The sliding door that don't want to slide...

[lmaoufle]

Hi guys!!!


my sliding door didn't want to fully open on itself and was not easy to close so I decided to refresh it

After reading a lot of thread I had a precise plan on how to do it. So I started by removing the door and the hinge. I dismantle it and clean every part, free all rollers, and polished the 'U' piece as good as I can. Then I fitted a brand new nylon guide, remove all of the old crappy grease on all rails.
That was a good day of work and greasy hands

After all of this effort I put the door back on its rail, it slides really good now and close it. Now for the moment of glory I open it and ..... the door won't fully open... in fact it open just a little bit 15-20 cm (just in front of the kitchen unit of my campmobile).

I am so f**** frustrated!!! All the rollers looks in good shape, the U is really ok and greased, I try with some fine lube on the rail or without and absolutely no difference. The spring looks ok so I have absolutely no idea where to look now

Should I replace all rollers? the spring ?

[busdaddy]

Sounds like the swinging link isn't unlatching, compare yours to step 5 here:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=446358
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[lmaoufle]

Thanks for the input but not quite sure of what is the "swinging link" ?

Here is colin's pic of how to align the "swinging link"

and mine

What do you think ? for me it looks right (I just guess the difference is the hinge model mine is a 71)

[SGKent]

have you watched it with the cover off? There are also the front top, and the bottom roller(s). Did you clean out the lower track of pebbles, and make sure that it is intact, and not rusted thru? Do both the top and lower rollers roll smoothly?
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[lmaoufle]

yes I watch with the cover off and all rollers work, they have been cleaned and greased. I also clean all the rails and even sanded the surface smoothly.
The door slide really well by hand but just not on its own

[andrewtf]

I may be absolutely talking out of my ass - but -

The long pivoting lever with a little 'hook' on the end is not installed in the same orientation on your lock as in Colin's photo. They are 180* off.

Did you perhaps just install that piece that incorrectly?

I'm guessing it matters.
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[lmaoufle]

yes I saw that too in colin's pic! but I didn't took the levers apart because I didn't succeeded to do so and in fact there are two levers and they are the exact opposite as colin's one, so I think it may be that we have not the same version of the mechanism, mine is a t2a...

I will search the gallery to maybe find a t2a hinge....

but for me I don't think it is the issue

[SGKent]

Where is the second (back side) arm? If it is behind the first then the closest arm is upside down. If it is missing then time for a replacement hinge.

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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[lmaoufle]

yes but ... no

as you can see there are two levers that are parallel, in Colin pic the one lock is the first, on mine the second is lock, but is in the same position as the one of Colin clear ? I really think the two levers are exactly the same just the order is different and in the gallery I found some other t2a hinge with the lever in the same position as mine.

[SGKent]

[lmaoufle]

I try to take some pics but it's already late and rainy today so excuse the poor pics

You can see here the two levers that are in different order if you have a t2a or t2b

I try to take some video too, here is what is currently happening when I open the door
https://photos.app.goo.gl/eJAJVbejXMPqFpKn7

The top roller on its rail doing its job
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oe2rqna23KrunNM5A

The bottom rollers having a blast
https://photos.app.goo.gl/wPFSyyrNhG99k51V8

and the rear roller on its highway
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dt3uUpLSLbjbBuuk7

and the two levers doing their jobs
https://photos.app.goo.gl/U7nVcifHBuuXiCwF6

so anyone see something here???? something must be wrong!!

[sunnydog]

[TDCTDI]

Check the lower track. When I repaired the slider in my beast, the lower roller was no longer & someone welded in a strip of steel to compensate for the missing roller. When I installed the door with a new roller, it was tight & would no longer slide when the door got close to all the way open or all the way closed.
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