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Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:49 am

Replacing Karmann Ghia door check straps.

Over the years the rubber/polymer door check straps used on your Karmann Ghia have probably deteriorated, maybe even crumbled away to nothing (like mine)…

leaving only the metal strap that may keep the door from opening too far, but nothing to keep the door fully or partially open, resulting in bruised shins as gravity takes over and the door closes shut on your legs. It has been said that this door check setup is not one of VW’s better designs but I suppose it’s better than nothing.

Anyway, I’ve been meaning to tackle this project for some time now and finally decided to just do it. I started by purchasing two brand new replacement door check strap kits on eBay for about $10 per kit. Each kit includes the strap itself, which is a replacement metal strap with a thick, variously tapered rubber or polymer cover, and three pins with “C” clips to hold the pins in place. Two of the three pins in each kit have nylon or polymer rollers over them. These two pins with the rollers are located inside the door and the door panel must be removed to change them out. The check strap itself travels in and out between the two rollers as the door is opened and closed and the various tapers in the strap “catch” between the rollers to hold the door open in two positions - fully open and partially opened.

[Moderators edit: The check rods, rollers and pins are available from KGPR, but instead of a kit, they can be ordered separately.
Check rod: VW part # 141-837-253 B See... https://airheadparts.com/vw-part/door-check-strap/
Rollers and pins: VW part # 141-898-259 B ST See... https://airheadparts.com/vw-part/door-check-strap-rollers-pins-clips/
You would order one of each to do a single door.
eBay suppliers might have kits, as might other vendors.]

Depending on how much rust is involved, the procedure for installing a new check strap, pins, and rollers takes about 30-45 minutes per door. Note: The installation shown here was done on the right side of a 1970 convertible, though several on-line Ghia parts companies say that their door check strap kits will work on all ’59-’74 Ghias.

The procedure is as follows:

a) Attach a bungee cord from the outside door handle to the fender lip or the bumper to hold the door open.
b) Remove the inside door handle plastic cup and trim.

c) Roll the window completely up and then remove the window crank handle.
d) Wrap a putty knife blade or similar tool with electrical tape (to keep from scratching your paint) and gently slide it under the edges of the door panel to pop the door panel pins out of their respective mounting holes.
e) When all door panel pins are free from their mounting holes, gently tap UP on the arm rest from the bottom to release the arm rest from it’s catch on the inside of the door, and the entire door panel should lift right off.
f) Remove the “C” clip at the top of the single pin on the forward end of the check strap and remove the old pin.

g) Now the fun part. Reach up inside the door to remove the “C” clips on the two pins with the rollers and remove both pins/rollers. Getting your hand up inside the door to change out these pins is awkward, but it can be done.

h) Insert one new pin (from the top down) and roller through the two holes closest to the inside of the door and install the “C” clip on the bottom end of the pin.
i) Slide the check strap in and install the second pin/roller (as described above) so that the last notch on the thick end of the check strap is between the two pins/rollers. Note: The door check straps are identical and will probably have a raised “L” on one side and a raised “R” on the other. When installed correctly, the “L” faces up on the driver’s side door strap and the “R” faces up on the passenger’s side door strap.
j) Once the two pin/rollers and “C” clips are installed inside the door, install the single pin through the bracket and front end of the door check strap, and secure with a “C” clip. This pin is installed from the bottom with the “C” clip on top.

k) Carefully line up the door panel pins with the holes and re-install the door panel. BTW, as long as you have the door panel off, now might be a good time to clean out the drain holes, vacuum out the bottom of the door, or maybe replace that torn or missing vapor barrier.
l) Re-install the window crank handle.
m) Re-install the door handle trim and plastic cup.

Oh, one more thing, before you start this project, you might consider buying a few spare “C” clips at your local hardware store (about 14 cents each). When installing them on the pins, they tend to fly off into oblivion (I lost two during my installation) and it may save you a trip to the store in the middle of your project. Your Karmann Ghia doors should now stay open, at least when you’re parked flat and level.

Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:37 pm

Good write up. I think I used an impact wrench with a cutter attachment to bust the old pins out. Mine were so rusted they would not budge. You will replace them anyway. Took not more than a minute with the impact wrench.

Wed Nov 09, 2011 6:43 am

This very useful thread is somewhat devalued now the links to the photos are lost. Can something be done about the missing photo's Bill?

Nicholas

Wed Nov 09, 2011 10:21 am

Now that the photos are back, can I nominate this for inclusion in the "How-To" sticky?

Wed Nov 09, 2011 10:33 am

squonk wrote: Now that the photos are back, can I nominate this for inclusion in the "How-To" sticky?

Yep...done.

It does however highlight the need to upload important tutorial illustrations to the Samba Gallery. Once in place their location never alters so you don't loose pictures as is all too common through changes in remote hosting. The upholstery Sticky is a good example of a useful thread ruined.

Sat Jun 07, 2014 11:15 pm

Replaced with this check strap... http://www.karmannghia.com/viewDetail.asp?strMasterCat=1148&idproduct=1868

Door doesn't stay open. Door hesitates but still ends up closing. Tested it on a pretty level spot. Anyone have the same experience with this product? I know there is an oversized version sold on airhead so maybe that works better? If others have good experience with this product, maybe my rear shocks are drooping?

