bit, less aggressive. When done, pop off the laminate, clean it up and install. 

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2 hours ago, 63Hotrod said:

Getting ready to adjust the door and gathering the parts. The information suggests replacing the door bushing and is the correct size is not available to buy 1/4" id flange bearing and drill it out or have one made. Can't get one made locally here for a reasonable cost . I have tried to drill one out x 4 but cannot stabilize it in the drill press the new drill bit grabs it and it spins in the vise or anything else I try to hold it with. If you put it in the vise too hard the bushing deforms.

Two questions does anyone know where to get the correct size or how to hold the busing and drill it.

@63Hotrod

Merged your new topic with an existing and current one that hass all the info, plus some. i think, to answer your qestion as well as the Monaco adjustment file.  start on page 1 and read forward.  you should be good to go then

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  • 1 month later...

Had a chance to adjust my entry door today.  My door seems to be a bushing model,  with no bushing present.  I was looking around for something to make one out of and gldug into the rv toolbar and came up with something I think will work for a while. 

I had some 3/8 tubing and a flare kit from a blown tire in a 5th wheel a while ago that took out my propane line. I made a little flare and cut off. Fit in there pretty good! Time will tell.

20230502_174221.jpg

20230502_174526.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

Continuing this thread with a few questions.

I have made the latch adjustment to the entry door to where it does not have near the travel to open as it did before.  Reading and watching videos I also discovered that the door has two latching positions.  When I tested my door it seemed to only engage the first latching position.

I have made adjustments to the striker bolts and can get the door to latch to the second position, but only by pushing on the door fairly firmly.  It will easily go into the first latching position, and then require a shove to get into the second.  

I have read through this thread and also downloaded and read the files and found out that the striker bolt needs to have some up and down movement.  Needs to float.  My striker bolts are very hard to move even when they are loosened.  Looking behind the plates the caged nut seems to be rusted causing it to not move at all.

Here are a few questions I have.

1)  How much up and down movement should they have after being tightened and how easy.

2) Can I remove the striker bolt completely without the caged nut falling down in the frame?  I am looking for a way to clean the rust off and getting it loose again.

Other thoughts or suggestions.

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Lube well and just work it up and down.  It will free up...add to your regular lube maint list.  A very often neglected item with the reults that you are dealing with.  No need to remove that bolt...

Edited by Twomed
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