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Sliding door is hard to shut/open

17K views 21 replies 10 participants last post by  JonnyDelux 
#1 ·
When I got my van, the door was kinda hard to shut. It would slide easily, but it took several tries to get it to latch fully. Then it started being difficult to slide. I got a can of white grease and greased the latch and the track, and it worked perfectly. The next day it was just like it was before I greased it. Now it slides and latches good, but it's nearly impossible to open because when you pull the handle, it doesn't pop out. It unlatches, but you basically have to pry it out with your fingers so it can open. What could this be?
 
#3 ·
When you open the door all the way, look at the van where the rear slide first contacts. Grease there and it will make a huge difference.
 
#6 ·
Take a look at the center rear the door. Specifically the slide/hinge assembly. Ascertain if the little spring that kicks the door out when the latch opens is intact. The hinge pin can also come dislodged which will misalign or jam the works. This may or may not be part of your problem. Hard to say with out looking at the door. Worth a shot...

Bob
 
#7 ·
RECox286 said:
Take a look at the center rear the door. Specifically the slide/hinge assembly. Ascertain if the little spring that kicks the door out when the latch opens is intact. The hinge pin can also come dislodged which will misalign or jam the works. This may or may not be part of your problem. Hard to say with out looking at the door. Worth a shot...

Bob
Can someone possible provide a picture or diagram of exactly where this spring is. The slider on my '90 Safari has not worked easily for many years. I've improved it by cleaning all three tracks and lubing them. The slider seems to move fairly smoothly, but when you pull the handle to open the door, the door doesn't pop out from the body at all. You pull the handle to release the latch, then you have to push outward to get the door to move.

I'm going to find some lithium grease today and clean the tracks again.

Is that spring on the inside of the door or is it visible without taking anything apart? I don't see any springs anywhere associated with my slider.

Thanks,
David
 
#8 ·
Sorry but I don't have the capability to do pictures. Look in the area of the door (center rear) where the door latch is. There is a "hinge pin" that holds the slide/hinge assembly. The pin is inserted from top to bottom, and on the pin there should be what looks like a clothespin style (somewhat) spring. Most of the time they are intact, sometimes only one end of the spring is intact, and occasionally it is missing.

I just got a 95 cargo and not only is the spring missing, but most of the surface that the lower roller assembly rides on is full of holes right thru to the bottom. I have a Flintstone-mobile ! Not sure what I'm going to
do with it. Liquid steel may be the only way to go, well, we'll see... May end up having to fabricate a new "track" and epoxy it in place.

Bob
 
#9 ·
RECox286 said:
Sorry but I don't have the capability to do pictures. Look in the area of the door (center rear) where the door latch is. There is a "hinge pin" that holds the slide/hinge assembly. The pin is inserted from top to bottom, and on the pin there should be what looks like a clothespin style (somewhat) spring. Most of the time they are intact, sometimes only one end of the spring is intact, and occasionally it is missing.

I just got a 95 cargo and not only is the spring missing, but most of the surface that the lower roller assembly rides on is full of holes right thru to the bottom. I have a Flintstone-mobile ! Not sure what I'm going to
do with it. Liquid steel may be the only way to go, well, we'll see... May end up having to fabricate a new "track" and epoxy it in place.

Bob
Thanks for the reply. Here are some pictures of the center latch mechanism. Is this the area where the spring is and can you see if mine is missing?

David
 

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#10 ·
Bingo ! that is the place where the spring should be, and obviouly it is not. Also note that the pin is not all the way down where it should be. Although, it is very close, so make sure the lock on the pin is holding it in place by trying to push it up (it shouldn't go any higher than it is) In the picture I also see a lot of grease/dirt buildup on the roller and on the track. Alll the tracks and rollers must be CLEAN and Lubed in order for everything to work. You may have to remove the roller assemblies, one at a time, to get them cleaned and freed up. The door won't workvery well, if the rollers don't roll. And Also, you should see if the door latch bolt is in good alignment with the latch of the door (same area, but just above what is shown in the picture, and located on the door jamb). You may have to adjust the bolt a little. #50 Torx. I had one that was worn so bad, I had to change it to get the door to latch properly. If when the door is all the way open, it is hard to release the bottom latch, you can insert a spacer between the release cable and the locking lever (bottom roller assembly).

