Robert Foster
Member
The sliding door on my 2005 Sprinter Westfalia has been problematic for awhile. I replaced my center door roller arm not too long ago and then the roller on my lower support arm disintegrated so I needed to replace that and decided to replaced the upper roller arm preemptively at the same time .
I've never completely understood the design of the center roller arm, it's just not well designed or even though I replaced mine with supposedly a Genuine Mercedes part from Europarts it's defective.
The center roller arm doesn't reliably hold the sliding door up over time in the appropriate position aligned with the ridge pattern running along the door and body panels per the Sprinter Door Adjustment instructions that I have.
I try to adjust the door per the steps below but the door just sags back down.
1. place adjustable jack under sliding doors lower edge at rear of door
2. hop inside and loosen center roller arm bolt
3. hop outside and use jack to move door up overshooting ridge pattern (see #1 pic below)
4. hop inside and tighten center roller arm bolt
5. hop outside and take pressure off of jack
6. watch sliding door settle back down below ridge pattern (see #2 pic below)
I removed the center door roller arm to check it our for obvious damage (see pic #3 & #4) but accept for what appear to be some poor manufacturing tolerances I don't see anything egregious.
The other thing I notice which surprises me is that the center roller arm seems damn sloppy in the body rail and does not need to be slid in from the rear end. I can actually insert the rollers in anywhere along the rail, which doesn't seem right to me. (see pic #5) I eyed and measured the rail and it seems very consistently shaped and sized along it's entire length-a little wear here and there but nothing extreme.
What don't I know ? Any help would be great.
I've never completely understood the design of the center roller arm, it's just not well designed or even though I replaced mine with supposedly a Genuine Mercedes part from Europarts it's defective.
The center roller arm doesn't reliably hold the sliding door up over time in the appropriate position aligned with the ridge pattern running along the door and body panels per the Sprinter Door Adjustment instructions that I have.
I try to adjust the door per the steps below but the door just sags back down.
1. place adjustable jack under sliding doors lower edge at rear of door
2. hop inside and loosen center roller arm bolt
3. hop outside and use jack to move door up overshooting ridge pattern (see #1 pic below)
4. hop inside and tighten center roller arm bolt
5. hop outside and take pressure off of jack
6. watch sliding door settle back down below ridge pattern (see #2 pic below)
I removed the center door roller arm to check it our for obvious damage (see pic #3 & #4) but accept for what appear to be some poor manufacturing tolerances I don't see anything egregious.
The other thing I notice which surprises me is that the center roller arm seems damn sloppy in the body rail and does not need to be slid in from the rear end. I can actually insert the rollers in anywhere along the rail, which doesn't seem right to me. (see pic #5) I eyed and measured the rail and it seems very consistently shaped and sized along it's entire length-a little wear here and there but nothing extreme.
What don't I know ? Any help would be great.
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