Community Forums

roadstar99 · 03-27-2012, 02:57 PM

I am new to the forum but have found it already to be so helpful. Saw an old post about removing baggage

doors but did not quite understand it. Newmar's way did not work. Got estimate of $400-$500 to remove old doors (3) by sliding them off but having to remove all doors and fender skirt, bending the hinge and sliding off the rear. Newmar said they will pop off the hinge but does not work. Previous post was to hold horizontally and push toward coach. Does that mean the sides of the doors (horizontally)? Do you hold doors 1/2 way open or up against coach side to push against the coach? Could someone help us novices to remove these doors and install 3 new ones?

Steve N Sal · 03-27-2012, 03:21 PM

Um, I'll welcome you to the forum and say glad you joined us but I'm gonna have to let an expert help you with the doors. Hopefully someone will be along to resolve your problem. Hope you enjoy the site as well. Be safe and Happy Motoring!!!

"007" · 03-27-2012, 06:38 PM

Welcome roadstar99 to the forum & irv2.
Been looking through my files and irv2 files have not come up with answer.
The last I can remember was there are some clips on door in later models that have to be removed after your remove struts, you may not have them, than you lift door from half level to 45* angle and pop off the rail hinge.
With both hands on door sides lift to 45* and pull, may want someone near hinge to put pressure on hinge area and help catch the door with you it may be heavy for one person.
I have a friend that has done this many times.

RobRV · 03-27-2012, 09:39 PM

The Passenger side Doors on My 98 are easily removed by opening,removing Struts then held so the Door is Flat...Like a Wing! Push the Door towards the Coach and the Hinge will quite easily disengage from the channel that it hooks into.On My Rig I have had 3 Doors damaged and repaired on the Passenger side.

The Drivers side requires a little extra effort. It is necessary to drill out the Rivets that prevent the Doors from sliding along the track. I have only had damage to one Door on the Drivers side.The Rivet removal was easy and allows the doors to slide off the end of the track.

ronspread · 03-27-2012, 11:18 PM

I was unable to remove three storage doors using the diagramed procedure on Newmar's site where you hold the door at 60 degrees and pop the bottom of the door with your hand or a rubber mallet. I ended up removing the hinge stops and sliding two out and new ones in, then aligning and installing newly placed stops. I could not get proper clearance to slide the third door, so I removed the hinge screws from old and new doors, had my wife hold the new door in the open position against the "old hinges still in place on the rail", drilled new pilot holes and installed the screws, aligned the door and checked all latching mechanisms. I wish they would have "popped loose" as described, but I was able to replace them. Oh, for the interested....I had a car hauling truck and trailer side swipe me as they left a parking lot......of course the was no note left for compensation. The side pieces, door face, locks and two bottom curved pieces were destroyed, so I bit the bullet and ordered complete doors from Newmar. $600.32 per door. Also, there was a "swoosh" decal that was aged(2003 DSDP) so I decided not to install a new one. As a result, I needed to remove the part of the decal that went across the slide bottom and back towards the rear of the MH. If you have to remove a decal, don't bother with Goof Off, Krud Kutter, or the hair dryer and ice scraper. Go to the auto paint store and ask for a decal eraser wheel....you chuck the arbor into your drill and the eraser type material heats and removes the decal and adhesive. All that remains is eraser fuzz and powder that are wipped away with a clean cloth or washed away. A great invention used by the professionals to remove pin striping and decals when time is money.

roadstar99 · 03-28-2012, 06:38 AM

We have tried the hitting at 60deg and have tried the pulling at 45deg. We have not tried putting pressure on the hinge. We did remove the struts and the clips and the doors move freely back and forth in the hinge. We will be trying again today as we had to pay a lot just for the 3 doors and the painting so really hate to have to pay $500 to put the new doors on. They would be removing all the doors and fender all the way to the back, popping off the hinge cover, bending the hinge and take all of them off the back of our passenger side then buying a new cover to reinstall and I guess just straighten the hinge. It's the first three doors from the front so seems to me it would be easier to slide off toward the front but the hinge would still have to be bent to get past the front passenger door.
Thanks to everyone. Will let you know how we do today. Hopefully, something will work.

