Door adjustment

[NOVA Airhead]

I tried searching but did not see anything that addressed this. One of my doors appears to be out of adjustment. Its difficult to latch and often doees not stay closed. I tried adjusting the hinges and lubricating the mechanism but am still having a problem. The door appears to not be flush with the body when closed.

Any suggestions? Can the latch on the door frame be adjusted?
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Ghia Owner Emeritus

[Semper_Dad]

When you mean "not flush", do you mean the latch side or the hinge side. I believe the striker plate on the door post has some adjustment to it.
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Walküre Restoration Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=737492

[NOVA Airhead]

Its on the hinge side. The panel is not quite flush with the body when sighting down it. It seems like the door should close in a bit further.
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Ghia Owner Emeritus

[laughatgravity]

if you lay a straight edge across the body to the door it would not be "flush"door would be out farther.

If you have a hard time closing/latching your door make sure the weather stripping around the door is sitting properly.

[Semper_Dad]

The only thing that comes to me at the moment is that maybe the door seal is not correct and is pushing the door out. Picture may help.
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Walküre Restoration Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=737492

[uberautowerks]

You said "at the hinge side" So... at the front of the door?
I ask because a misalignment there shouldn't effect the latch.

But you also mention it doesn't always latch/stay latched.
This would be an alignment issue at the "Striker". The striker is the stub that sticks out of the body that the door latch hooks on to.
It sounds like the striker needs moved outboard a bit. There are two allen head bolts to loosen. I like to make a sharpie line around the striker BEFORE I move it so I can tell how much and in what direction I moved it.

Remember... your door latch has TWO positions. If you just close the door softly it will catch the first position. Then push the door harder and you will catch the second.

I would guess you are just catching the first.
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--- The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at and repair.
- Douglas Adams -
---
'74 Thing (White)
'71 Single cab (White too)
'70 Weekender (White three)
'05 Evolution VIII (White also!!!)
'68 F-250 (White over black)

[laughatgravity]

grease the latch mechanism

[74 Thing]

I never understood why the door latch has two locking positions.

[Semper_Dad]

It's a safety feature i believe
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Walküre Restoration Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=737492

[uberautowerks]

All modern cars do, it's a safety thing. They can't have you falling out after you failed to close the door fully
_________________
--- The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at and repair.
- Douglas Adams -
---
'74 Thing (White)
'71 Single cab (White too)
'70 Weekender (White three)
'05 Evolution VIII (White also!!!)
'68 F-250 (White over black)

[[email protected]]

could be a bent body, i would remove all the hardware and soak in mineral spirits then grease reinstall, its probably just some gluey gook on there. but if your lazy just work the latch by opening and closing the latch while spraying maybe silicone spray so not to ruin the paint. or if you dont care about the paint i would use pb blaster
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Michael Basso
http://www.thingparts.com
New and Used VW Thing Parts Free advice
CALL 518 630 0173

[sdwalter]

I'm with Uber on this one. It sounds like the striker is out of alignment. I had a similar issue with one of my doors and messing around with the striker plate fixed the problem eventually. I didn't do the sharpie trick and ended up playing with it for quite a while before I finally settled on a position I was happy with.

[kubelmann]

VW Thing Door Adjustment 101 (kmann style)

Step One: remove and completely clean the outer door handle
Step Two: remove and completely clean the inner door handle

Both of these latches have been over lubed for decades and are now coated with dirt hair dust held firmly together by the remaining varnishes from the wrong and too much grease being applied. Locksmiths have a dry lube that does not attract dirt. It should be used on the handles prior to reinstallation.

Once the door handles have been services and reinstalled most of your door issue will be magically solved.

[NOVA Airhead]

[kubelmann]

Exactamente!!! I have done 12 Thing doors in the past month and in each case, it was mostly a matter of cleaning that inner latch. It is a very complete mechanism that keeps the door on its intended path.

[Semper_Dad]

Agreed, my front passenger door decided to stop latching about a week ago. Removed the lock/latching mechanism and give it a good cleaning and lubrication. Works great now. Now I need to pull and clean-up the other three.
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Walküre Restoration Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=737492

[kubelmann]

"Once any AC VW owner cleans one door mechanism the others are soon to follow. " Tonsillitis

[Semper_Dad]

[kubelmann]

New hot topic VW bumper sticker making funds equal to the happy face...

"Have you cleansed you inner door mechanism today?"[/quote]

[Semper_Dad]