Passenger sliding door

If you have the MB number, check out

for the conversion document

to find the Dodge number used by Berry.

Thanx HK I ordered the "German" flea bay part, will report on delivery time and quality.

There are also Dorman parts for all of the door rollers. I have replace both my center and bottom rollers with them and no issues and it gets major kid usage (abusage?). This is not relevant for the center roller, but I found the the lower portion of the bottom roller bracket (metal) was rubbing on the metal at the bottom of the slot that it rides in. I though maybe I could bend it up a bit - but instead, when I put it back it I spaced out the bottom bolt slightly with a washer and canted the whole roller assembly up some. The whole door now operates smoother than it ever has as only the rollers(all three) are not making contact as the door closes.

cahaak Can you post up the Dorman numbers? I am sure that would be very helpful for a lot of us.

View attachment Dorman Parts FleetSheet_Sprinter.pdf Here is the document that I have - it may be dated a little.

All of the door roller parts are on the second page I believe. I either got mine from Rock Auto or Amazon. Quality seems good. Cost was good.

Chris

Update here: Over the weekend I took a look at a James Cook (European Westfalia) owned by the organizers of this year's annual meet-up. Theres was the only Westy I've ever seen withOUT this extra-long, "high clearance" door carrier. I.e., their door did not have the little cutout and black plastic cap -- sometimes called the dually door -- it had the normal common door hardware. The interior panel of their door was identical to other Westies.

It worked fine. Not sure what happened with their van (it is almost twenty years old, so a door could have been replaced sometime).

The conclusion is that I have no idea why Westies come standard with this "high clearance" door carrier. I am not of the opinion that automakers go to the trouble of installing special, likely more expensive, parts on vehicles that don't need them, but it seems to be the case here.

Perhaps hkpierce can post a picture of his door interior, to see if there's a reason he got the special version?

Ted

Replacing door hardware on my 2005 Airstream Westfalia. My door has the cutout and the long arm center roller assembly. I bought the Dorman roller assemblies- top, middle, and bottom. It appears that I received the middle assembly for the short arm, non-cutout standard version.

Will this short arm assembly work on my Westy? My door has two locator slots- one for the long arm and one for the short arm version of the roller assembly. I need to drill a hole for the bolt though a covered cut-out for the short arm roller assembly that I received to work. Will this provide enough clearance for the door with the window-shade assembly on the Westy? If it wont work, what is the part number for the long arm middle roller assembly?

For the bottom roller assembly- I need to remove the step. How do I do this?

Thanks, Doug Malcolm

Hi Doug,

For reasons unknown to me, all Westies / James Cooks in got the long-arm "high clearance" door, the one that is used on the 140" wheelbase "dually" models, and special refrigerated vehicles with thicker doors.

As noted above, I have seen one James Cook with the regular, short-arm door and it worked fine. Measurements also give no reason why it shouldn't work.

Can you give a little more detail on the hole you need to drill? Perhaps a picture?

If you look very closely at the step, there are a handful of screw covers that you can stab with a small wood screw, then pull up to remove. You can either seal the resulting holes with silicone, tape, or whatever -- or replace them as they are not expensive. Excerpt from the Sprinter manual below, showing the regular cargo van. I do not think you need to remove the Westy floor to get at all these screws, but you will probably need to remove the metal casing at the edge of the step.

Do you have the Sprinter and Westy manuals? If not, please PM me.

Good luck, and keep us posted,

Ted

Thanks Ted!

I went ahead and ordered the "correct" long arm roller assembly from Dodge this morning with delivery tomorrow. It was worth the extra $60 to avoid the hassle and any potential issues.

The stainless steel runner strip on the van where the middle roller tracks is slightly dented where the roller rounds the curve as the door closes. I'm thinking about replacing this strip. Any thoughts about how difficult a job this would be? I am afraid that the cabinet in front of the refrigerator may need to be removed.... Ouch!

Also, I do have the factory PDF service manuals as well as the Westy service manual, but I do not find any information on removing the raised floor and the fascia piece around the step for the sliding door. I have removed the obvious screws, but no joy! I am afraid that the plastic fascia behind the right front door will need to be removed to access screws for the front portion of the slider step fascia. At the rear portion of the step, I am concerned that the plastic cover behind the umbrella will need to be removed to access the rearmost screw of the metal cover for the step recess. Any thoughts?

thanks again, Doug

Doug,

As you know, the Airstream manual lacks instructions on how to get that heavy black metal frame out. Poking around with a flashlight and fingers, it appears to end just aft of the start of the C-pillar (umbrella) trim. I didn't investigate the B-pillar. Both of these are not particularly difficult, as far as I know, to remove.

Have you tried pulling the metal frame straight out the door, that is, toward the right of the vehicle? I imagine it will take quite a good tug. This post on Peter's blog suggests that the metal frame is glued in two spots to the plastic tread: http://forum.james-cook-freunde.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3702&p=23170 . Slide a narrow knife under to cut the glue.

