Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Simple Fix: Sliding Door Closing When Parked on an Incline

The sliding door in an Agile only opens halfway, latching onto a clevis pin in the middle of the lower sliding door tract. Over time, the latching mechanism wears out and becomes easily unlatched, causing the door to slam shut; this usually occurs when the van is parked on an incline with the nose down. When the sliding door is latched open, a small door movement can cause the clevis pin to wiggle/rotate, resulting in accidental unlatching.

The original clevis pin used as a sliding door stop.

To resolve the issue, I replaced the clevis pin with a 5/16" x 2.5" stainless-steel carriage bolt. A 2" long carriage bolt would have been perfect, but HD was out of stock during my visit. The carriage bolt is held in place by a stainless-steel lock nut. The carriage bolt is cut short to about the same length as the clevis pin. The carriage bolt square-neck fits perfectly into the counter sunk hole made for the pin. 


A diagonal slot is cut on top of the carriage bolt head for a flat blade screwdriver; you need something to keep the bolt from turning while the lock nut is threaded tight.
 
Counter sunk hole for the clevis pin.

With the carriage bolt installed and secured with lock nut from the bottom.

Close up view of the carriage bolt. The bolt is solid and does not move or rotate unlike the clevis pin.

When closed, the small compartment door perfectly clears the carriage bolt's head. Problem solved.



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