Jonathan -- you are completely right about using the handle (or pushing
in on the rear of the door) to ease it closed. Helps a lot!!

--

Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR

On 6/14/2007 1:15 PM Jonathan Poole wrote:

> In my experience the rear handle works great in it's stock (I
> think?) horizontal orientation.  The way that I use it is to slide the door
> into the almost closed position and then grab the rear handle and gently
> pull the door inwards (towards the fridge) to close it.  This way you are
> not slamming the door which is nice when camping with others etc.  It is
> very hard to ease the door closed from the inside with the front handle
> only.
>
> Like others have said, if you can ease the door closed by pulling it in
> then
> you need to lube/clean the tracks etc.  Don't overlook the roller that runs
> in the track at the bottom of the door (at least on the early models).  I
> found that removing that roller and cleaning/greasing it made a big
> difference on my sliding door.  You may need to remove the door to pop the
> roller off which is an easy thing to do.  I like to keep 5 gallon
> buckets or
> such around for props so that I don't have to lower the door all the way to
> the ground immediately as an end is disconnected from the van.
>
> Jonathan Poole
> '82 AC Westy
>