Hello, hello, it's me again, hope you're all having a lovely day! Today, I would mostly like to talk about sliding doors. It's been a few weeks since I was looking at the sliding door entrance in the side of the bus and thinking 'why are bits of paint being scraped off like that?' - sort of every 10cm or so it's been scraped off. Then at the weekend I fit the sliding door step trim. After closing the sliding door a few times, I notice some bodywork paint scraping itself off and embedding itself into the new door trim. So, Mr Mastermind here has worked out the sliding door is sitting just a little bit to low. It needs to be raised by about 2mm or so. How do I do that? There's a little bit of play in the door, but only if you try and lift it up. The rear area is fixed firm, but the front has a bit of play - you can lift it about 4mm. I've checked all the runners and everything's there. I replaced everthing last year anyway, with new proper VW parts.
I have the same. The lower front bracket with the roller may have rotated and the door dropped or the shims between the door and the bracket may be too thin or missing. There is one big hex drive bolt on the front of the door and two smaller ones underneath . On mine the head of the big bolt has been worn so it is impossible to tighten. Support the weight of the door. Watch out for the top roller dropping out of its track ! Basically the idea is to make sure the roller is running level on the track at the bottom - I think the bar of the bracket going to the roller should be level. Then insert drilled pieces of metal to lift up the bottom of the door between the bracket and the bottom of the door. I found that it is good idea to use a socket drive hex driver instead of Allen keys to do up the bolts because they tend to loosen off as the door is opened and closed. Also they avoid the burring of the bolt heads when you heave on Allen keys
Check the door is square in the hole when shut and note what needs adjustment. Height adjustments mean latch adjustments. Here's what does what... adjust bottom roller as above to change front height loosen 4 bolts on rear hinge/door to adust rear height. adjust top roller bracket/door so top of roller doesn't rub and door won't fall out. adjust position of rear door latch keep on body so hook just skims over it when closing by 1-2mm and is flush with bodywork at this point when door is shut move top roller so that corner is flush when shut adjust front keep on body to suit new door height and flush at this point. adjust rear hinge (those 4 bolts again) for and aft to even gaps at front and rear. Getting the height right each end will square it in the hole, then adjust the latches to suit. With luck, a following wind and excellent repairs, the seal should cause the rest of the door to shut flush. It's not a five minute job.
