Re: [A/S] Door locks

[Jerry Flanders <jflanders2@xxxxxxxx>]

When ours opened, it slammed back against the stop and actually warped or 
bent the door, sort of "straightening out" the curve. There was then a gap 
at both the top and bottom.

I made a spacer tool from a piece of scrap wood - about 1.5 inches thick. I 
placed this tool in the door near the lock position where the bend seemed 
to be centered. The tool then held the door open about 1.5 inches, but only 
at the center.

I stood in a chair and worked the top while a friend leaned down and worked 
the bottom. We pushed together several times. Each time we could feel the 
door getting closer and closer to the original curvature. We stopped when 
we felt it was about right. If you had tools of different thicknesses, you 
might use them progressively for "fine tuning".

I had the door pop open twice on rough roads before I finally got that 
latch installed at the bottom, so we had to bend it like this two times. No 
problems. The door fits well now, and there are no kinks or visible bends 
anywhere.

BTW, the door on my friend's AS MH does not open toward the front, as my 
trailer does. His MH opens toward the rear, so the MH doors would not fly 
open like the trailer ones do.

I can't help but wonder why Wally made the trailer doors open "suicide" 
fashion like this. He tested everything pretty well on the road when he ran 
the factory, and most things back then were very well thought out. I don't 
see _any_ good reason why the doors open to the front on trailers, though.

Jerry #4404