land trip: door repairs edition

[kellan_the_tabby]

[ Tyrava’s back doorknob, a fancy black lever, is fastened to a heavy-duty handle next to the door by a bungee cord. ]

Not long after setting out — in fact, before I’d actually left the driveway — I realized that Tyrava was having a problem, which was that her back door wasn’t staying shut.

Since she was carrying approximately half of what I own at the time, this was KIND OF A PROBLEM.

The immediate solution was obvious …

… but the actual fix was gonna hafta wait til I’d had a chance to stop at a hardware store.

[ A close view of one of the heavy-duty hinges holding Tyrava’s back door on. The screws that should hold it in place are visibly pulling out of the door. ]

Given that the screws were only an inch long & set into the particle-board interior of the original door, yeah, they were gonna pull out eventually. Fortunately it was an easy fix. Unfortunately I hadn’t brought any clamps big enough, so I hadda buy another one.

… oh well, not like you can have too many clamps.

[ A quick-release clamp that’s a good eighteen inches long sits on the seat of my comfy folding chair, along with a package of more heavy-duty door hinges and a baggie of LONG screws. ]

I’m glad I thought to GET the clamp, otherwise I’d’ve been trying to hold the door in place with one hand & probably my knee while trying to get screws in with the other, & that never goes well. But this made it easy.

[ The door’s all the way open, and clamped into place; one of the screws formerly holding the hinge to the door is partway out, the rest waiting their turn. ]

The new screws are four inches long. THAT oughta last a while.

[ Four new screws holding the hinge in place. Everything looks properly lined up and sturdy. ]

& then I added a third hinge, on the theory that overkill is rarely a BAD idea.

[ There’s now a third heavy-duty hinge between the two that were holding Tyrava’s back door in place. It’s closer to the top one than to the bottom, because I just slapped it on there. ]

Success! The door is held firmly in place! It still closes & opens correctly! It’s not going anywhere!

… it still flaps open if I drive Tyrava over anything bumpy, I DO NOT KNOW WHY & IT IS VERY FRUSTRATING, but at least the door is staying on the hinges now.

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Comments

[herveus]

Add a deadbolt or a hefty barrel bolt to secure the door for travel?

[kellan_the_tabby]

Yeah, I did that, I'm just REALLY cranky because THAT SHOULD HAVE WORKED.

[siliconshaman]

What you need is a drop bolt. Basically a usual slide bolt, mounted vertically so it goes down into a hole drilled in the floor. The slide bolt can't jiggle loose easily, and it'll hold the door firmly in position. You could even add a small section of metal pipe as a bushing in the hole, so it doesn't get hammered out of shape easily when you're bumping along a dirt track or whatever.

If you're feeling flush, two of those, top and bottom, should hold the door very firmly.

[kellan_the_tabby]

... I like that idea, although I'm still cranky cos that should have WORKED

[thewayne]

The dropbolt is a good idea. I have seen similar situations where the hole that the bolt goes into isn't sufficiently deep, so it's only extended a quarter inch or so and could easily vibrate loose. If the problem is hole depth, then it should be easy to chisel deeper.

But a bungee does the job for the time being.

Yeah, screws in particle board for a traveling trailer: probably not a good investment, stiff vibrations would pull that apart. You could back the board with real wood and drill into that.

[kellan_the_tabby]

Yeah, the longer screws are definitely a short-term solution. I just hope they last long enough that I have a house to live in by the time they work loose again!

[cellio]

Bungee is a good workaround -- annoying that you need workarounds, but still.

I came here to say "drop bolt" too; this is what we did on my trailer and it's done fine over the bumpy Cooper roads for 20 years. Granted, that's still lower mileage than you're seeing; mine's not road-legal. But the Coopers are pretty rough on trailers too. (They don't really care; it's not their property.)

I'm not sure how deep they are, but it's significant. I've got them at the bottom and top.

Good luck finding the right permanent fix for you!

[kellan_the_tabby]

Vigorous bumping will knock it loose WAY faster than mileage, so this is DEFINITELY useful info!