Dang pocket door again

[Tom]

Chris retired early last night and, as she did, I recognized that noise - the dumb pocket door fell off its hanger again! More correctly, the adjustable hanger unscrewed from the rest of the slider assembly.

Past experience told me not to attempt to fix it at that late hour, because I'd disturb my neghbors with my cussing. So I waited until this morning, went to the hardware store and found a permanent fix. All it took was a lock nut on the adjustable hanger, something I'd asked the factory tech to install but he obviously forgot.

The attached photos might help explain what was going on:

• The door in its "fell off" position.
• A drawing of the door slider.
• My door slider with the parts separated.
• The culprit - the 1-piece "adjustable hanger" which unscrews itself from the upper part while the coach is in motion &/or when the door is opened and closed.
• My temporary overnight fix.
• Door fixed.

 

[John From Detroit]

Ah, oh the joy... I've re-hung that kind of door (but not in an RV) many times

My Damon is not as "well built" so the only door of that type I have is open on one side....Much easier to service

(I'm serious about well built, the "pocket" format is much nicer, my door is much cheaper.. .but it's also easier to fix)

 

[Tom]

John,

I have no idea why they'd put a pocket door in this location, since the bathroom door almost opposite is a regular door. With  a little creativity they could have used one door for both needs.

In case it didn't show, I hate pocket doors 

 

[Ron]

Have never had a problem with ours on any of the three coaches.

 

[Tom]

You're lucky Ron. We've had both pocket doors on this coach fall off several times. In fact, when we first saw the coach at the dealer's lot, one of the doors was in pieces. Apparently it had come off while the coach was goin down the highway.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

We've got two pocket doors in this rig and haven't had a problem with either.  Perhaps a different hanger mechanism than yours or maybe they used loctite on the it.

 

[Ned]

Our pocket door has come down a couple of times because there were insufficient screws holding the track up inside the pocket.  We solved that by cutting an 11" square hole in the closet wall to allow us to put in larger screws.  I don't think it will come down for a long time   A 12" square piece of masonite covers the hole and it can't be seen without really looking for it.

 

[Tom]

You'd think that Loctite would work, but one of the hangers that has fallen off had what appeared to be Loctite on it.

 

[Tom]

Ned, I hope I don't have that problem, although the possibility has crossed my mind when I've re-hung the doors.

 

[Karl]

Perhaps there's enough room to put a second nut on as a jam nut?

 

[Tom]

Karl,

I could have used two nuts, but chose to use a single nyloc (sp?) nut essentially as a jam nut. The originals didn't have any nuts on them, which is why they kept unscrewing themselves. The coach manufacturer saved all of a few cents on the 4 missing nuts and bit more on a few seconds of labor.

 

[Karl]

Yes, a nyloc nut should work just fine - (as long as you don't have any nylon maggots in your  coach :)

 

[Tom]

My fix lasted over 14 years. But today, just before we sat down for dinner, one end of the same pocket door dropped again, and I immediately knew one of the hangers had come unscrewed. Put it back, as I did 14 years ago, and re-snugged the Nyloc lock nut. Hopefully this fix will last another 14 years  ???

I kept this reply in the same 'old' topic, because it's a continuation of the story (same coach, same door, same hanger) and keeps it all in one place.

 

[8Muddypaws]

You may notice that the edge of the door will no longer mate perfectly with the frame a long time before the door actually falls.  We have two pocket doors in our rig and when I see this condition I know it?s time to adjust them.

My doors have never actually fallen.

Sometimes it?s good to be a little bit OCD.