Community Forums

Dale F · 09-23-2012, 04:56 PM

I have the 45DL14 Select. On this weekend's trip I notice excessive noise from the door and the top of door was "fluttering". I stopped and by listening it appeared the air actuated angled plunger that locks the door in place was working. I played with it a little and contined on and all appeared good, however a little ways down the road I heard a bang and believe it was the actuator disengaging and the air noise was more. After arriving at my site I took the plate off and verified the cylinder was working properly. I sprayed some Teflon lub on it and put it back together. Took off today and all was fabulous for about an hour then the bang again and the wind noise. When stopping to review the actuator appears to work correctly, but something has to be wrong. Anybody have any idea? The bang noise was like a ball bearing hitting the side of the coach. It gets your attention.

La-Z-Boy · 09-23-2012, 08:43 PM

I have an '07 45DL24 Select Limited, and had the same problem on Friday. When we started out, all was fine. Stopped for lunch, and could actually see daylight in top of hinge side corner. Pulled over and set and reset emergency brake several times and actually got it to "hook-up" properly. No more problems rest of weekend. I might try the lube thing as well. Happened once before about a year ago. Most aggravating in windy and/or rainy day!!
Jeff

4x4crazy · 09-23-2012, 10:26 PM

Dale,
I have an 06 Select and had the same problem. If you notice there is a pin on the upper portion of the door on the front side that the air plunger holds in place. This pin is ever so slightly to short. The fix is to add approximately 1/4" to this pin and that should fix your problem. Mine would malfunction when I hit a rough spot in the road. This fix has been discussed in the forum in the past. I drilled a hole in my pin and installed a self taping screw to the desired length. It has cured the problem almost 100% . Good luck.

Dale F · 09-24-2012, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4x4crazy

Dale,
I have an 06 Select and had the same problem. If you notice there is a pin on the upper portion of the door on the front side that the air plunger holds in place. This pin is ever so slightly to short. The fix is to add approximately 1/4" to this pin and that should fix your problem. Mine would malfunction when I hit a rough spot in the road. This fix has been discussed in the forum in the past. I drilled a hole in my pin and installed a self taping screw to the desired length. It has cured the problem almost 100% . Good luck.

4x4crazy: Can you measure your pin from the base to tip and let me know how long it is? I went out an looked at mine and one point of observation is the pin has wear on the bottom which seems strange. With the angled Teflon plunger I'd think the wear should be at the 7 to 8 o'clock position on the pin. Babbling here, I'm wondering if the pin is short if it's only holding by a thread if the banging noise was the Teflon moving back and fulling extending toward the top and in essence not latching the pin at that point? Wish it was exposed so I could actually see what was happening and not guessing.

4x4crazy · 09-25-2012, 07:42 PM

Dale,
Sorry I can't measure the pin for you. I took my coach in yesterday for some warranty work. As I recall I added about 3/16-1/4" to the exsisting pin. The issue of more is that it will hit the post when you close the door so you have to have it short enough to clear that. You may have to do a trial and error. It gives you just enough length to make the plunger hold onto it when the cab flexes. I drilled a hole in the end of the pin and installed a self tapping screw in the hole. Once I had it in I tried it in place and if it didn't clear I ground of some of the head of the screw. I'm sure there are other ways to fix but that is what I came up with.

If I can be of any more help let me know.

bullheaded · 09-26-2012, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4x4crazy

Dale,
I have an 06 Select and had the same problem. If you notice there is a pin on the upper portion of the door on the front side that the air plunger holds in place. This pin is ever so slightly to short. The fix is to add approximately 1/4" to this pin and that should fix your problem. Mine would malfunction when I hit a rough spot in the road. This fix has been discussed in the forum in the past. I drilled a hole in my pin and installed a self taping screw to the desired length. It has cured the problem almost 100% . Good luck.

We had an 06 42DL14.....take the pin off, drill and tap to 5/18 and install a socket head cap screw.....grind the head to proper length.

justaroamer · 10-02-2012, 04:38 PM

I fabricated a new plate (steel instead of aluminum) and longer pin on 2 coaches so far and both worked great. I made the pin 7/16 longer than original and put a slight bevel on the end at the jamb side to clear the jamb. Also had to file out a bit of the jamb to allow the pin to clear, but it contacts the slide latch much more than original.
The slam/pop those are hearing after starting down the road is due the the short pin and flexing of the coach/jamb due to road conditions and also the flex of both when the door latch engages when you first engage it when leaving a location that is not really level.
Some that have run many miles after the slam/pop, will wear a groove in the latch slide, but the longer pin or the drilling and extending the std. pin will alleviate this. Sometimes the aluminum pin will break out of the bracket as they were only pressed in with little or no weld contact.
The other problem that can break the pin or cause excessive wind noise is opening the door with the tranny in gear and P brake not engaged...like when you pull out, the DW is outside watching (waving arms, yelling, etc.) and you stop to let her in door opens, goes shut, damage done as slide latch moves up with no pin to stop it....and the pin is stopping the door from closing completely as it is resting or breaking out the side of the slide latch. With my fix, the door cannot even be opened unless excessive force is used and then damage could occur to the slide latch, but not the steel pin/plate. Use your exsisting plate/pin as a template this is very easy to do.
Always put your tranny in N and P brake on before opening door, just good safety.

La-Z-Boy · 10-02-2012, 04:55 PM

Thanks Roamer,
I am going to get right on this tomorrow.
Great explanation!
Jeff

4x4crazy · 10-02-2012, 10:29 PM

Justaroamer,
I think you are on 100%. I agree with your assessment. The fix does work. I have also done the door opening with out setting trans in neutral and pb on. So far haven't done any damage. Those brain Farts get you everytime.