H3 main door lockout issues

Attachment 6569

Over the past 2 years, I have had some issues with the front door latch mechanism and the solenoid driven dead bolt on my H3. Recently, with really bad weather comming, I grabbed the door release handle, yanked and it came off in my hand. No, it did not open the door.

On a couple of other instances during cold weather, the dead bolt would not slide open when using the key pad. I remedied this several times with cleaning and lubing. But, that's not the whole of the story.

Lets deal with the broken release handle first. I made a call to Dandy Dave Wishnoff at Liberty. Not because I thought the Dave would know what to do, but because he would know what it was I needed. He promptly asked me did I have Vince's phone number? To which I respond "Yes Dave, it is in the bus, that would be locked in the bus." So Dave gives up the numbers for Scott and Vince. I get a hold of Scott first and he tells me to knock a hole in the pot metal door handle casting. I take the more elegant approach and drill a few pilot holes first. Get enough of an opening in that bad boy on the left side and you can reach right in there with a pair of needle nosed pliers, grab that linkage bar, lift it up and voila, home sweet home.

If you look at the picture, in the bottom right corner, there is a partial circle around some components. Using what appears to be a black, round component as a reference, just below it, you can see the edge of the cut-out in the exterior handle housing. To the right, is the vertical linkage bar you grab and lift to release the door latches. I received a new latch from Prevost today and have started the install.

Much thanks to Dave, Scott and Vince, true gems. And Frank, they did not pay me to say that.

Now let's talk about the nagging issue of the "sticky" deadbolt. I have lubed it several times, I have cleaned it several times and the faulty performance resumes. I spent time looking at this mechanism and I believe I found the culprit.

In the center of the picture, I have circled a fitting on the throw bar for the manual deadbolt throw and the solenoid deadbolt throw. This fitting ties the throws to the deadbolt. In my situation, the top screw (seen inside the circled area) was loose enough that it would allow the deadbolt to slip. When it slipped, the bolt was binding on the "Bolt Guide"

So, the solution:

Tighten the screws with locktite. Clean every part of the deadbolt mechanism with a solvent to remove all old sticky grease, polish off all the rough edges caused by the binding using emory cloth and relube with a dry lubricant. To be completely honest, just tightening the screws improved the performance of the deadbolt dramatically.

Hope this helps someone.

Ed,

Please post photo of the outside metal door handle casting where your made the entrance hole,

Alek

Geez, you gotta be impressed with the labeling job!!!!!!!!!

Great post Ed.
I think I will pull my door panel and do the maintainence today...

Here's the update and the rest of the details.

This is the cleaned and reassembled door opener mechanism and deadbolt assembly.
Attachment 6574


From the outside. looks good as new.

Attachment 6575

Here's the before. This also shows where to drill and where not to drill. Stay to the left

Attachment 6576

In this picture, you can see the linkage that has to be lifted to release the door latches. Stay away from the center ot the handle assembly. I'll address this in a bit.

Attachment 6586
What's not right. When the new assembly arrived, all looked good. I reassembled the door and hooked up all of the linkages and when I started testing, nothing worked. Bad feeling. When I checked, I found that one of the linkages was now about 3/8 inch too short. Disassembled everything and found that this supplied steel plate (lableled !) in the next photo was different than the original. A small difference, but enough to cause a misallignment of the linkages. Swapped this for what was on the back old handle , reassembled and everything worked fine. See, this plate is in the center of the handle and in case you need it, you don't want to have drilled holes in it.
Attachment 6577

Just a couple of other points:

There are two door latches. One is mid-door at handle and lock height, the other is art the top corner of the door. The linkages that service these both must be well cleaned and lubed in order for the opener mechanism to work correctly.

Another issue, when you do this, examine and replace the linkage clips (black clips in the next image). I had two which were very loose and one was damaged. I don't know if this contributed to the failure of the door handle or was a result of the failure of the door handle. Either way, they need to be checked and replaced if bad.
Attachment 6587

Ed,

I just want to say thanks for going the extra mile on the post. This will turn out to be most helpful for those with lock assembly issues. Interesting post.

Ed, What a great post!! Thanks for going into such detail for us....we greatly appreciate the time you spent on this!!

Ed - another thanks for taking the time to let us ride along in detailed fashion.....

Wow, I guess I made the Texas contigent happy. Good deal and thanks for the acknowledgements. It will all be worth the effort the first time someone else is able to avoid that horrible sinking stomach sensation when your coach becomes possessed and throws you you.

Tony and Jenny, when will you be singing "Nothin' could be fina than to be in Carolina in the mornin'"? I'm out here at the edge of the earth at Cape Hatteras. Wonderful?

Wayne and Jill, where have you taken the "Magic Bus" lately?

Godon, aren't you and Jennifer supposed to be singing the second verse after the Aggies crowd? Are the Carolinas still in you plan?