"007" · 03-28-2012, 07:52 AM

Some of the older RV's had a finished end attached to end of rail that had to be removed and all the doors had to slide off the hinge rail to get to the door for replacement.
Shouldn't have to damage the rail or end finish piece.

roadstar99 · 03-29-2012, 06:05 AM

Thanks to everyone but we've tried all the pop-off methods with no luck. We do not have a finished endcap on our rail, either, and we would have to slide off all of the doors from the front passenger door back including the fender and remove part of the rail and bend out the hinge or remove the trim piece that is at the back of the coach. We see that there is a break in the hinge and in the rail at the third door, so as a last resort we will remove the rail, unscrew all of the hinge up to the pass door, and remove them that way. A lot of work but easier than removing all of them and possibly bending the hinge. Will have to order new rail but cheaper than $500. Any ideas of how to remove the rail easily? Any gotchas we need to know about when removing the hinge? Thanks to all. So far, Newmar no help.

"007" · 03-29-2012, 02:17 PM

This picture shows what your door , siding rails may look like.

In your coach there will be a build number for your coach maybe on paper in one of your cabinets or in material that came with your coach. Something like mine 70366.
If you can give me the number I maybe able to see what your two parts look like to compare and figure out how your doors are mounted.

ronspread · 03-30-2012, 12:03 AM

Roadstar99, if you have a couple of friends willing to hold the old and new doors in the open position after the hydraulic hold open rods are removed, you can change out the doors using the old hinges. This way you don't need to remove the rail on the side of the coach or repaint any surfaces(I remember that you already have painted the doors). What I needed was a couple of #2 square tip screw driver tips(yes the hinge screws are Phillips, but a #2square tip fits deep inside and won't strip out. Remove a screw and take it with you to Home Depot to be certain that it's a #2 square tip that fits, just in case yours is different. Have two friends hold the door open fully so you can get to the hinges, remove the screws, have friends set aside old door. Remove new hinges from new door. Have friends raise new door to the full open position and place against the hinges, mark the hole locations with a red or black fine point Sharpie marker. Have friends remove door, drill pilot holes smaller diameter than the screws. Have the friends move door brace up to full open position and align against pilot holes, insert screws and tighten. Install all three doors first, drill pilot holes for hydraulic rams(it's best to have a friend compress and hold it while you drill the pilot holes), install screws in ram mount. Don't put in the stops next to the hinges until all the doors are done, so you can equally align the gap spaces between the doors. If you didn't order the doors with new latches, then you'll have to remove and reinstall them on the new doors. I was able to get two doors out by sliding them out the rail without moving it, just removing the caulking that plugged the end. otherwise I would have changed out the hinges on all three rather than bend or remove the rail. Good luck with the replacement. Ron

MikeandClaudia · 03-30-2012, 12:35 AM

My best suggestion is to find out who, in your area, is the body shop that does the most RV body repair. Drive over there with "doors in hand, and see if them won;t help you out.

The guy that has the body shop in the Amarillo area popped them in in about 6 or 8 minutes, simply because he had done a bunch of them before.

Good luck!

roadstar99 · 03-30-2012, 06:05 AM

We did take our RV to a dealer but he didn't do a lot of painting or removing doors. He's the one who wanted to bend the hinge, remove the rail and remove all doors on the side out the back for $500. Will check with other dealers in the area.
We have the rail on our doors that curves into the rail hinge. Are you talking about different hinges to remove on the door?
The number of our Newmar floor plan is 3858. Not sure if that is the build number. The rail picture is the same as our rails.
Thanks to all of you. We're considering all options and haven't done anything yet.

ronspread · 03-30-2012, 09:59 AM

Roadstar99, the hinges I was referring to are the ones that are fastened to the door and rotate in the side rail. If you open the door and look at where it connects to the rail, you'll see that there are two hinges on each door that have 5-7 screws attaching each to the door. Good luck, Ron

smoker · 03-31-2012, 03:59 PM

Roadstar99, if you follow RV Rob, directions you shouldn't have any problems, may have to take a rubble mallet and hit the connor, but they should come off, be sure and drill out the pop rivets first. I think that it was rv rob, who told me how to do mine, it was a little harder then one would think, but they will come off that way..
sorry I didn't reply sooner, but been out camping.. two people are better than one, but I did mine by myself..