84 vanagon slider opens part way from outside... but inside fine

[Andrew Nock]

Suddenly my 84 vanagon slider will only opens part way using outside handle. (The inside handle works!). When the outside handle is pulled down, the back of the door releases -and pops out a couple inches - but the door sticks on the forward latch. You cannot tug the door free. The inside latch does not release it either. The door is stuck with rear of the door is loose yet the front hung up.

Does anyone have any hints on what to look for?

The fix is to push the back of the door in hard. This causes it the door to fully relatch.

At this point, the inside handle will open it just fine.

I have lubed it, and adjusted the cable to the rear. Nothing changes. The handle is new-and still unbroken. I even removed and cleaned the rear hinge. No change.

[E1]

The door cable has stretched so far as to not fully release it — and/or, despite being a new outer handle, the square peg holding the outer handle on has rounded just enough that the handle rotates too far before starting to rotate the peg.

I managed to tighten the rotation issue by JB Welding the peg back to square, then filing carefully until the handle barely slides on with a little oil.

Effectively, the cable stretches over time and becomes too long for the conduit (housing). Not sure what you meant on your adjustment, but the conduit needs to be as long as possible to accommodate the stretch, meaning, the nut is at the far-forward end of the conduit.

We’ve been through three cables over 20 months to get both the cable and conduit lengths dead on. The stock cable itself as sold by CC Cables is too long, as he’d measured them by someone supplying a stretched cable. A half-inch in the wrong direction changes everything.

My first, adjusted-length cable was *very close* — but not perfect. I bought another one with new measurements and it is *absolutely perfect* now, showing maximum adjustment threads now to adjust the conduit longer as the cable stretches.

I’ve written a thread about this but haven’t posted it. Understandably, Baird at CC is hesitant to change his standards based on a single user’s input (me), thinking mine’s a “custom fit” that may not apply to all, which I understand — but I’m as positive as I can be that there’s not variance between different early doors.

But Baird is a fine guy and I partly went this far as a service to the community, paying for all three as I got the lengths right.

If you tell him you want the “E1 measurements,” your problem will be solved.
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[Andrew Nock]

[E1]

You’re welcome, happy to help.

I did the very same, extreme adjustments in figuring it out. For such a simple thing, it took some thought.

When our stock cable finally broke from forcing it to open (and scratching the body at the recess), we removed the panel and had to open the door with the rear assembly itself.

The only way we got our stretched cable to temporarily work was I made a “crown” of a circular bundle of safety wire to lengthen the conduit by about 1/4”. It actually worked but put some stress on the bracket while we awaited the second cable.
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[Andrew Nock]