To remove the door's center track you do indeed need to get behind the fridge cabinet. That is apparently easier than feared; there is commentary on another thread about the job. The track is not just bolted but taped to the body, so you'll need a powerful hair drier or cautious use of a heat gun. It is a rust-trapper ... see at Peter's blog one example: http://forum.james-cook-freunde.de/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2567

Do you have any pictures of the track damage? It may be worth trying to repair it (for example, with vice grips using leather as a cushion) before the big job of replacing.

Also, if you have not already returned the normal "cargo" door carrier, it would be great to know if in fact it can be retrofitted. As you've seen, it is a much stiffer design that would likely improve the action of the door.

Finally, if there is any sign of the rear seam of the door splitting, repair this with sealant (I used Sikaflex 221, but there is probably a better choice) as soon as possible. Water will get between the door skin and frame and you'll have a rust nightmare. We will likely have to replace our door at some point, hence my interest in retrofitting a "cargo" version.

Ted

I know this thread is really old so let me start by apologizing. I have read every thread I can find here regarding the sliding door on the sprinter. I just purchased this van which has been well maintained. It is a 2005 Mercedes Sprinter 2500 with high roof. When we looked at the van the slide door worked fine. The next day the slide door would not open. Today I removed the handle and interior panel, cleaned and lubed the lock mechanism to no avail. I pulled the cable to the rear latch while moving the mechanism to open the door and it opened. I then cleaned and scuffed all contacts lubed front and rear latch, and closed the door. Again it would not open from inside or outside. I gently pulled the cable towards me again about an inch and the door once again opened. My post here is regarding parts, I have ordered BG73015 lock mech, BG73019 Latch, but I cannot find the rear latch with cable, nor can I find the electronic actuator. I just want to replace all of the components. I also should mention that since the first time I closed the door it would attempt to lock and then immediately unlock, upon inspection to day I noticed that the lock slide portion is not traveling all the way up to disengage the lock. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I do not have any Mercedes repair people near me. Thanks Eli

Mars, the T1N slider interior handle is a flimsy son of a gun that breaks at the plastic hinge if there is too much force needed to activate the latch (usually due to misalignment). Your last sentence describes something I had happen, and the solution was to realign the locking mechanism so it did not require much force for the electric lock to move the knob. I had to bend a part of the sheet metal it mounts to a bit, and add a shim at another spot. To test it and make sure it's working, detach the mechanism from the door and activate it with you key fob to see if it has full travel. Trial and error to find the sweet spot when you reinstall it, then tighten the screws all the way.

The "can't open the door" symptom can happen if it's not closed firmly enough.

The latch at the rear of the door doesn't fully cycle to "latched", so there you sit.

I've been able to clear the condition by pressing firmly on the rear of the door, using palm-friction to force it that last half millimeter forward and in.

...and then the door handles work to open it.

Have you gone through the "how to hang the door" instructions? View attachment DoorAdjustment-2002-2006.pdf

--dick

Thanks for the suggestions I will try all of them this weekend and let you all know how it works out. Thanks again Eli

Hello everyone,

I'm bringing this thread up to the top again to post two photos and to request an additional one.

First is the comparison of the two center rollers. The old one is the "high clearance" version; the new one is the normal one. (These are only about 11 Euros here in Germany -- aftermarket ATP brand -- so I thought I would try one. But as described above by Doug, it didn't fit.)

The second picture is the interior of our Westy, showing (as noted above) that the big Torx bolt goes through a hole further forward -- to the left, in the picture -- than the normal hole. On our van, this hole is blocked by some sheet metal. This is what Doug proposed drilling.

On our van, the big Torx bolt is backed by a special thick washer with a slot in it, flat on the side you can see, and convex on the side facing the door. Does the stock door use the same setup, or is there simply an extra hole there? Is anyone willing to unbolt theirs and find out, and post a picture here?

Many thanks,

Ted

I drilled a hole today for the normal roller but it still does not fit. The interior of the door shell is different.

You need the original part A9047600447. If you are interested in a new aftermarket normal door roller, PM me. I only paid 11 Euros and can ship it priority mail for about $8.

Ted

I hope someone is monitoring this old thread. My 04 slider has the issue of not wanting to open. I realigned metal piece between the plastic ears on the end of the black key cylinder, on the interior side of the door. Then cleaned and relubricated as much as I could without removing the outer door handle or the inner part. For some reason, I could not get them to release after removing all the visible bolts. I am hoping to access the cable to relubricate it. I've been scouring the forum for guidance to no avail. Please help.

Is the door sagging?
If it is hanging on the Latch, it can be difficult.

Not sagging. The exterior pull and interior handle became problematic and I would have to hit the fob or dash board lock button a few times to get the door to unlock and open. Hoping a lubrication of the cable and hardware will loosen things up. It’s improved with the small bit I could get to without getting to the cable.

Thanks for responding

Try this...


...if it's similar, it's a lubrication issue.