2012 DSDP Pocket Door Latch Adjustment

[MJFZ]

Symptom: On our 2012 DSDP one of our pocket doors would not stay latched when underway. The door would bang open and closed and we would secure it by putting pillows at the base of the door to keep it from opening. We had our dealer adjust the door as well as Newmar when in Nappanee having other work done on our coach. After each adjustment the door would stay latched for a few thousand miles and then would return to banging open and closed. With the help of Newmar customer service, I decided to find a more permanent solution.
In retrospect I should have taken a few pictures, but while making the adjustment I did not think of it. I will do the best I can do to describe my solution. The door is held in an open or closed position by a plastic bullet shaped pin with a hexagonal base at the top leading edge of the door. When moving to either full open or closed this pin ramps up a plastic retainer mounted to the top rail and then drives into a hole. The interference fit of the pin in the hole is what keeps the pocket door latched in either the full open or full closed position. The plastic bullet shaped pin is firmly attached to a hexagonal metal rod that transfers motion from the finger pull mounted in the edge of door to the plastic pin. In both cases, when the pin was adjusted, the technician turned the plastic hexagonal base of the plastic pin counterclockwise and that would extend the pin further. At the time that seemed like the right thing to do as the door nicely latched. However, the plastic pin is firmly secured to the metal rod, so when turning the pin you are actually turning the rod out of a few small threads located in the finger pull. In my case, the threads being very loose would allow the rod to vibrate down in the finger pull retracting the plastic pin and then allowing the pocket door to freely open and close.
Once I figured out how this works, the next step was to fix it. There is no need to completely remove the pocket door as I did to make this fix work. To correct the rod adjustment, first remove the four screws that hold the finger pull to the door- don’t try to remove the finger pull yet. Second, remove the leading edge pin from the top trolley. This requires you to slide the plastic lever and then pushing the leading trolley towards the trailing trolley. I used a small round inspection mirror to see how this connects. This will allow you to drop the leading edge of the door down a few inches so the pin/rod can be retracted far enough to remove the finger pull. Now you can unscrew the plastic pin and pull the pin and rod up, once the rod has been pulled up a few inches, slide the finger pull off the door. You can allow the rod drop inside the notch cut into the door. The rod had about 1/8” bayonet end and then threads with a nut . The nut was secured with Locktite. I decided to add a second nut (6mm) against the first so the rod would stay extended. You could break loose the factory nut and move it down the threads and use locktite to secure it. Look at the finger pull and you will see the few threads that the rod attaches to.
To reassemble pull up the rod, slide in the finger pull and now screw the rod into to the finger pull. The tough part is getting the pocket door reconnected with the top trolley. This is when the inspection mirror and a small flashlight helps to see what’s going on. Not much room for your fingers, but with some patience it will go back together. Don’t forget to move the trolley lever back to the lock position and replacing the four screws holding the finger pull on.

[MoBlue]

Thanks for finding a fix. My pocket doors have been driving us crazy just as you explained. The dealer tried twice to no avail, so I secured both with Velcro at the bottoms. I'll attempt what you have explained above. Thanks.