Community Forums

jestal · 08-18-2016, 10:13 AM

Not to hi-jack the thread on retrofitting the entry door handle with the Summit Stainless chrome part...call is in to Summit to order said piece...... I wondered about the stories told in the past of people being locked in or out of their coaches. Did some searching and could not find what I remembered. Have there been issues with being locked in or out due to lock failure and if so does anyone know what actually fails in the lock mechanism? Obviously if I'm going to disassemble the lock for the new chrome handle it would be a good time to beef up/replace whatever has failed in the past. Always paranoid about that lock failing since it does take some abuse with slamming and pulling hard on the inside handle to try and shut the door quietly at night. Does anyone know of any inherent failure mode to be on the lookout for and/or what was repaired in the past?

757driver · 08-18-2016, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jestal

Not to hi-jack the thread on retrofitting the entry door handle with the Summit Stainless chrome part...call is in to Summit to order said piece...... I wondered about the stories told in the past of people being locked in or out of their coaches. Did some searching and could not find what I remembered. Have there been issues with being locked in or out due to lock failure and if so does anyone know what actually fails in the lock mechanism? Obviously if I'm going to disassemble the lock for the new chrome handle it would be a good time to beef up/replace whatever has failed in the past. Always paranoid about that lock failing since it does take some abuse with slamming and pulling hard on the inside handle to try and shut the door quietly at night. Does anyone know of any inherent failure mode to be on the lookout for and/or what was repaired in the past?

Al,

I think that the prior problems were with the deadbolt either breaking and jamming in the door or the deadbolt being out of adjustment.

Gary.Jones · 08-18-2016, 05:14 PM

Deadbolt problem for me

Gary

waterboy10 · 08-19-2016, 07:18 AM

We got locked in as the rubber gasket pushed too hard and the deadbolt jammed on the door. We were at Spartan and were having a cocktail party and one of the guests locked the door when he came in as was his habit. We had to call security and passed the keys to them and they were able to press the door from the outside to get the key to turn and let us out. The deadbolt was too thick and I see they have trimmed it down a good bit. Makes for a fun story. My DW wouldn't let me bail out of the coach at the fire exit. It's always something. LOL.

wmpbauer · 08-19-2016, 07:22 AM

The deadbolt is also the culprit that has caused problems on the black handles...it's not just the chrome handles.

Pat Bauer, President
Entegra Coach Owners Association
www.entegraowners.com
2017 Anthem DEQ/Ford Edge

Electra 225 · 08-19-2016, 07:55 AM

I had one of these fail once, (deadbolt could not be unlocked). I found that the mechanism inside was held in place by very small screws which appeared to be stripped during assembly. This of course allowed the mechanism to come apart inside leaving the bolt disconnected in the locked position.

Once I had everything apart, I VERY carefully (the metal is extremely soft) honed out the mounting holes on the casing and put the mechanism back in place with bigger diameter screws. Take it easy or you'll strip these out too. I lubed up moving parts and reassembled.

Just another case of "not beefy enough stuff" so you have to re-engineer it.

Regards,
W.D.

Magic-carpet · 08-19-2016, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waterboy10

We got locked in as the rubber gasket pushed too hard and the deadbolt jammed on the door. We were at Spartan and were having a cocktail party and one of the guests locked the door when he came in as was his habit. We had to call security and passed the keys to them and they were able to press the door from the outside to get the key to turn and let us out. The deadbolt was too thick and I see they have trimmed it down a good bit. Makes for a fun story. My DW wouldn't let me bail out of the coach at the fire exit. It's always something. LOL.

Having been at the party, it is a fun story to look back upon..! It would have been a totally different outcome if we had been somewhere else besides the Spartan parking lot attending the owners class..!

jestal · 08-19-2016, 09:34 AM

Thanks for the replies. I'll thoroughly examine and exercise the dead bolt while the lock is apart to see if anything obvious needs to be done.

I still remember being awakened at 2:00 A when the neighbors came home to their coach (SOB) and immediately broke the key off in the deadbolt lock. The locksmith finally arrived and had to drill the lock out so I really want to avoid that sort of thing if at all possible.

I realize the issues were not related to a chrome handle but, just my luck, I will take it apart to put the chrome handle on and then will have some other link or screw break which is what I wondered about.