over extension of driver door= damage

mawsea

sprinter guru
Oh, and one more thing.......:idunno:...... I thought I was the only one but then i looked around....bd20_12.JPG

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BaywoodBill

pre-Yuppiedom
Hi mawsea,

I guess you damaged your door from the wind taking if for a ride? Amazing to have found so many pictures of the same probblem.
 

contractor

New member
I have not had the problem but I will be extra careful now. Are these company trucks which were likely driven by numerous employees? I have seen soom company Sprinters that have really been beaten-up.
 

mawsea

sprinter guru
My van is my baby but a gust of wind mistook my door for a sail. I noticed the same damage on a van listed on ebay so i scanned thru the listings and dug up these. It got me thinking that while Benz was so busy designing such a great riding van they overlooked the fact there door is able to over extend and cause damage. Seems that with the weight of door, parked on a hill, gravity could cause the same result. I havent looked into it but I suppose one could reposition the "stop" so the door wasn't able to open so wide. But i havn't looked into it...still trying to figure how to get my door to shut squarely on the latch now. Anybody got pictures of the same damage? I'm starting a collection.
 

ccutshaw

BigBlue
I haven't seen any damage like that. One other potential problem could be caused by some one using the door as a grab handle while climbing into their Sprinter.
Calvin
 

Therberg

Member
Modifying the door stop was one of the first things I did . Several weeks after taking delivery of my new van it was hit with over spray from clear concrete sealer being applied on a new driveway up the street. Trying to track down a collision shop that could fit the van inside to deal with the over spray , I was lucky enough to find a shop that had a fair amount of experience working on sprinters, that was in 2003 and there were not many. They did all the collision and paint work on the local Fed Ex Sprinters and they recommended making that mod to the stop because of the many over extensions of the doors they have repaired.
 

rlent

New member
My son has the same damage on his '04 for sure ..... not sure about the '06 (or the '07 or '08 .....)
 

maxextz

Rollin Rollin Rollin.....
hi all, the funny thing about all of this is there is a piece of metal "between the hinges"that is ment to stop this from happening,:rant: and i also see it all the time, mine is ok when its windy i hold the doors tight:D:
 

Pistonbroke

New member
It happened to me in a previous van of mine, a gust of wind from behind when I opened the door caused it to swing
I would be interested in any mod to stop this happening on my present T1
thanks
Jon
 

Therberg

Member
Can you take pictures and describe what was done for the benefit of the rest of the members?
I will try to get a pic or two tomorrow, the weather here has been a bit on the cold side, tomorrow is supposed to warm up to 30 deg :clapping: and I will have to pull the stop out to get a pic of it .
 

contractor

New member
I checked my hinges today and I cannot see how there could ever be interference ... there must be 1/4" gap at worst case?
 

sikwan

06 Tin Can
I checked mine too and if the door was to overextend beyond the tether (stop), the door will hit the hinge (bottom one in this case). This is true for my 2006 and the hinge is really close to the outer skin when opened all the way.

I know my door is like sail and when not careful when windy it does like to open fast. Lucky for the few times that happened, I was able to catch the door.

Thanks Mawsea for bringing it up. :thumbup:
 

Therberg

Member
Well I didn't get any pics of the actual modification but it is easy to explain. The hardest part may be removing the door panel to access the door detent/ stop.

Refer to this post for door panel removal https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1111

When the stop is removed you will see a steel pin pressed in at the end , instead of removing that pin I used a new roll pin and drilled the proper size hole , 3/8" center to center from the existing pin and reinstall stop. It is just that simple, should only take 1 hour for the first door and 1/2 hour for the second after you have it figured out :cheers:
 

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mawsea

sprinter guru
Thanks Timhttps://sprinter-source.com/forums/images/smilies/cheers.gif This is gonna save some folks from door damage
 

chuho

2005 118'' low roof
I wish I'd seen this thread before my door got over extended yesterday in a big gust.
Has anyone had the damage repaired by body shop? Was it a big job?


Charlie
 

misterbond10

New member
When I was working on my van doors this winter I noticed the metal door jam that the door bolts to is quite thin and flexible. Push the door forward until it stops and you can see the door jam flexing back and forth...Wouldn't take much wind and I'd be riding about jeep wrangler style
 

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