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Thu Apr 09, 2009 11:52 am

the outcome of this thread makes me smile :D

Thu Apr 09, 2009 11:59 am

randywebb wrote: I'd like to know how you can tell if your sliding door is getting worn?

take the door off the track & support it & now take look at the sliding roller
1) does it roll ?
2) is it more rust than metal
2) can you see wear guides into the surface of slider
http://members.shaw.ca/trclark/vwvan/P3310001.JPG

randywebb wrote: or do you just wait for it to fail?
yah when you open it & it falls off the rail the slider is hosed :)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=202324

Sat Aug 29, 2009 2:43 pm

Tclark,

Did you ever end up using the SS roller from CRL? Can you explain a little more on how you modified your new setup? Thanks for doing this and showing everyone a new way to save some cash.

Cheers,

Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:36 pm

This all makes me think of a friend of mine. He has a large band saw and a guide bearing went bad on it. Well, first let me point out he is an aircooled beetle mechanic. And tends to have lots of parts on hand. As it turns out he replaced the bad guide bearing with a VW bearing. Exacting fit, and oddly enough the VW part is cheaper. No disrespect to TK, but if you can find alternative parts for these vehicles, nows the time to look. So many things have went NLA and we are left to be creative anyway, or wait for someone to manufacture it for us. If trying to spend $5 over $150 works and it provides a suitable substitute part I am for it! And if you put on a roller that fails, so what, it fails. Move on and find one that works, thats what it's about.
Someone applied D-weatherstrip to their sunroof @ 15% of the cost of buying a new seal. And reports longterm success. Seems more like R&D to me than someone being a "cheapskate".

Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:45 pm

<<<I'd like to know how you can tell if your sliding door is getting worn?

or do you just wait for it to fail?>>

No, actually you wait for the door to go "clunk" and won't open up no more.
There's no warning--it will split.
That nylon on that sharp edge of the door roller guide isn't going to last too long---not with the weight of the back side of the door on one single plastic roller.
If your into being a slave for your sliding door mechanism--go for it.
I like watching abusive tasks--

AND--I've been to too many bearing mfg's, suppliers & warehouses.

It's an ultra specialized guide bearing, manufactured by some outfit with a lock on VW only.

They are Kaput--or ain't talking.

Sometimes ya have to spend a little more to get the job done right.
And the bonus is the damn thing will last another 25-30 years without problems.

The short term, slip shot stuff sucks, and isn't a legitimate permanent repair answer.

Mon Mar 22, 2010 6:02 pm

Terry Kay wrote: <<<I'd like to know how you can tell if your sliding door is getting worn?

or do you just wait for it to fail?>>

No, actually you wait for the door to go "clunk" and won't open up no more.
There's no warning--it will split.
That nylon on that sharp edge of the door roller guide isn't going to last too long
TK define too long were coming up on the 1 year anniversary of the jip joint,
roller skate, Radio Flyer Wagon, or baby buggy, cheepskate, used nylon, roller found in the bottom of basement junk box, when/if it dies I'll get the
http://www.crlaurence.com/crlapps/showline/default.aspx?GroupID=6173
CRL Stainless Steel Replacement Roller has a 1-1/4 inch (31.8 millimeter) diameter with a 1/4 inch (6.4 millimeter) hole.
The roller is center grooved and 5/16 inch (7.9 millimeter) wide.
Model D1693

Mon Mar 22, 2010 6:16 pm

As for skateboard bearings, they have been the same for a long long time, 30+ years. Low priced ones are just fine for this application, most any decent skateshop will sell you bearings individually. Skate bearing typically come with very little grease in them, if you want to never mess with it again pull one of the shields off and pack as much grease in there as will fit, snap the shield back in, install.

I have 2 sets of nice skatebearings, I take them apart, cleans and grease them when I set-up new wheels, they are over 10 years old now, and I can assure you that I put way more load on my skateboard bearings than a vanagon door ever will. Its all about getting the bearing full of grease.

Mon Mar 22, 2010 8:10 pm

Just how much quieter is the junk box nylon bearing than an original steel bearing?

I can always tell by the sound when a Vanagon sliding door is being used.

It has a distinctive loud sound (to me.)

Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:46 am

r39o wrote: Just how much quieter is the junk box nylon bearing than an original steel bearing?

nylon bearing->Nylon Roller ...
less but cant quantify simply because the steel roller on the bottom of the door makes such a racket, I still think that I might coat the door stile will truck bed liner so that the roller rides on a cushion of that rubber like compound

Fri May 21, 2010 10:46 pm

tclark wrote: the steel roller on the bottom of the door makes such a racket
I am confused. You did change this lower roller or not?

