Replacing Sliding Door Lower Roller - Pictures

jkd159

Member
Has anyone had any luck at replacing just the roller on the sliding door lower track? For a 2005 T1N, right side door. I can buy the entire lower assembly (part #5103588AA) but thought I'd try to just replace the roller if possible.

For those who are in the same boat... my slider door was rough so I planned to lube it with a bunch of garge door track grease (lithium grease I think?). I took off the plastic step cover to clean out 10 years of junk. The step cover is held on with five T30 bolts. The middle one is long, the others are short. It was hard to pull the four diamond shaped plugs from the step. I ended up screwing a small screw a few threads deep in each one and using pliers to yank it out. The fifth bolt is deep in a hole underneath a plug you can pry off with a screwdriver. This is at the side of the step closest to the front of the van. This picture shows the removed step and all the bolts and plugs...


After removing the step, I found the lower door arm had been sliding on just the post. Probably for years. I found the remains of the roller amid tons of dirt, debris, and one pen. Looks like this...


So if someone knows how to replace just the roller, I'd love to do that. Thanks!
 

shortshort

Dis member
Re: Replacing Sliding Door Lower Roller

Maybe a nylon shower door roller like people use to fix the window track slides. I wanted to clean that area out and you're right. Those plugs are a beotch. Used an air gun. Found some interesting stuff. I'll try your trick and when I put it back maybe try to gasket it with weather strip or a split hose.
 
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220629

Well-known member
step.jpg

Steproller.jpg

Thanks for the pictures and details on removal.

That roller will be tough to replace over the retainer style stud.

vic
 
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jkd159

Member
That roller will be tough to replace over the retainer style stud.
Yeah, I was thinking about that. If I could find the right size roller I would grind away the top of the stud. Then just slip the roller in place and add a bit of epoxy between the stud and the inner race of the roller. It shouldn't take much to keep in in place. If it all fails, I just replace the entire assembly (which is plan B right now anyhow). Just need to find the right size roller.

If it helps anyone, there is a Dorman aftermarket replacement for the lower slider. The mopar part number is #5103588AA and the equivalent Dorman part is 924-120. Don't know how the quality compares, but the lower slider doesn't take any of the door's weight, so a lower quality replacement might be fine.
 

cahaak

New member
I just replace my lower roller today. I used the total Dorman part, the number which has been posted here. Area under the tray was a mess and the roller had fallen off the stud just like in the post here. After cleaning and replacing, I found that when closing the door, the bottom of the roller assembly rubbed / dragged on the bottom sheet metal. I proceeded to raise the door using the top roller assembly, but it was still dragging. I though about bending the lower roller assembly up some, but then realized I didn't need to do that. Instead, I place a washer under the assembly where it attaches to the door on the lower screw. This in effect tipped the roller part of the assembly enough so that it not travels the entire length of the track smoothly without dragging. In fact the door works smoother than it ever has now.

Chris
 

djc126

Member
Hi. I have the same situation with the sliding door - no roller.

I found on EB that nonstop_auto in UK sells some of the sliding door roller hardware cheap.

The whole lower arm is only 20GBP including postage. Way cheaper than any US seller.
In the US sprintersupplier sells for a bit more. Their prices are well below the Dorman part.

Will have to get it, as no replacement roller assy is available for the lower arm.

Regards,
 
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djc126

Member
FYI, the lower roller is also referred to as VW p/n
2D1 843 398 (or MB A9017600128)

I will be ordering one from Germany as it's cheaper yet.
Regards,
 
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Nautamaran

2004 140” HRC 2500 (Crewed)
I used the Dorman part in 2018. Quality was poor and the part didn’t fit properly, requiring extra hours of mucking around to get the door latching smoothly.
As posted above, the door-side mounting bracket has the wrong bend angle, so the roller drags the step. AND the range of adjustment is smaller so the roller projects too far.
The adjustment screws are in different locations than the OEM part, so switching the door-side half (to maintain the correct bend angle and height) then requires milling out the slots in the roller arm (to get the projection right).
I’m frugal, but I think I worked too hard for what I saved avoiding the Mopar/MB parts counter.
:2cents:
-dave

ps: I used two utility knife (Olfa) blades to pry out the diamond plugs without damage. They still blend in nicely with the step.
 
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220629

Well-known member
I used the Dorman part in 2018. Quality was poor and the part didn’t fit properly, ...
:hmmm:

Looking on Amazon, the pictures (if accurate) of these two aftermarket parts look very different.

T1NlowerRoller.jpg

Not only does the angle appear different, the roller stud style doesn't match either.

1 review on the Autopa = Oversized stamping rubs against lower rail guide causing rough sliding and door not able to close as stamping radius is larger than wheel diameter pushing out door. Had to grind to make work. Buyer beware.

No reviews to date on the JSD.

FWIW. vic

Off topic.

I purchased the Dorman 924-122 Sliding Door Roller middle position part, but have yet to install it. I hope it fits better than the Dorman lower one.
 
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crockej

2005, 2500, 144
How do you remove the guide from the track? I removed the door and the lower roller assembly moves freely back and forth but couldn’t get it to come out of the track.
 
Someone here posted about bending the flat arm enough to keep it in the track. This works, unless you slam the door. haha.

I too, bought replacement roller, but saw it was not applicable unless there was some grinding or removing the offending part that did not allow an easy install. At the time, bending the arm slightly to stay in the track was the easiest route. It has only come off when some monkey slammed the door, and is easy to put back in. I suppose one of these days I will grind off the offending part and use the brass rollers.

Bouncing around offroad in Baja has not caused a problem with this temporary fix. The monkeys have.

Don't slam the front drivers door will now be a mandate for anyone to work on my T1N.

Thanks to all here.
 
My bad. I was referring to the front cab window parts.

When adding some adhesive sound proofing recently, I did unscrew the plastic sliding door footwell piece, which released the lower slide door control roller. There was a bit of muck collected down there that I cleaned up before laying down the sound proofing and isolating the metal from the plastic footwell piece. I cleaned up the surface of the roller and lubed it a bit with some lithium spray before I reinstalled the plastic footwell piece. There is now no way for any moisture to reach the metal footwell area under the plastic.

The front cab footwells showed much more water intrusion than the side door area. MB got the slide door footwell right. The front cab footwells, not so much, with the rust out of sight. I cleaned up those metal footwell and sprayed a few coats of Rustoleum before isolating all the metal with the adhesive sound proofing. That stuff sticks to the metal and seals completely, plus the sound is so much quieter.

There I go again off topic back to the from cab footwells, but the driving experience is dramatically improved.
 

Nautamaran

2004 140” HRC 2500 (Crewed)
Off topic.

I purchased the Dorman 924-122 Sliding Door Roller middle position part, but have yet to install it. I hope it fits better than the Dorman lower one.
I installed that part on mine spring of 2017, replacing the worn and “drooping” original. It bolted straight in, and adjustment went smoothly.

At that time I couldn’t stomach the price of the lower roller, so replaced the failed wheel with a bit of stainless tubing, welded to the factory arm as a skid-plate and generously greased. That worked better than the failed roller post, but had a lot of shudder, and I didn’t want to risk wearing the plastic track under the step further. For the price of the lower roller you’d hope they would be more faithful copies...

-dave
 

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