D series bay door latches

[Jim Blackwood]

On the MCI D series what is the proceedure to adjust the bay door latches? I haven't managed to figure it out apparently.

Jim

[Jim Blackwood]

Nevermind.

[plyonsMC9]

Hi Jim, I've been away for a while - what adjustment were you making to the door latches?

We have a 1993 DL3-45 and we did at one point need to fix a bay door which intermittently would come open while traveling down the road - especially during high wind or vehicle flex.  It was kind of a small nightmare at certain points to have that fly open.  The latch was not able to hold itself shut.   And I could see no way to get to the adjusting bolt as there was a sheet metal bay wall in the way. 

Or - was it a completely different situation?

Take care!, Phil

[luvrbus]

Hi Jim, I've been away for a while - what adjustment were you making to the door latches?

We have a 1993 DL3-45 and we did at one point need to fix a bay door which intermittently would come open while traveling down the road - especially during high wind or vehicle flex.  It was kind of a small nightmare at certain points to have that fly open.  The latch was not able to hold itself shut.   And I could see no way to get to the adjusting bolt as there was a sheet metal bay wall in the way. 

Or - was it a completely different situation?

Take care!, Phil

The early D's did flex a lot and the doors would come open ,MCI offered a upgrade to stop the flex, mine had the upgrade so I never look for a place to adjust the door latches ,you could see the door tighten when the air locks were engaged maybe you adjust the air locks ?

[plyonsMC9]

I'll have to snap a picture.  There was a bolt which needed to be tightened. But somehow in the original Vantare conversion process, the bolt was made inaccessible.  The fix was to drill through the bay wall, enabling a socket to reach the bolt head, allowing the latch to be properly aligned and then torqued into place. 

[Jim Blackwood]

I fixed it by heating and bending the lug outwards a little, then went inside and moved the latch plates into a better position. Fortunately the bay was empty so it wasn't that hard.

Jim