Quote Originally Posted by Jamie_Bradford View Post
My front door latch made a "pop" sound today and I was not able to open the front door. Luckily Debbie was on the bus and opened the door.

I took the door panel off to look at the situation and this is what I found:

There is a rounded triangular piece of metal on the lower bottom center of the mechanism which turns the assembly clockwise when the latch is pulled and thus opens the door. The problem is the assembly is loose and goes "outward" as the metal tries to turn it thus causing the metal piece to "pop" around under it and not turn the mechanism?

I looked to see if the mechanism could be tightened down but it cannot?

Any thoughts?

I am in Florida , heading to Lazy Days Monday ( 2/8) for a rally. Should I let them look at it or go to Parliment or Millennium or is this a part that can be fairly easily obtained and installed?

Thanks

Jamie


ps What would one do if this happened and no one was on the bus?? How would you get in???
Jamie,

Now I can chuckle about it, but at the time of battle, it was not a laughing matter. On the rainy night before we left the OKC POG Rally, Lee was taking our dog out for the nightly doggy time. I was in the coach surfing the net when I heard a knock on the door. Lee was outside and could not open the door. Luckily, I was inside and was able to remove the access panel to the door and lift the lock assembly and open the door. We talked about not shutting the door unless someone was inside the coach until we could get repair parts. Since we were going to Fort Worth to visit our son, I would drive to Prevost Fort Worth and pick up a new door handle. So the next morning while POG members were leaving and waving, I was connecting the Jeep while warming up the engine. Lee came around the corner with this "special look" on her face and told me she had shut the door and no one was inside the coach! After a few moments to let my brain absorb this shocking data, I went about trying to figure out what to do. Thoughts of removing the front windshield were painfully "spiking" what little thinking capacity I had left. To make matters worst, then I remember that Jim C had just pulled out and he had all the windshield tools.

Then I remembered how the lock mechanism was made and what needed to happen to unlock the latch. First, I removed the plug mounted forward of the handle. Then I took a hack saw apart and used the forward bow section of the hack saw to reach inside the release the latch. Their are no words to describe the feeling of "hearing the latch release". Only one that experienced this particular failure can fully appreciate this sould. Plus, opening the door certainly relieved any "martial tension".

So to answer your "PS" question of what to do if the door latch fails with no one inside. You can open the door using my technique, with allot of luck.

I mentioned that while fresh on my mind, I would design an emergency "unlock" tool and share the measurements, but the priority of the project has slipped. Jim C reminded me, so I will work on it this week.

Hector
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