Why a special sliding door? (Warum eine spezielle Schiebetür?)

[grozier]

Hello friends and Greetings from Vermont!

Sorry to write in English. I can read German but don't want to embarrass myself by writing it. Of course the in-line translation from Google helps. www.deepl.com is even better.

Our Sprinter will get repainted soon due to the small pits all over, especially on the right rear panel. Also problematic is the sliding door, due to a crack in the seam between the inner and outer layers. It is rotted enough that we will probably have to replace that door. The question is whether a standard cargo door will do (cut a window) or if the special one with the wider opening is needed. This door slides further away from the body.

The James Cook door was also used on the "dually" (dual-rear-wheel) 3500 models in the US, or the 904 in the rest of the world. I also saw it once on a refrigerated van in Berlin. More detail on the difference can be seen in this thread: https://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2250

Every James Cook I have ever seen except one has this special door. The one I saw was at the Ostfriesland Treffen, and might also be this one: (See picture 15 for Peter's sticker). https://www.autobild.de/bilder/wohnmobi ... 20809.html This van doesn't have the special door.

From my rough measurements, there is plenty of room for the standard door. Does anyone know anything about this for certain?

Many thanks in advance for your help!

Ted

[Epeg]

Hallo Ted.

Die ersten Modelle hatten die Standard Schiebetür.

Kurz nach der Markteinführung bemerkte man, dass bei einigen James Cooks die Innenverkleidung der Schiebetür beim Öffnen an dem hinteren Fenster entlang schleifte. Um dieses Problem zu lösen wurde die Tür vom 4,6 Tonnen Sprinter (904) ab Werk eingebaut. Diese hat einen anderen Laufwagen und stellt weiter aus. Erkennbar an der schwarzen Abdeckung hinten in Höhe der Laufschiene.
An deiner Stelle würde ich auf jeden Fall eine neue Tür vom 904 kaufen.

[grozier]

Thanks for the quick reply! Good to have this info. That special door is harder to find, but I will start the search.

Ted

[OldWest]

The Westfalia sliding door window shade does seem to add some width, with the widest part being the sliding door knob lock.

Specifically, the pull-up and down interior door knob lock on the Airstream Westfalis is located in a different location than a regular Sprinter. The lock knob is farther inwards (away from window glass) so as the door is slid open, the lock knob is closer to the rear driver window. The location of the lock knob allows the window shade to cover the window. A regular Sprinter sliding door lock knob may be too close to the door window.

You may have to adjust the locking mechanism even on a wider swinging door if you keep the window shade.

Also, if you prefer ventilation over window insulation, you could replace the Westfalia dual pane glass with an original Sprinter half-slider glass. Have not seen any photographs of a Westfalia (or a wider swinging out door) with one.

Also, as you may have speculated before, the Airstream Westfalia has an extra pane of glass glued to the door window. The glass adds weight and the Airstream Westfalia door may have a more robust sliding door hinge.