Question Baggage door opens during trip?

[Joe Dutchstar]

On our way home from the Keys the front baggage on the drivers side opened.
What is the best way you sure they stayed latched?
We both checked it prior to departure. It was locked tight.
The entire trip was on relatively smooth roads, typical US roads.

 

[flyboy013]

I had once adjusted the wires attached to the handles because I thought there was too much slack. About a mile after I left the campground I found that the one of those compartment doors had opened. The lesson learned was to keep a sufficient amount of slack so that the doors don't accidentally open. I have since also installed a smart switch that notifies me when the basement light comes on (ie door opened) when I'm driving.

 

[DennisT]

Our lift up entertainment bay door used to come loose while traveling.

Mothership adjusted the catch so it is tighter now and can’t vibrate to unlatched. Luckily it is heavy enough that it never swung up before we had it adjusted.

 

[bpaikman]

That's a very good topic -

I had once adjusted the wires attached to the handles because I thought there was too much slack. About a mile after I left the campground I found that the one of those compartment doors had opened. The lesson learned was to keep a sufficient amount of slack so that the doors don't accidentally open. I have since also installed a smart switch that notifies me when the basement light comes on (ie door opened) when I'm driving.

Smart switch? Link? We've not yet had bay doors come open, but they seem difficult - we frewuently have to adjust the tension.

 

[flyboy013]

Totally custom using a Wemos D1 mini (ESP8266) connected to WiFi networking feeding a homegrown SmartHome system.

 

[team bradfield]

we had one open while still in the campground, I now pull on the bottom of each door prior to departure, been good so far

 

[J&JD]

we had one open while still in the campground, I now pull on the bottom of each door prior to departure, been good so far

X2

 

[Joe Dutchstar]

Typically we both separately walk around and check baggage doors as was done in this instance. Pull on the bottom of each door. Not sure what went wrong here. I checked the cable tension, not much slack. I'll determine what needs to be done to get more slack.

Last time this happened the result was a ~$4k repair bill :-(

 

[Jabber Jaw]

we had one open while still in the campground, I now pull on the bottom of each door prior to departure, been good so far

What he said! X2!

 

[JRS]

We were taught to pull on the doors (from the bottom) per above while doing the Factory Pickup.

 

[mikestiffler]

I completely understand your situation. The morning after our first night out from buying the new coach, I had doors opening on their own and not wanting to stay closed.

The compartment door locks work great now after I use two full-thread bolts with washers, lock washers, and nuts on each one. With fourteen compartment doors that’s a total of twenty-eight new bolts, washers, and nuts.

What I discovered were the two vertical sides of the lock were moving in reference to each other. The swaging that is supposed to hold them together is not strong enough. Once the two sides get loose the latch would not stay locked and would easily pop open. The latching/locking mechanism itself is otherwise heavy duty.

After the compartment door locks were stabilized, I aligned all the D-shaped strikers. On some of the strikers I had to drill and tap new holes in the plate that the striker bolts into to get enough adjustment for my best alignment. I also used hardened flat washes and lock washers on the strikers because the mild steel washers would deform into the adjustment slots. Once they deformed it was hard to make any small adjustments.

I found that an adjustment of 1/8 of an inch in or out made a substantial difference in the feel of the door as it closed and latched. I used witness marks as I made my adjustments to keep me from chasing my tail.

On the compartment doors that have a cover on the inside I had to trim the black plastic cover to clear the lower bolt head. A minor inconvenience to keep the cover lying flat.

I now have fourteen compartment doors that are easy to close with medium force, which stay closed, and do not leak. Since the fix and after three-thousand miles of travel they have not come open on their own. I now have confidence in them staying closed.

It was worth the research, ordering, and physical work I put into it because it’s a terrible feeling pulling into a diesel stop and have your baggage door swing open.

The thought of replacing a damage door with the fancy paint job or losing items out of the compartment was my biggest motivation to permanently fix it.

Finally, I was embarrassed to have doors come open on their own. Like I didn’t know how to close them properly.

 

[mikestiffler]

Here's two pictures of the full-length threaded bolts that I used to stabilize the latch mechanism.

You can see the slight trimming I did on the cover to clear the lower bolt.

By the way, I did not have to use the eye bolt that's mounted on this door. It was an experiment on placement. It was going to my next fix if the bolts didn't work. Luckily the bolts did the trick!