Yahoo Message Number: 23704 (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Country-Coach-Owners/conversations/messages/23704)
Anyone have a similar problem, or better yet, a solution?
1. When opening the entry door from the inside, if I don't hang on to the door as it opens, it snaps out to slightly beyond the full perpendicular position and thereby causes chipping of the body paint along the hinge side of the door frame. We've learned to hang on to the door and ease it open to avoid this but it's pretty tough when a friend opens the door to go out and is not conditioned to hang on to the door. Wham! There goes another chip.
2. If the door is left in the full open position to allow fresh air or
people to come and go and there is a little breeze, the door flops back and forth with the breeze and again sets up the condition for paint chipping.
In item 1 above there is obviously a lot of spring tension to snap the door open, but in item 2 above there is not enough spring tension to hold the door still against a mild breeze. Tightening the spring would cause it to snap open even harder and loosening the spring would make it more "floppy" when left open. I removed the door panel to examine the mechanism and nothing seems to be broken ... just an inadequate design. There's a sticker that warns not to adjust the mechanism. After contacting both Country Coach and the door/hold-open mechanism manufacturer (Avionic Structures Inc - ASI) with no help offered by either except to possibly buy and install a whole new mechanism, I "violated" the notice and tightened the spring a bit. It helps with item 2 but not with item 1 of course.
What I would like is some kind of a retrofit of a mechanism that would properly control the door. I can point to an example of what seems to be an ideal mechanism used by Allegro Bus but unfortunately their well-designed mechanism that fits between the top of their door and the overhead door frame is too thick to fit in the available space on the Country Coach design. Anybody have any suggestions as to a way to adjust, modify, or retrofit the door to alleviate these problems?
Steve Bufty (2002 Intrigue #11382)
Yahoo Message Number: 23708 (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Country-Coach-Owners/conversations/messages/23708)
Same problem, no solution. It is very hard to believe that a company which has invested so much time and money producing these coaches would allow this poorly designed door to be a part of the package.