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bus bruce
Samba Member
Joined: March 08, 2015
Posts: 35
Location: Wisconsin
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 Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 9:02 am Post subject: Sliding Door |
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| I am looking to make my sliding door smoother to open and quieter. Does anyone have a trick to make this happen? |
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danfromsyr
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Joined: March 01, 2004
Posts: 15144
Location: Syracuse, NY
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Gnarlodious 
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Joined: September 28, 2013
Posts: 2320
Location: Adobe Jungle USA
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 9:29 am Post subject: Re: Sliding Door |
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I would not advise the UHMW tape on sliding door parts. It degrades after a few years and is very hard to completely remove. It does reduce noise but in the long term not worth it.
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dobryan
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Joined: March 24, 2006
Posts: 16503
Location: Brookeville, MD
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 9:50 am Post subject: Re: Sliding Door |
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The noise comes from unlubricated roller bearings and from dirt and grit on the surfaces that they roll on. Thoroughly clean the lower portion of the sliding door track where the roller runs. Lube the roller bearing with something like Triflow, not WD40. Also clean the upper track behind the door where the upper roller assembly runs and lubricate the rollers as well. Oh, and don't forget the topmost roller at head level... This should help greatly.
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transanalog
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ALIKA T3
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djkeev
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Joined: September 30, 2007
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ALIKA T3
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Joined: July 30, 2009
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kamzcab86
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Joined: July 26, 2008
Posts: 7917
Location: Arizona
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 5:44 pm Post subject: Re: Sliding Door |
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| Gnarlodious wrote: |
| I would not advise the UHMW tape on sliding door parts. It degrades after a few years and is very hard to completely remove. It does reduce noise but in the long term not worth it. |
I would strongly advise not using UHMW tape on load-bearing sliding door tracks. The upper, inside track tape on mine is still like new; the load-bearing tracks, on the other hand... tape destroyed, but residue left behind, which is a royal bitch to remove. 
And despite having new bearings on-hand, I might just have to buy another set after seeing those nifty Delrin versions. 
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"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." - 孔子 |
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erste
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Joined: March 29, 2013
Posts: 1110
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 5:48 pm Post subject: Re: Sliding Door |
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I have an '82 and over the weekend finally got a chance to clean and repaint the rusty tracks. It's better, but not great. Can the early sliding doors even be great?
Is it possible to swap the newer hardware, or is there a physical difference between the early and late doors / mounts? Early sliding doors don't get much love when it comes to new parts... |
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ALIKA T3
Samba Member
Joined: July 30, 2009
Posts: 6351
Location: Honolulu,Hawaii and France
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 5:54 pm Post subject: Re: Sliding Door |
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| erste wrote: |
I have an '82 and over the weekend finally got a chance to clean and repaint the rusty tracks. It's better, but not great. Can the early sliding doors even be great?
Is it possible to swap the newer hardware, or is there a physical difference between the early and late doors / mounts? Early sliding doors don't get much love when it comes to new parts... |
No can brah!
you can swap the top track thing, but the older one is better IMO, all teflon.
The lower stuff you can.
The track stuff by the rear window is a different animal. I like the older ones better for that teflon slider, schmoode when well cleaned and greased.
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Gnarlodious
Samba Member
Joined: September 28, 2013
Posts: 2320
Location: Adobe Jungle USA
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| Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 8:54 pm Post subject: Re: Sliding Door |
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You should do what I did:
A short length of 1/16th aircraft cable from the hardware store, run through a piece of vinyl tube, makes a nice two finger loop for pulling the door closed gently.
I glued onto the window a strong flat magnet salvaged from a laptop sized hard disk to keep the cable from popping out and getting folded backwards as you close the door:
The backside is crimped with the aluminum ferrules also from the hardware store:
Its important to maintain some tension on the cable as you smash the last ferrule in order to keep the loop rigid. After some use the cable may rotate into a bad position, at which time you can reposition them properly then glue the ferrules into place so as to keep the cable pressing against the magnet.
This is great because you not only pull the door closed easily but also inward to the latch. No slamming required!
See this page for more:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7670385
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