2014 Tour, cargo door stuck closed

[flyski]

HELP... The cargo door (first one on drivers side, is closed), and the latch doesn't do anything. Have searched (hours) for YouTube, but ZERO help. Manual is worthless.
I pull on the latch, doesn't make any noise (you can "hear" the other latches pulling/moving something. I have tried pushing, pulling, lifting...No luck.

HELP ?!?!

Charlie

[Morich]

A place to start may be in making sure of what to expect?
I see there are two models of the 2014 tour, with each having two builds for that year. That leaves us a lot of guessing if we do not have the correct one to study.
Can you help us there?

Then it appears there is also a compartment in front of the wheel as well as one directly behind it. The first if counting from the bumper appears to only be manual, while the first behind the wheel has options to be electrically operated.
So is this something you know was electrically operated before and now failed or was it always a manual operation?

Where I'm going with the questions is that if it has option 12A, it might be an electrical problem but if not, a manual problem is more likely. Part of the question can get into how much experience you have with this RV, so anything on that may help.






Not meaning to offend but it is true that we can forget some of the really small details and that can put the solution over into something totally different to fix!!

Here at home, I have trouble locking the back door dead bolt. It has a different key but only my wife knows that!!!

[flyski]

It is the R2 model (QD)....

The door is BEHIND the drivers side, not the "first door", which is for the front generator control area.
The "lock" is NOT electric, unless you count the keyfob and switch that locks ALL the cargo doors, and YES I have tried this, along with the key to see if I can get it open (This is NOT my first RV, been doing this for 30+ years)....
The latch , when you pull it, is not activating the inside cable. (I can lay on the ground, and look up, and see the cable, which attaches unto door--pulling the handle , there is ZERO movement of this cable.)...

[Morich]

Okay, got a better idea of the whole problem. Sometimes it seems picky to ask the questions but it is really easy to go off in totally the wrong direction if we are not clear on sorting out the small points.
The info that it is manual and you can look up to see the cable not moving lets the electrical idea out!

So do you have the same system on the front or other doors which are manual as a way to "test" an idea?

If I understand correctly, the handle is moving okay just not pulling the cable?
If you can look at another manual latch that IS working, can you sort out how you might reach up and snag the cable on the broken door and make the cable move the latch?
My thought is that the latch is a simple bolt held in place/latched by a spring and the cable from the handle then pulls against that spring to pull the bolt. Does that sound correct and possible the handle end of the cable has just come loose at that end?
Snag the cable with something like a really sturdy hook and pull either the end down or pull hard enough to move the bolt to let the door pop open?

My tool might be a fish tape as that is what I have handy but lots of alternates to try might work.

I've seen folks use all kinds of things to pry the doors open but that often gets them damaged doors and things that we like to avoid.

One I know of was cutting the bottom compartment out enough to reach up but that is NOT my first favored idea! Did not stay at that site long enough to see how it ended.

With experience, I'm sure you've been in a few rodeos before, so keep kicking it till something works!

[tim myers]

I am not certain which latch your cargo door uses. I have attached a screen shot of the type that my 2007 Journey uses, and I had a similar issue last year. The plunger of these latches are made of plastic, and sometimes they break. The issue is that when they do break pulling the handle to open the door does not pull the plastic plunger out of the strike they ride against. In my case I pried on the door and when it opened I thought I had broken the plunger, when in fact the broken plunger is why it wouldn't open.


You can try rattling the door in and out while holding the handle in the open position till the broken piece falls out.



If this is what you are facing I may have some tips on replacing that could be helpful. If I am way off base on your type of latch, maybe post a picture from one of your working Storage Compartment doors.

[powercat_ras]

If it is a door with 3 latch points using 3 latches like the photo in post # 5 shows, then there are 3 metal links from the door latch lever that pull all 3 back together. That said this I'm describing the door on a 2015 Vista and it's possible that Winnebago did something a bit fancier or just different on a 2014 Tour that costs 3X as much.

I had one of the plastic pieces that move inside the door latch break in two, and it could no longer be pulled back by the metal link from the door latch. This was on a door that was hinged at the top and swung up to open. The latch on the bottom is the one that failed.

I had to figure out what was keeping the door from opening (one latch or all), this was done by holding the latch lever out and using a flat bladed object ( I used a plastic body tool ) to figure out which latch was not releasing.

Once that was done I had to put a flat bladed object in the gap, with the latch lever held out, to force the broken plastic piece to release. It took a substantial amount of force to move the door to spread the gap and get it to release,

I know one thing: I NEVER slam the doors since this happened to me.

[Morich]

Thanks for posting that , Jim!
Many times, the small points are the ones most likely to fail and door latches are certainly one of them. Just finding which latch is a start but the drawings for the RV they have show the latch as a bigger unit, but if they can get a picture or idea of what they have, that seems a place to start.
I was surprised to hear they could look up from below and see a cable. That sounds like a real gap to let water go up and in but being onscene is what counts!

I've not had too much trouble with failing to open. Mine was in trying to keep them from popping open when driving and I never really found a good solution but went to bungee cords to at least keep them out of traffic!

EDIT:
Looking further, I'm thinking it is a totally different setup from the 2007 to the 2014 as the OP appears to have a door which swings sideways where the 2007 has a vertical opening door with different latches.

[tim myers]

[QUOTE=powercat_ras;

I know one thing: I NEVER slam the doors since this happened to me.[/QUOTE]




I am in total agreement on the no more slamming, there is an aftermarket Mfg that makes replacement parts made from Aluminum rather then plastic that are supposed to eliminate this issue.

[Morich]

It's still an open question on what the OP has in real life but the drawings seem to show a totally different compartment and latch.

Some of the details are not shown but it appears that he might have this style latch handle looking at the inside.

This is what shows for handle.



Then there is no connection shown to get to the latching itself but it looks more like we find on entry doors with "fingers" gripping a stud, maybe?



It may be one of those that we have to see to understand what they have??

[tim myers]

WOW that looks like a main door style latch, that could prove to be problematic.

[Morich]

More looking turned up a few points that may clear up what has happened? Just theory until we know for sure that this is what he has but it might be correct?

From the first drawing I got a part number for the non electric LH hinge door latch of 141940-07. Using that for search, I found a much closer drawing of that latch ( I think??) with the parts shown.
Outside view


Inside with latch number


My best guess at where it may have failed? But no good ideas of how to get to it and fix it!!!

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by tim myers

I am in total agreement on the no more slamming, there is an aftermarket Mfg that makes replacement parts made from Aluminum rather then plastic that are supposed to eliminate this issue.

Yet the MH industry refers to them as "slam latches". The problem is, plastic gets more brittle with age and sunlight. When the slam latches reach ~18-20 yrs old they are so brittle they shatter from a hard hit.
The female part of the latch is black plastic- on the door frame, which is resistant to sunlight and getting brittle. This means the weakest part breaks first.

[lpavao]

Hopefully you found it, but the latches break frequently and will stick closed. It's an easy fix and actually low cost, you can buy from Amazon.