Wish you all were here. Tomorrow, pier fishing from the Rodanthe pier. Mullets in the 25 - 30 lbs range, blues, croakers aka drum, blow toads and flounder just starting. Lately, I spend the day fattening them up lunkers for others to catch.

Blow toads aren't pretty, but they taste good. Here's a picture.

Attachment 6592

Reminds me of how I feel if I accidently eat oysters. Matter of fact, that looks a lot like the TN crowd after 13 or 14 dozen oyters each. I think I'll name this blow toad Roger Foster.

Looking forward to the summer and seeing all your smiling faces here. Just remember, come mid July I am plannning to go north to Newfoundland and whale watching. I just hope the Dr.s cooperate this time.

Metal shavings: BITE ME!

That damn thing looks like the pollen particles in my nose and throat feels.

Hey Ed,

Now Ed, you know better than that. Put some bling on that thing before you go naming it after The King of Bling! Sounds like you are having a good time feeding the fish out there. How is Cindy doing?

Oh yeah, good post on the door lock mechanism problem. Question for you, just how many fish went without their feeding while you fixed the mechanism?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rfoster

Metal shavings: BITE ME!

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Spoken like a true Blow Toad.:D

Hey Ed,

The "Magic Bus" (we love the name you gave her) has only taken us on a few short adventures lately, but she is preparing to escort us to Creede for the summer.
We love to fish, wish we were at your place right now!!

Will, That thing is already a Blow Bling Toad. C is fine thanks for asking.

Thanks to Prevost parts, I knew when the parts were comming. On the day before the ETA, when I was finished fishing, I bought an extra portion of blood worms and just threw them off the pier. The day after the repairs, I went fishing and threw another portion of worms off the pier before I even got started. You know that wildlife gets used to humans feeding them, All those poor fish could starve with out me.


Blues hit hard on 'Gothcha Plugs" today along with ocean mullet (mostly smaller) , and steel heads, both on worms. I saw one Black Drum taken. A real nice fish, about 26 inches and I guess around 23 lbs. Sand fleas seemed to be the bobbin bait of choice right around the pilings.

Cut bait is bringing in skates and rays. Not fun. Most old timers are staying away from cut bait and sticking with blood worms which the skates and rays won't touch.

Thge day finished early as the winds really picked up and made things not so much fun.

Will, load the bus and treat Carole to a nice stay at Camp Hatteras. The weather is really starting to get nice. You know that in another 30 days, you won't be able to stir them with a stick down here.

Ed,

We would love to join you and Cindy at Camp Hatteras. Unfortunately, we are still working and hoarding our vacation leave for the Maine (or is that Main) trip in July. I know our Grandson Sully would really like to be out there "fishing" with you.

See you guys again somewhere on down the road. Are you going to Maine for Skiff's get together? If you are leaving from Raleigh perhaps we could arrange an itinerary to "Convoy" to Camp Whatchamacallit, Maine.

Think about it, maybe there are some others that would like to join in. On Wednesday last week I saw two XLII's northbound on I-95 around St. Pauls. Maybe a couple of snow birds going home to roost!

Ed,

For what it's worth, I have used small wire ties to around the "clip" part of those black clips to keep them secured to the rod and from popping off, as they can occasionally do.

So far, it's worked fine.

Will,

Remember.....you and Carole have been assigned to explain the Fisherman's Statue in BBH.

Jim :}

Thanks Paul. On two of them, I went back and used realy small wire ties. My thinking was no corrosion and no rattle. Same result, great minds think alike.

Well, you'll have to bring Sully down. We are back in Raleigh, but are cleaning and reloading to go again. In two weeks, the Bonner Bridge Catwalk will begin to heat up as the best shore/pier fishing on the OBX. Some where before June 1, we will zip down and park at the Pea Island State Campground for a few days of dry camping/fishing and then head to Camp Hatteras again.

I think our next outing is going to take us to the Chesapeake, as I have a hankering for Blue Crab picking in Annapolis. Oh yeah, and some more fish feeding. C wants to get to NYC. She wants to visit the Statue of Liberty and I promised her a stack sandwich at the Pastrami King in Brooklyn.

We weren't planning on the Maine rally. We are headed north somewhere in July after my doctors stop chopping at me. So mid July, there abouts? Maybe we can caravan to Maine. Our goal is to get as far north as we can and then jump to the eastern mountain ranges and follow fall south to Florida.

Will I hope the schedule works out. Keep me posted on your plans. If at all possible. I will work to it.

Wayne & Jill


You need to post up a good picture of those graphics on the Magic Bus. Reminds me of something from Fantasia.


If you like fishing, You can use the charters out of Haterras Village or save about 50 miles of driving and use any of the charters out of the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center sound side (east) just north of the Bobber Bridge on hwy 12.

You are always welcome.