Front Door Closer

[JimDyer]

The front door closer on my 98 Marquis is a gas strut, similar to the ones that hold up the bay doors. Yesterday the door got caught by a gust, and the strut broke.

Since we bought the coach, the door has not closed well and it is not always possible to get the door closed enough to use the deadbolt.  Now it closes easily, and I am wondering if the strut was the problem. If so, should I replace the old 20 lb strut with a fifteen lb one?

Thoughts?

[Edward Buker]

Jim,

There would be very little difference in use between the 15lb and 20lb gas strut given the leverage for the door. The only thing is, these struts lose charge over time and starting with a 20lb strut would give you a longer life window of use. I'm not sure how the strut is mounted and what adjustment you might have but the issue is more likely that you were hitting a stop limit preventing the door from aligning the deadbolt mechanism rather than a pressure issue. Might want to see if the mount can be altered (bent, redrilled, adjusted) to give you the same alignment that you have now. This is all a bit of a guess without looking at it....hope it helps.

Later Ed

[JimDyer]

One end mounts to the door frame on the side with the hinge. The other mounts to the door near the top on the side that opens. So my thought is excessive pressure is pushing the top corner out and causing the door to scrape on the frame, causing misalignment.

[Edward Buker]

Jim,

Not sure I can help you much here..... Maybe someone with some experience with that door design could chime in.

The struts are not that costly, seems like your instincts are worth a try here. If the 20lb strut was very old it would probably mirror the pressure of a new 15lb strut. As an experiment you might even try a new 10lb strut version, if they make one, to see if it does help with the door alignment.

later Ed

[Glenn Perkins]

Hey Jim,

Hope all is well for you and Sue.  

On the door issue, we have had the same dead bolt not aligning on our 99 over the years.  What I found works for me is to do minor adjustments to the latching mechanism on the door ... sliding the mechanism out on the door to make it close tighter since our alignment issue was that the door did not close enough to permit the dead bolt to engage.  I tried loosening the latch post (on the wall of the coach) but could not get the necessary alignment that way ... hence the mechanism on the door became the target of opportunity. A lot of trial and error achieved the end result.

Good luck and take care.

Glenn and Betty
Basking in Yuma this winter.

[JimDyer]

Hi Glenn,

I got a new strut from NAPA today and they don't carry a 10 or 15lb, so I got the 20 and installed it today. Looks like part of the problem is a previous owner went weatherstripping crazy and that was keeping the door from closing completely......now that it closes I will need to follow your trail and align the lock.

We seem to be fine, the weather here is unbelieveable, probably only missed the pool 3 or 4 days in February. Hope you and Betty had a good winter in Yuma

Jim & Sue
Just another winter in Paradise.