Please Direct Me To All Threads about Stuck Door Handles

[jerichorick]

Originally Posted by Kathleen

The inside white plate with the handle and locks on it costs $72, plus shipping about $82. I'll eventually end up doing that, I expect. When I order it I want the person who takes it out of stock to move the white handle up and down before it gets packed. I want to be sure that it actually moves when it's not connected to anything. All the people who have been advising me expect that their next suggestion will be the one that makes the handle move. So far, nothing has changed.
Kathleen

I found this (http://www.winnebagoind.com/service/...08/8wf224v.pdf) under "Winnebago resources" for your model year. You do not state your exact model so I am not certain if this is correct.
Try https://www.etrailer.com/ for parts. Search your part #. Good folks.
Happy trails,
Rick

[Kathleen]

Originally Posted by jerichorick

I found this (http://www.winnebagoind.com/service/...08/8wf224v.pdf) under "Winnebago resources" for your model year. You do not state your exact model so I am not certain if this is correct.
Try https://www.etrailer.com/ for parts. Search your part #. Good folks.
Happy trails,
Rick

Thank you, Rick. I looked at the three locks offered by etrailer. They're all the same except for color. They don't match the Tri-Mark lock I have now. I don't think they would work, though I'll call the company to ask whether they can be adapted.


I originally wrote another, more specific, post here. Its title is: 2008 Access Door Handle Won't Move. Look at responses 18, 19, and 30 for some pictures of my door. And then compare them with the latches offered by etrailer. What do you think?
Kathleen

[Morich]

If/when it's time to really get desperate, and now seems close, I might go for definite desperate measures!
You know about cheater bars for when we are not strong enough? Not saying you are lacking but then there are times when we just can't get something to move, like lug nuts on tires!
So is it time to look for a good solid pipe that fits over the white door handle and something is going to move! Maybe break something but sometimes it's just time to move on as it is pretty close to junk now.
Maybe a pre-cut pipe about three feet long from a big box store and take it back if it doesn't fit??

[Kathleen]

Originally Posted by Morich

If/when it's time to really get desperate, and now seems close

Yes, Richard, you might be right. However, because I don't expect to be RVing this summer, my "now" could stretch into several months. If we all weren't so uncertain about where we're going to be this summer, this fall, and even next winter, I'd feel more pressure to solve the problem today. Who knows when next I'll be driving the RV.


And I'm a girl, so I don't have the same compulsion that guys do about working on a problem constantly until it is solved.



I'm pretty sure my next step - when I feel more confident about going into stores besides grocery stores - will be to take the latch to my local Winnebago dealer and ask him whether the handle should move or whether it's permanently dead.


I've just sent an e-mail to etrailer.com asking whether their substitute latches would fit into my door frame. I don't see a way for the gold post in the frame to fit into the etrailer latches.
Kathleen

[Morich]

Got another thought and some pics to compare, your latch and Randy's latch are the same except turned, so I did some photoshop to make them look much more the same and point out where it might be hanging!
The handle of the white portion is just on a shaft through the white where I've drawn red lines. That shaft has to turn to move the long bar which is showing on your latch but not on Randy's. But if the black metal plate is somehow hitting on some ridge/stop, etc where I circled red, the black plate can't move and the shaft also can't turn, meaning the inside lath white is stuck!
Can you see putting something like a flat screwdriver between the white and black of the plate to push it off anything binding it at the red circle?
I think you mentioned the long rod just flops, so not being the problem that's jamming things.
As I see it, the black plate should just swivel at the shaft (red line) and be pulled back by the spring, so the problem looks like it has to be right there close.

[Kathleen]

Yep, Richard, looks logical!
I'll try it . . . tomorrow. Don't want to move too quickly, as I said above.
Thanks for being so creative.
Kathleen

[Morich]

looking even closer? See the molded in almost vertical line? His black plate stops at that line while yours seems to have ridden up onto the molded line and might be simply stuck up on the ridge.
To save taking it all apart yet AGAIN, is it possible to give the end of that "floppy " rod a good tap to maybe force it to the right in the photos and make the black plate come back down off the ridge?

[Kathleen]

Originally Posted by Morich

looking even closer? See the molded in almost vertical line? His black plate stops at that line while yours seems to have ridden up onto the molded line and might be simply stuck up on the ridge.
To save taking it all apart yet AGAIN, is it possible to give the end of that "floppy " rod a good tap to maybe force it to the right in the photos and make the black plate come back down off the ridge?

No, I have to take the plate off to open the door. The only way to open it is to wiggle the shiny rod. Fortunately I didn't put the rubber stopper back onto the place where the rod and nut stick out. Taking the stopper off has taken a while both times I've had to do it.


