‘95 Dynasty storage bay won’t unlock

[Radacravitz]

folks,

The front driver side bay won’t unlock on the left side of the bay; key turns, handle lifts up and the right side of the bay door lifts out a bit without causing damage to the door.

I have read all of the thread/posts that I can find on this (and other) site regarding stuck bay doors and my take is I need to cut into the bay from either the interior or exterior to free the locking tab that won’t free itself. (i would rather make / repair the cut than bend / damage the bay door.

my current thinking is to make the cut in the area immediately behind the left front tire, free the latch and then repair using jb weld.

i’ll likely do this tomorrow and would appreciate any/all experience-based feedback you care to offer.

images are of target bay and intended cutting area.

thx in advance.

[Papa_Jim]

Sometimes the door can shift sideways a little on the hinge. Try prying the door to the right a little to see if the left latch can release.

Jim

[Bubba1]

If you haven't already tried it, push in on the bay door first while pulling on the latch. The latches on my coach stick from time to time and this is how get them to open.



Mike H

[Radacravitz]

thx very much, guys ... I've tried each of those multiple times but I'll try them multiple times again before I begin cutting. thinking about it more this afternoon, I decided that tomorrow I'll drill a hole to accommodate my little video camera-on-a-stalk thingie to see what's actually happening inside before cutting.

thx again for the suggestions, very much appreciated.

[CadillLinc]

Is the stuck door/latch on a passthru storage bay? I had a similar situation and was able to climb thru the bay from the other side and release the latch from the inside.

Gene M
2004 Knight

[veraken]

Here is a post by someone that had a similar problem. Hope this helps.

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f115/98-h...en-360359.html

[Radacravitz]

Originally Posted by CadillLinc

Is the stuck door/latch on a passthru storage bay? I had a similar situation and was able to climb thru the bay from the other side and release the latch from the inside.



Gene M

2004 Knight

hi gene,

thx for the suggestion! the bay is opposite the propane bay and sealed off.

sigh :-)

i’ll (pardon the bad pun) lean into the pressure-tug-pull suggestions before breaking out the drill / multi-tool later today.

thx again for the suggestion.

[Radacravitz]

Originally Posted by veraken

Here is a post by someone that had a similar problem. Hope this helps.



http://www.irv2.com/forums/f115/98-h...en-360359.html

thx for the effort, veraken, but i’ve skimmed/read through the link twice and it appears to be about customer service issues.

please advise if i’ve missed the stuck-door details and i’ll take another crack at it.

thx again, much appreciated.

[WesPearson]

Sounds like the same problem I have with my Endeavor. The mechanism is somehow broken inside. I have decided to drill a couple of holes to allow me to loosen the bolts on the inside of the striker latch. It shouldn't take very large holes and the holes and I can seal the holes with silicon to keep it water proof.

[Radacravitz]

yep ... trying to figure out a workaround w/out damaging it any more than necessary.

good luck with yours!

[reride]

Radacravitz,

I had the same problem with my ‘95 Dynasty. I had 3 doors not want open, I pulled up on handle and shook and rocked back and forth for several days and finally got two of them to open...still need to open the third.

When I took the inside panel off I found that dust and debri from the insulation had collected in the door handle. Some brake cleaner and some lithium grease and they open just fine now. Still working on the third one.

Steve

[Radacravitz]

Originally Posted by reride

Radacravitz,



I had the same problem with my ‘95 Dynasty. I had 3 doors not want open, I pulled up on handle and shook and rocked back and forth for several days and finally got two of them to open...still need to open the third.



When I took the inside panel off I found that dust and debri from the insulation had collected in the door handle. Some brake cleaner and some lithium grease and they open just fine now. Still working on the third one.



Steve

thx for that info, steve, much appreciated ... i may be proactive on the rest of my doors using your technique.

i’m curious re removing your inside panel ... did you drill out the pop rivets or remove them another way?

[Radacravitz]

fixed my problem today. turns out it was sloppy locking linkage that wasn't pulling the latch bolt off the striker on the left side of the bay. i was able to determine where the stuck latch bolt / striker was located and slip a long, thin slotted screwdriver in, then tap the screwdriver to release and pop the door.

once the door was open I could see the latch bolt was retracting < half way so used my multi tool to cut an access opening on the interior pop riveted (16+) plastic door cover. once the interior of the locking mechanism was exposed I could see the left hand latch bolt linkage was pretty sloppy and not capable of delivering the pull needed to release the latch bolt.

fix was easy peasy, just pushed a star washer down each linkage rod and bob's yer uncle.

there's a bit more to it that I'll post with pics tomorrow.

[veraken]

Glad to hear you got it open. Looking forward to your pics.