sliding door inside latch

[malcolm2]

What is up with my inside sliding door latch? the lock specifically??

The locking lever will only move about a 1/4 inch.

Thoughts?

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My Toys: '75 Porsche 914, '92 Ski Nautique and now a 1972 VW Transporter Deluxe (punch list fixing)

[busdaddy]

You can only move that when the door is fully latched front and rear, close the door and then turn the handle up so the back sucks in and clicks, then try it.
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[SGKent]

remember that on the slider, they have an inside and an outside lock which are independent of the other.
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[malcolm2]

[andrewtf]

I have this issue on my bus as well - to a degree.

My bus was really rebuilt up to about midway up the sides because of rust, rust, rust. Part of this was that the shop had to rebuild the sliding door track.... and didn't get it exactly correct (along with about 100 other things.. but that is another story). Of course, I did not install the slider until maybe 6 months after I got my bus back from the shop.

The front about 6" of the bottom door track has about 1/2" of play "in and out" (towards the bus - and away from the bus). The top does not. The shop just did not know about the precision needed here - and assumed the door could be adjusted to compensate for any slop. (wrong)

The 'normal' way of closing the door sort of has you pulling "out" a bit as you slam the door closed. If I do this, the door will not lock from the inside. If - when I slide the door closed - I "push" into the frame as it slides closed, it will then lock and unlock properly.

I have adjusted this thing about a million times and cannot get it to work 'properly'. Right now - I live with the irritation. The little lip of the latch locking tooth gets hung up on the edge of the receiver on the frame and won't allow it to lock. (Yes - I have also adjusted, shimmed, Dremeled the edge, of the receiver also). As far as I can tell - this is just 'friction' on the latch that needs to be overcome, but I am not willing to break anything to see if I am correct.

I think my issue may be very uniquely mine because of my now crappy door track, but this alternate method of forcing the door shut might help you a bit. It won't hurt. (lets hope its not just a Riviera thing).

Good Luck
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'75 Riviera - 'BIG EMMA' (Pan American highway trip paused for a make over)
'77 Riviera - Murphy' (being reborn.... slowly)
'63 Austin Healey

[Type2_Personality]

My 71 developed a similar problem. I gave the door lock mechanisms (inside and out) a good lubrication with TriFlow and that worked really well. In my case I think it was just a lack of lubrication.
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1971 Type II ~ Adventure Camper
2nd Owner For Over 40 Years
Back To Stock ~ 1600 Dual Port ~ Single Carb
400,000+ West Coast USA Miles
Too Many Dead Shows To Remember

[malcolm2]

Do they disassemble easily?

In my case the little lock lever won’t go down no matter if the door is clised or not.
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My Toys: '75 Porsche 914, '92 Ski Nautique and now a 1972 VW Transporter Deluxe (punch list fixing)

[SGKent]

[busdaddy]

Mr. Bentley describes the process of adjusting the cables and rods between the two mechanisms very well, there's even pictures with arrows and stuff. If the rods are out of adjustment the front latch may not think the rear one is playing along.
The front unit is not easily dismantled, the rivet like things holding it together are a one time use deal, that's not to say you couldn't carefully put all the bits back up against the door and use the screws that hold it to the door to keep it together. A soak in some solvent, and a bath in an ultrasonic cleaner is the best I've managed, it works great unless there's a broken spring inside.
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Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

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[Type2_Personality]

[malcolm2]

Reviving this to get better clarification.

I could not move the small switch prior to installing it, or once installed.....

However, I got in the bus, closed the sliding door and the little switch moved the full amount. I assume this is probably spelled out in the owners manual??

But here is how i see it working....

* fully close the sliding door.
* rotated the large handle backwards and hear a click (which did not sink in from Busdaddy's comment)
* push the small switch down FULLY
* large handle will not move (open the door)

So you now have locked the door

As I have read several times, you cannot unlock the door from the outside, if you locked it from the inside.... and vise-versa. Seems to be a 72 design feature!

So my sliding door lock does actually work.
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My Toys: '75 Porsche 914, '92 Ski Nautique and now a 1972 VW Transporter Deluxe (punch list fixing)

[airschooled]

Sounds correct for a 68-73 door.
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