Entry Door Latch

[Tic Wilson]

2005 Beaver Monterey
The entry door handle has to be fully pulled in order for the door to unlatch and open.  I called Monaco and replacement parts are no longer available.  They suggested RV salvage.  I will attempt to attach a photo that shows the area of wear.  I was able to improve our situation by forcing a piece of 1/4" shrink tubing over the stud.  The stud is hard, the wear comes from the softer metal of the latch.  I am thinking that thin-wall tubing would be better, as it would wear and be able to be replaced.  I am open to ideas.

[David T. Richelderfer]

I just went through this issue too.  For me the problem got so bad that I was completely unable to open the door from the outside.  Yet, the inside door handle opened the door easily.  If you cannot open the door from the inside, then our problems are quite different, I suspect.  As the problem worsened last Fall (got it fixed I thought at Canyonville) and again over the Winter (got it fixed again I thought at BCS in April), I found pushing hard inward on the door, then pulling the opener would allow it to work for me.  But for my S.O., she was unable to open the door.  I finally found the problem here at home.  It was the lower hinge on the outside door handle.  The plastic hinge had broken out.  I called BCS and got a new exterior door handle and put it in.  Now it works like a new door.  All the other door opener parts are okay.  I replaced only the mechanism that includes the outside door handle.

By the way - leave a window unlocked JUST IN CASE you are completely unable to get the door open.  I'm glad I did.  At least we could gain entry through the window over the couch to open the door from the inside.

[Tic Wilson]

Thanks for your reply David.  Our situation is different from yours.  Both the inside and outside handles were at their max.  Installing the sleeve over the stud improved the operation of the mechanism.  Both handles now unlatch the door before reaching their full travel.  I know that the sleeve will not last too long, so I will try to find some thin-wall aluminium tubing that I can slip onto the stud.  I may have to use an adhesive to insure it stays in place.  I see that my photo did not upload, so I'll retry that. Thanks again!

[William Brosam]

i use the deadbolt to lock my door and i have to push in hard to get the dead bolt to rotate is that the same issue you guys have?

[Tic Wilson]

Different problem.  The deadbolt is a separate mechanism.  You may want to loosen the screws slightly and see if it reduces the friction.  Actually there is some play in the deadbolt lock and if it is not aligned well, it will bind.