I'll show that picture of the inside of the latch to the Tri-Mark person who has been e-mailing me. Maybe she'll notice the same thing you did.
Thanks again.
Kathleen

[tderonne]

Originally Posted by Kathleen

No magnifying glass anywhere.
Sorry

Same here. Chrome on a laptop. There is a Search menu option in the yellow bar, and a "powered by Google" search box, but I never use them.

I prefer to just make google do it:

"site:winnieowners.com trimark latch" That's what the "powered by Google" box does when you hit the winnieowners.com radio button.

I like to click on images for generic searches too. Easier to spot what I'm looking for in a picture than reading a bunch of words sometimes.

[Kathleen]

Originally Posted by Morich

looking even closer? See the molded in almost vertical line? His black plate stops at that line while yours seems to have ridden up onto the molded line and might be simply stuck up on the ridge.
To save taking it all apart yet AGAIN, is it possible to give the end of that "floppy " rod a good tap to maybe force it to the right in the photos and make the black plate come back down off the ridge?

Richard, I think you've found the problem. But after I get the black plate off the ridge, how should I bend it flatter so it doesn't just slide back on the ridge again?



It's the middle of the night, and I'm thinking about how to bend the plate instead of sleeping. I wonder if I can get a pliers on it and squeeze it flatter. Or pound it flatter with a hammer. I was thinking about putting it upside down on a cushion so I wouldn't scratch the white paint and then either just pounding it or putting a piece of wood over the part I want to bend and then pounding on the piece of wood.


Kathleen

[Kathleen]

It's daylight now. My next worry, before I've gone outside, is whether the shiny rod attaches to anything. The picture looks like the only thing is the nut. The rod doesn't slide through a ring or anything. It just gets positioned in the right lower corner.





I'm wondering about the instructions from Tri-Mark that were posted earlier, either in this series of messages or the other one. Why would removing the nut and putting it back on do anything? I'll read the instructions again before I go outside.


Kathleen

[Morich]

Not much help other than to agree with the thinking. It seems there has to be some connection from the handle inside to the black plate. We can see that and then on to the rod but that rod has to someway connect to the claws. As we close the door the claws are forced to close around the gold post but to open there has to be some connection to move them open again. If not they might just fly open every time the wind blows.
On keeping the black plate from going on the ridge, I suspect it is a matter of this rod being loose, which lets the plate move too far (overtravel?) and that is how it get stuck as you most likely did pull on the handle quite a lot trying to get it to work.
Guessing here?
If the rod is connected to some item, the nut is then used to change the amount of slack in the handle movement and that keeps the plate from moving too far.
So the question of the day is to what and how is the rod supposed to be connected?
But that is a guess and looking around turned up this post which sound right for what you have:
https://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/tri...le-479375.html

[Kathleen]

Ta Dah! !

The handle moved ! ! !

When I took everything apart this morning I saw that the black plate on the inside of the latch was, in fact, not stuck on the vertical white bumper. It just looked that way in the picture.

I took the nut completely off the shiny rod and pulled everything off the door. The handle didn't move. I put everything back, but with just one screw because I knew I'd have to take it off again. No luck. I took everything off and screwed the outside and inside pieces together apart from the door, just on a shelf. The handle moved a bit. I couldn't see anything that was bumping into anything else. I put it back on the door and followed the instructions for adjusting the nut which Tri-Mark provided in this link:

https://www.winnieowners.com/forums/...re-330834.html

By the way, there is a ring inside the door itself which the shiny rod slips through.

The handle continued to move after each step. I have no idea what changed. Whim. I opened and closed, locked and unlocked, the door multiple times from the inside and with a key from the outside. Everything still worked. I cleaned up and returned the extended socket to the man from whom I borrowed it.

I'm holding my breath.

Wouldn't it be lovely if the repair lasted until it's safe to travel around the country again!

Thank you everyone for all your suggestions. I learned a lot.

Kathleen

[Morich]

Looking for the tab he mentioned, He marked it in black but I have used red as I had trouble spotting it.
See anything like this on the outside part?
Possible the inside plate moves the tab on the outside latch part and IT move the claws?

[jerichorick]

Originally Posted by Kathleen

Thank you, Rick. I looked at the three locks offered by etrailer. They're all the same except for color. They don't match the Tri-Mark lock I have now. I don't think they would work, though I'll call the company to ask whether they can be adapted.


I originally wrote another, more specific, post here. Its title is: 2008 Access Door Handle Won't Move. Look at responses 18, 19, and 30 for some pictures of my door. And then compare them with the latches offered by etrailer. What do you think?
Kathleen

Kathleen, what does the exterior look like? Here is the TriMark site: https://www.trimarkcorp.com/en/zPlat...categoryid=176

You may need to replace the lock set. But, I suspect something else is wrong here. You just might have a part in the door portion of the lock that is jammed. With the plate you picture, do the handles move?