Take your time, and good luck. Let us know how you make out. Hope all this helps. Try to look at things logically.

Bob
 
#11 ·
RECox286 said:
Bingo ! that is the place where the spring should be, and obviouly it is not. Also note that the pin is not all the way down where it should be. Although, it is very close, so make sure the lock on the pin is holding it in place by trying to push it up (it shouldn't go any higher than it is) In the picture I also see a lot of grease/dirt buildup on the roller and on the track. Alll the tracks and rollers must be CLEAN and Lubed in order for everything to work. You may have to remove the roller assemblies, one at a time, to get them cleaned and freed up. The door won't workvery well, if the rollers don't roll. And Also, you should see if the door latch bolt is in good alignment with the latch of the door (same area, but just above what is shown in the picture, and located on the door jamb). You may have to adjust the bolt a little. #50 Torx. I had one that was worn so bad, I had to change it to get the door to latch properly. If when the door is all the way open, it is hard to release the bottom latch, you can insert a spacer between the release cable and the locking lever (bottom roller assembly).

Take your time, and good luck. Let us know how you make out. Hope all this helps. Try to look at things logically.

Bob
Thank you for helping. My service manual does not seem to mention that spring. I suppose it will be a trip to the local GM Stealer, I mean Dealer, to order the spring. I'll update after further work.
David
 
#12 ·
One more question. The picture below is a parts diagram for the 1985-03 Safari or Astro, it does not seem to show a spring around the pin. Is it possible these years of the van did not come with a spring?
David
 

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#13 ·
Couldn't say for sure but all my gen 1 trucks do have the spring. Some are broken, but they are there.
Not sure that even a dealer would have the spring, I think you are going to have to graze in a JY for this one. Also, you might be able to find some rollers that are better than yours if you look around.

Bob

Maybe you will become our resident sliding door maven after this go round !!!
 
#14 ·
I am still unable to determine if my sliding door is supposed to have some kind of spring in the latch mechanism to assist with the door opening. I stopped at the GMC dealer, parts department, yesterday to see if they could be of help. They were not much help. However, he did print out their diagram of the 1990 sliding door. I can not see if there is any kind of spring.

I also stopped by O-Reilly auto parts and picked up a can of White Lithium Grease. I'll spend some time cleaning the three tracks and then lube with the Lithium to see if it makes a difference.

Can someone take close up picture of their latch mechanism with the sliding door slightly open?
David
 

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#15 ·
I have not been able to locate a diagram or picture showing a spring within the latching mechanism for my sliding door. I started disassembling the interior passenger side rear so I could get to the little screws holding on the center exterior sliding track cover. I changed my mind due to the amount of interior panels I would have needed to remove. My van is a conversion and I would have had to remove the panels from floor to ceiling.

So, I wiped out the tracks the best I could and sprayed them with the white lithium grease. Man, that stuff is slicker than gorilla snot and works like a charm. The sliding door is much easier to move. I still think something is not quite right when you first pull on the handle to open the door. It does not pop out like I think it should, but it works much easier now than before.

David
 
#16 ·
:banana: I finally figured out why my sliding door was hard to open, and the repair took all of 15 seconds.

My sliding door was hard to open because the top of the striker, (not the part of the striker that goes into the latch), but the larger part on the end that the torx bit goes into, was rubbing the inside of the latch mechanism when the door was closed. Basically when the door was closed, that part of the striker was wedged into the latch housing, it made it difficult to open without some force. After making a slight downward adjustment with my mallet, maybe 1/16th of an inch, the door opens with ease.

I discovered the problem because I noticed the top of the striker just above where the torx bit goes was rubbed to a shine, bare steal, no black paint. Since I do not have a torx bit in the size needed, I tried my mallet. It only needed to move a tiny bit. Then I repainted the striker black to see if the paint gets rubbed off when closing and opening the door. So far, the paint is staying on, and the door is working better than it has in several years.

David

 
#18 ·
RECox286 said:
Hey,

Please be a bit more careful about saying you fixed a Chevy with a F**d tool, OK ?

Bob
If you mean I should not say that I made a repair to my GM (Safari) with a tool specifically designed for another automotive manufacture, I completely agree, that is not my preference on how to effect a repair. Using "their" tool was just easier than purchasing the correct size torx bit to move the striker less that 1/16th of an inch.

Apologies and kind regards, it won't happen again. Thank you.
David
 
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