Sun Jun 08, 2014 4:57 am

Either the plastic rollers are worn or your pins are bent. Or both.

Sun Jun 08, 2014 7:41 am

Thanks for the tutorial, unfortunately it's no longer a $10 fix. The kits on ebay are costing between $29 and $32.00, plus shipping.

Sun Jun 08, 2014 9:20 pm

kman wrote: Either the plastic rollers are worn or your pins are bent. Or both.

They are brand new and nothing seems to be wrong with them. So I guess I'm looking for a review of this particular repro part. If others are having the same experience, I'll deal with it. If others can confirm that it does indeed stop the door, then it'll at least tell me something may not be quite right on my car.

And I will concur that getting your hands inside the door to remove/install the rollers is a little tricky. I have small hands and can't imagine how those of you with more meat might handle it!

Mon Jun 09, 2014 7:01 am

Jawon wrote: kman wrote: Either the plastic rollers are worn or your pins are bent. Or both.

They are brand new and nothing seems to be wrong with them. So I guess I'm looking for a review of this particular repro part. If others are having the same experience, I'll deal with it. If others can confirm that it does indeed stop the door, then it'll at least tell me something may not be quite right on my car.

And I will concur that getting your hands inside the door to remove/install the rollers is a little tricky. I have small hands and can't imagine how those of you with more meat might handle it!

Mine works fine. All new parts - rollers, pins, etc. I have done this job on a couple of cars and find its easier to just replace everything.

Make sure you have the straps in the correct direction.

Mon Jun 09, 2014 9:02 pm

NOVA Airhead wrote: Mine works fine. All new parts - rollers, pins, etc. I have done this job on a couple of cars and find its easier to just replace everything.

Make sure you have the straps in the correct direction.

I have all new parts and it is in the correct direction ("L" on top for my driver side). Hmmm, I guess I need to do some customization. I'm thinking there's too much gap between the strap and rollers, so I guess I'll try to reduce that gap somehow.

Btw, I'm guessing the best place to check how level the car is, is the sill plate. Well, it's perfectly level and still the check strap does not prevent the door from closing.

Tue Jun 10, 2014 1:30 am

How are you guys finding these repro ones to last?
Mine delaminated and fell apart after opening / closing the doors 10x

Tue Jun 10, 2014 11:08 am

^^^ no delam on mine but passenger side just bent into an "L" closing the door.
Mine are tight and require a little silicone spray to ease the bind. This could be the diff between regular and "oversize". I dont think i have plastic rollers on the inside just the metal pins. I didnt know there were options when i cobbled mine together. Perhaps the oversize is for those w/o plastic rollers and the regular size work with the rollers. Early ones i have were just metal and not rubber covered.

Sun Apr 03, 2016 9:06 am

I know it's been awhile since anything has been posted, but I have the same problem as J1 had.
1969 ghia, put in the WCM set with new pins and rollers. Here's something interesting.
On the driver's side, everything is new, strap, pins, and rollers.
On the passenger's, new strap only (original pins and rollers were good).
Both sides barely stay open. If you're not on a level surface or there is a slight breeze, that door is closing.
So I went to Home Depot and got a slightly large nylon spacer to use as a roller and on the driver's side I only replaced one of the rollers. So now the gap was reduced significantly and it made it harder to move the door. But guess what, it still didn't make a difference in the ability of the check strap to hold open the door.
So my conclusion is that the wider parts of the check strap, the humps as one might say, that are supposed to be the area where it "checks" the movement of the strap between the rollers and keeps the door from closing on its own.... are not big enough.
Changing out the rollers won't work. The check strap is the issue. Oh, and I just noticed they are delaminating.
I ordered through aircooled.net and the product is WCM.
Any other products? Are the ones from airhead actually more robust?

Mon Apr 04, 2016 11:54 am

Any other products? Are the ones from airhead actually more robust?

Ours (KGPR/Airhead) are definitely not the same as WCM. PM me, superpickle, and I'll send you a pair for evaluation.

Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:11 pm

PM sent!

I will be happy to post the results of my informal testing of the two products!

Thanks to KGPR !!

Craig

Mon Apr 04, 2016 10:35 pm

Andre@KGPR/Airhead wrote: Ours (KGPR/Airhead) are definitely not the same as WCM.

I have the KGPR one and it does not work on my left side and marginally works on my right side. I have not gone through the extensive testing as superpickle has done so I can't say where the problem is but as I stated a couple years ago I'm wondering whether the sill plate should be rear-high in which case it's yet another incentive to get those dropped spindles!

Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:40 am

The ones I installed from KGP&R have gotten better with age. When I first installed them it was pretty stiff but now have loosened up a bit and work perfectly.

I have used this product from KGP&R on several Ghias I have owned over the last ten years and all have worked in a similar manner.

Not sure why you are having difficulty.

Sat May 14, 2016 2:12 pm

I have check straps from KGPR that I purchased in 1994 for my 68 Ghia and never installed as the project stopped. Project is back on again. Question is will these check straps work good or have they been improved since 1994 and will the new check straps work better (not sure if they have been improved). Thanks!

Sat Dec 30, 2017 8:56 pm

Darn! The photos are down again! Any chance they can be reposted? It would be greatly appreciated.