Back Door Locking Mechanism

crookedread · 09-12-2011, 11:13 PM

Weekend before last, my son was racing in a 24 hour desert race just outside of Falon Nevada (VORRA) and I agreed to pit for him and bring his quad down in my 2312 Stealth Toy Hauler. After unloading the quad at the track, the mechanism that holds the back door closed seized up and would not close. It was like the hinge pins and the levers were both made of soft aluminum and galled. I tried to lubricate them and work them back and forth but they just got worse until I could hardly move them. There is only a little pressure on them when closed to help the door seal and I have only had the door open about a dozen times so I cannot understand why they would gall. Since I was going from there to Yosemite and Lassen, I had to beat them shut. Anybody heard of this and have a solution? I was thinking of drilling the hinge pin out and using a stainless steel bolt in place of the pressed in aluminum one. Other than that we had a great trip and our son took second in class 1.

Crookedread

msteeler · 10-16-2011, 09:13 PM

Did you ever get this fixed? My 2612 is doing the same thing. Mine is still under still warranty so I was going to take it in, but of you found a fix I might just do it myself. Thanks

crookedread · 10-19-2011, 04:27 PM

Msteeler,

I had another trip planned so I didn't have time to take the trailer to have it repaired. I removed one side of the locking mechanism. There are only four screws and it comes right off which is a good thing to remember because anyone can get into your trailer by taking off the four screws on each side. The factory holds the hinge pin in by pressing an indentation into the hinge thereby pinching the hinge pin into place. I thought it was worth a try to drill that indentation out and then knock the pin out with a drift. Because of the galling, it was a little tight so I drilled the center of the 1/2" hinge pin with a 3/8" drill bit. The bottom pin popped right out but the upper one was a lot more work. I replaced the aluminum hinge pin with a stainlless steel bolt. I bought the SS Bolt long enough so the hinge dosen't ride on the threads of the bolt but as you can see in the picture, I still need to tighten the Nyloc Bolt and trim the excess threads off. The other picture shows the bottom hinge pins after drilling the pressed indentation out. The right one shows some galling but neither of these was like the upper hinge pins. They were really bad and were impossible to move. The upper hinge pins were destroyed during the drilling out process.

And now for your entertainment, I will tell you what happened with the hinge on the other side of the door. Because the first repair went so quickly, I decided I would fix the other door the same afternoon since I needed to load both quads and meet with friends the next day. The bottom went just like the first one and was quickly removed but on the upper, as I drilled the hinge pin out I broke off the drill bit in the hinge pin. My wife is looking over my shoulder as I write this and after her editing, all I can say is "Gosh I had a great evening!!"

Anyway, if you are still under warranty and don't have an impending deadline I suggest that you take it back to the dealer to have it worked on. Just don't let them install the same soft aluminum hinge pins again. By the way, when you install the SS nuts on the SS bolts be sure to use never-seize or some product that won't let the two surfaces gall because they will if you install them dry.

As far as the security of the door, I am thinking of installing a simple retainer on the inside of the trailer.

Hope this helps

msteeler · 10-19-2011, 05:45 PM

Great, thanks for the info. If you have some pictures maybe you could post them? I'd like to see how it turned out. Thanks

crookedread · 10-19-2011, 07:13 PM

Sorry, I selected the pictures but didn't upload. Try this

msteeler · 10-24-2011, 12:24 PM

Thanks for posting the pictures. I tried a little WD 40 to see if that would help mine and seems like it did. I'll be checking it again this week since we leave Friday to go camping.

crookedread · 10-29-2011, 05:05 PM

I tried to lube them but too much galling had already occurred before I even noticed. Let me know how there working. Its amazing that no one else has had the problem. I wonder if this soft hinge pin was a mistake at the factory or something new they are trying. Anyway, good luck with yours!

msteeler · 11-01-2011, 12:03 PM

So far so good. Just went camping in the desert last weekend, lots of sand and they swing open no problem. Before I really had to lean into them just to get them to the point where the back would just clear.

JLR · 11-08-2011, 06:24 PM

Mine are galling as well, so you're not alone. I just try to keep them lubed up good. Besides, I have bigger issues like my fuel station not wanting to work at the moment!!

crookedread · 11-08-2011, 08:38 PM

Do you have a 2312 also because mine started acting up too. I took the pump apart and it seemed to be OK but when I was under the trailer I noticed that the fill and the hose come out of the tank on the opposite side of the trailer from the station. I noticed the hose as it crosses under the trailer is very flexible and runs through a couple of brackets where it almost goes flat. When the tank is low, I think the hose is sucking flat and only allowing a small amount of fuel through it. My remedy Is to buy a higher quality piece of hose that will not go flat and the second Idea is to shorten the suction hose by moving the fill station to the other side of the trailer. The existing fill hose is so short that I have to move everything out from under the awning to get close enough to fill. It will also eliminate having a fuel hose crossing under the trailer. I have had a lot of smaller problems with this trailer but I still absolutely love the layout.

JLR · 11-08-2011, 11:21 PM

Not to hijack this thread, but to answer your question....mine is a 2612 and I am not even getting the pump to make any noise. It's too cold out to work on it, so I'll have to wait for a nice day to test the electrical.

msteeler · 11-10-2011, 11:49 AM

The only issue I had with my pump is when I turned it on it would leak gas. The yellow stuff they used, the gas would just eat it up. I took it back to the dealer and they replaced that with the yellow tape. And why the fill station is on the same side as the awning I have no idea. I also had a issue with the gas gauge not working but they fixed that.

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