Fri May 21, 2010 11:20 pm

<< I still think that I might coat the door stile will truck bed liner so that the roller rides on a cushion of that rubber like compound>>

I want to know how your going to get the roller to roll smooth over a dimpled surface of the bedliner?

Nyet.

Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:01 am

Brning this back up because my slider rear guide wheel is messed up.
hows the nylon roller working?
I would think this is very similar in use & weight to it's design.
the wheels on my patio door ride on a fairly sharp edge. and support a pretty heavy door.

tclark wrote: Terry Kay wrote: <<<I'd like to know how you can tell if your sliding door is getting worn?

or do you just wait for it to fail?>>

No, actually you wait for the door to go "clunk" and won't open up no more.
There's no warning--it will split.
That nylon on that sharp edge of the door roller guide isn't going to last too long
TK define too long were coming up on the 1 year anniversary of the jip joint,
roller skate, Radio Flyer Wagon, or baby buggy, cheepskate, used nylon, roller found in the bottom of basement junk box, when/if it dies I'll get the
http://www.crlaurence.com/crlapps/showline/default.aspx?GroupID=6173
CRL Stainless Steel Replacement Roller has a 1-1/4 inch (31.8 millimeter) diameter with a 1/4 inch (6.4 millimeter) hole.
The roller is center grooved and 5/16 inch (7.9 millimeter) wide.
Model D1693

Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:20 am

FYI, you can by new complete rear slider assemblies here:

http://en.serial-kombi.com/volkswagen-transporter-...34929.html

I ordered one last week.

Fri Sep 03, 2010 10:07 am

danfromsyr wrote: Brning this back up because my slider rear guide wheel is messed up.
hows the nylon roller working?
I would think this is very similar in use & weight to it's design.
the wheels on my patio door ride on a fairly sharp edge. and support a pretty heavy door.

I was only going to update this thread once every 5 years but since you asked
the nylon is well still err ...rolling along :)
/me now wait's for TK to barf up some bad karma ...

Sat Sep 04, 2010 12:13 pm

kobylan wrote: FYI, you can by new complete rear slider assemblies here:

http://en.serial-kombi.com/volkswagen-transporter-...34929.html

I ordered one last week.

:lol: :lol: chaper and new!!

I just come accross that topic,I should use the search tool sometimes.....

here is my contribution to the thing,with bearing part numbers:they are stamped for most of them on the VW bearings,some not.

copy from my vanagon topic

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I also work on the sliding door bearings,I decided to renew everything while investigating why it keeps opening easily when driving....I think I put too much grease in there,and since then I have this issue:on my van in France,I had the same problem.Since I unplugged the connection for opening the door with the handle,it doesn't do it anymore,so it comes from the front part of the mecanism....
the upper bearing in a 17mm wrench prior to extraction

new bearing 609 2RS (when I see how much some people here are selling them,it's insane:these cost less than 2$) :evil:
the bottom bearings
new 609 2RS
the center one is not solved yet,it has the center of a 607A ball bearing,but it's one piece.I'll maybe go with machining a wheel and put a replaceable 607A in it.

the "U" is on the list too
some wire wheel cleaning and 2 new skateboard ball bearing 608 (not pictured)
same for this track bearing:center is 607A but not replaceable.I found some similar stuff at City Mill hardware store,I have to go back there with the Vernier caliper.

Fri Oct 19, 2012 6:42 pm

I never saw the question on whether the door was ever significantly quieter after replacing the bearings. My bearings seem to rotate nicely but it is hard to tell where the loud noise is coming from. Is it the bearings or more likely the metal to metal contact from the weight of the door, rollers or guides?
I have been intrigued by the idea of quieting the door down now that I have sleeping babies on my camping trips. I have read about guys installing low friction tape as a possible solution, but I wondered if anyone has looked into urethane/rubber coated bearings.
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/603844790/Urethane_Bearing_Wheel_608zz.html
I was thinking the main cause of the noise is the weight bearing bearings. One in the lower vertical position and one on the rear guide. It might be a benefit to outfit the horizontal bearings with this type as well.
I was wondering if anyone had the dimensions for the bearing ID,OD & width.
For the grooved bearing in the rear, I was also thinking that some type of plastic cap on the rear slider guide might help reduce the noise. I was thinking along the lines of something similar to the rain gutter plastic, but not too sure how it would hold up to constant abuse.
The bottom vertical bearing seems to be coated in something hard, but not sure if it is metal. I was thinking of getting some bearings together that are coated to test in the near future. It would be cool to have ones that are the correct sizes.
Measuring in place, I figured the Top and Bottom horizontals are similar to skateboard bearings measuring OD= 24mm, ID=??? but likely 8mm, width=7mm; looks like the back two are similar in size. The bottom vertical bearing seems to be about OD=28mm, ID=???, width=13mm.
Wondering if anyone has gone down this path or has any comments.

Thanks,