adjusting my side sliding door (again)

[pjstock]

Last year I struggled to get my sliding door to close smoothly, and to not sag at the rear edge.

I finally took it to a garage which specialises in only MB Sprinters.
I figured they had done this dozens of times.
they replaced the worn upper and middle sliders and handed the van back to me sliding and closing better (or so I thought)

I then immediately put her into winter storage for 5 months.

She is out and we are setting her up for the summer and the sliding door seems to have sagged again, and is not latching easily.

At least it has new sliders installed.
and I have the instructions for adjusting and balancing the sliding door.
But after another 3 days of struggle, I have not made any progress.
the "ridges" are still misaligned

I have tried a new technique of looping a strap from a tree and using that to hoist the door up quite a bit (2cm) above the ridgeline
but when I release the strap, the door sags again.

I am losing my mind.

besides the instructions, does anyone have any tips or t ricks for adjusting the sliding door?

thanks

Peter

[fendlabrise]

étrange, je viens de déposer ma porte et remplacer les glissière je n'ai pas de problème
est ce de la pièce d'origine? car j'avais acheter de l'After market et c'était vraiment mal fait.

[h-g]

Hi Peter,
I had a similar problem.
In my case, the sliding door wouldn't close properly anymore.
The reason was a worn-out roller on the rear carriage assembly.
After replacing it with an original carriage, everything worked fine at first.
But after a while, the old problem reappeared.
Readjustment: everything worked well a few times, then the door wouldn't close again.
The cause:
The roller is secured by a single screw, and that screw kept coming loose.
I suspect the same thing is happening in your case.
This screw (T50) must be tightened to a very high torque: 60 Nm!!
(If you happen to have a hex-socket screw there—though I don't think so—it's only 45 Nm).
The document with the adjustment instructions (see attachment) doesn't specify this.
However, you will find the following in a Mercedes-Benz document:

MB doc.png (88.9 KiB) 254 mal betrachtet

To perform the adjustment, I used a jack to lift the rear end of the sliding door to the correct height—or slightly higher.
Then I positioned the carriage correctly:
The carriage must be adjusted so that the large roller with the horizontal axis rests on the guide rail.
Then, shift the carriage horizontally so that the gap at the front and rear is roughly equal when the door is closed.
Finally, you must tighten the screw to the specified torque.
Good luck with the repair.
Best regards,
Hans-Georg

[pjstock]

Interesting
But my original rollers do not seem to have screws.
they are "peen" installed (which means the shaft is hit with a hammer to flatten out the end)
see attached.

do you have a photo of your rollers with the adjustable screw?

In the end, I took it back to my Sprinter-only garage and they reset the door AGAIN.
it still is 1/16th of an inches / 1 to 2 mm out of line, but it closes smoothly (for the moment)

the mechanics sense was that the problem was the cheap Chinese-made replacement sliders I had replaced the originals with last December.
that they have a bit of play in them that authentic MB parts would not have
and that little bit of play, with a very heavy door, is enough to cause it to sag.

what do you all think about that theory? MB parts versus Chinese-made knockoffs?

[pjstock]

ahhh, I think I had a translation or terminology problem.
you mean the main bolt that holds the slider (as I call it - the Laufwagen?), correct?
attached photo

maybe that's the case. But Man we had it tight I thought.

But here is another question: which way is that domed washer supposed to be oriented - domed side facing OUT or IN
In my photo I see it is Dome Facing IN
But I think that was after my DIY do it myself reassembly last year and I think I had it backwards.

I "THINK" the round domed side should sit in the matching domed crevice. (that is how it is positioned now)

is that correct?