Sliding Door Blind Repair

Fredb

Member
Anyone had experience with the removal/repair of the blind (one way) on the sliding door?

Any tips or advice would be appreciated.
 

CaptnALinTiverton

xT1N Westfalia
Repair of blinds (assuming you have mechanical ability and patience) is well covered in the Westy manual PDF. You may find it by searching the forum. If you don't find it, others who are more forum proficient that I can help. If all else fails, I have those pages in a small separate PDF that I can post or email to you. I always suggest searching the forum first choice. It takes experience and several attempts to getting the screens/blinds right, including tips towards making the job easier each time.

AL
 

Fredb

Member
Thanks ‘Captn’… dove into it this morning and pretty daunting to figure out how everything fits together. Will make sure to check the documentation as you suggest (have it all in a folder). My challenge is that the return ‘spring’ is not working And not sure whether it’s a matter of re-setting or broken parts….hoping the former, fearing the latter :)
 

CaptnALinTiverton

xT1N Westfalia
Damn its been so long ago; I wish I could help. I kind of recall fixing the end of a spring but not sure now. Its definitely tough work and best place I found is on corrugated board atop the kitchen table. Definitely requires a large uncluttered working area.

AL
 

onemanvan

Active member
Thanks ‘Captn’… dove into it this morning and pretty daunting to figure out how everything fits together. Will make sure to check the documentation as you suggest (have it all in a folder). My challenge is that the return ‘spring’ is not working And not sure whether it’s a matter of re-setting or broken parts….hoping the former, fearing the latter :)
I recently had the same issue - IE: return spring - I took a picture of it once I had it put back together - I simply screwed the spring back onto the plastic widget and that fixed it. NOTE: It was a bit of a chore to get the plastic widget out of the roller tube - it's a tight fit - but with a screw driver you can gradually work it out mm by mm...

PXL_20210604_194741749.jpg
 

Tortuga44

New member
Team Westie, I just did this same repair about a month ago. After taking the blinds apart completely and trying to clean the crap out of it, I think there is an easier way. I had taken out the full assembly- blind and screen out of the pop out window on the drivers side. I tried to clean all the old grease out of the coil area pictured. And I cleaned all the small wheels with alcohol. But the blind seemed a little sluggish. So I sprayed tri-flow lubricant on the edges of the roller. Worked great! So on the other blinds, instead of taking them all the way out, I tried spraying this in all 4 corners. (This makes more sense if you've taken one of the blinds apart). And now all the blinds work great- mostly. So if you're looking for the easy fix, the corner spray may be the easy way.
 

CanadaWesty97

New member
I am looking at having to fix the jammed blind on the slider door. It does not retract anymore.

Perhaps, if I feel brave enough, I would like to replace the blind behind it (above the cool box). It sticks pretty bad as it seems the previous owners must have spilled some olive oil or similar on the shelf above.
the blind material is gummy, sticky and starting to disintegrate…
Question:
Anyone has a lead for a perfect match to the original material?….
 

CaptnALinTiverton

xT1N Westfalia
They usually stick inside the mechanism that needs occasional lubrication. Define "disintegrate." You can probably clean after removal. Do you have the repair instruction from the PDF Westy manual? Blind can get greasy if you spray too much WD40 to lubricate. Repair and lube procedure is a bit tricky but doable on a large flat working surface.


AL
 

Riptide

Active member
...the blind material is gummy, sticky and starting to disintegrate…
Question:
Anyone has a lead for a perfect match to the original material?….
Haven't ordered a swatch yet, but I was thinking of trying to get some of the Phifer 7500R material, maybe in Mist... It says it's 0.012 inches thick.

 

Riptide

Active member
Well, I got the samples of the Phifer 7500R.

No go; way too thick. I guess I gotta mic the existing shade material.

Bummer.
 

CanadaWesty97

New member
Thanks CaptnAL and Riptide.
The "disintegrate" I mentioned is some gunk (black and sticky) that is on the face of the blind and of course, every time we roll it up/down, it sticks to whatever material is already rolled. I would have guessed Veggie or olive oil, but does not smell or is rancid... It just LOOKS to me that something must have spilled on the shelf above and eventually made it "into" the roll of material.

It sticks so bad that it is very hard to roll it down every time... and the fact that it sticks to itself every time...is starting to wear the shade material to the point it has some tiny holes that show when the sun is out...

Perhaps, and only perhaps... if I take it apart, I might stand a chance to clean it right up, as you just mentioned...
I was just thinking that it might be due to change the material... and since I have not been able to find the original that was used... I might have to do all 3 (sliding door, above "cool box" and behind driver (above table).

I did come across an outfit in Germany that has the right material, but of course, not the right colour. Mine is an original James Cook (1997) imported from Germany and mostly blue/grey. The material I saw is beige (sand) and seems to be the match for the North America version. There was a number of changes when they re-designed to become the Airstream.

Here's the link I came up with through the James Cook Forum:
https://www.campingplus.de/campingartikel/remis-springrollo-remisun-creme-127-x-60-cm
If the link does not do it, go to the website:
campingplus.de

There is a reference above about the WESTY MANUAL PDF, that covers the repair.
I am no wizard at searching forums so I wonder if anyone can quickly narrow down where to go... fo me.
Thank to all for sharing info!
 

Riptide

Active member
It might not look the best, but how about just putting a piece of clear packing tape over the sticky part. At least it would seal it under the tape, and no longer stick to the material. Or maybe spray the whole shade material with a waterproofing spray, to seal over the sticky substance.

Did you look in the "sticky" post titled "Key Westfalia links" for the repair manual?
 

CaptnALinTiverton

xT1N Westfalia
The following on the blind repair was taken from "20xx - Westfalia Testing Repair & Electrical.pdf" but someone else will have to help where I got it from; it's been a long time and I couldn't find it tonight in a relatively short time.

AL
 

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