well Richard,

I do remember the same mistake I made as yours.. in worst scenario yet.
when I did my first one long ago..
I removed the bolt s(should loosen a bit and NOT remove it)... and BAM the
rear of the door fell to the ground..
aarghhh.. to heavy to lift it up and put the bolts back on.. I get my wife
and my son to help.. each lift and hold the door in place while I
re-install the bolts and adjust...
the door has a ding and a nick on left bottom corner and left like that
till I sold the van...

dan

On Sun, Sep 1, 2019 at 4:11 PM Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

> Dan, I think your method will work very well.
>
> The key ingredient?:  the floor jack.  Taking a little time to position it
> mid-centered with a scrap of wood for cushioning under Slider Door is an
> easy bonus for successful results; gentle on the up and down.  I had not
> imagined the overall heft in that door, massive:  also, didn't use a floor
> jack for precise lifting, my mistake.
>
> Most importantly though:  I didn't understand how when loosening the 2 aft
> hex bolts how suddenly everything immediately falls into disarray; things
> just don't go up and down....they tilt and rotate and things get messed up
> instantly.  Parallel alignment?  Forget about it!  (The good news?
> Everything gets instantly fixed when you do it right.  Meaning....use a
> floor jack!)
>
> Lifting the Slider Door up Mid-Center....yeah...that's the key.  Keep
> everything more or less horizontal and balanced.  Gosh, now that I've
> thought this whole experience through, seems super duper easy!
>
> Rich
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sunday, September 1, 2019, 3:47:52 PM PDT, Dan N <dn92610@GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
>
>
> hi Richard,
>
> here what I did for the front, will be same for the aft... I put a bottom
> jack under the door near the front (with a piece of wood as cushion), I
> raise the jack up till it touches the door firm with no play, I loosen the
> bolts, raise the jack up some more (about 1/2"  in my case), tighten the
> bolts, lower the jack, remove it and test the door.
> Repeat if it's not enough our too much..
>
> dan
>
> On Sun, Sep 1, 2019 at 2:51 PM Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@sbcglobal.net>
> wrote:
>
> >  My slider door on my '85 Vanagon has needed a little adjustment in
> > height....for like 30 years!  (I was about 1/10" or 2 mm too low; showed
> > scuffing of aluminum trim strip down on the floor; also visually....I
> could
> > always tell the waistlines didn't match up quite right.  Reason was a
> paint
> > job 30 years ago; they took off the slider door and everything; but
> didn't
> > put it back together exactly right.)
> >
> > Just went out to garage and fixed it.
> > Forward adjustment is easy.  Three Hex fasteners.  Loosen....lift a
> > little...re-tighten.
> > Aft adjustment....Man!....what a can of worms!!!  I loosened the 2 hex
> > bolts holding the waistline bearing assembly at aft end of Slider Door.
> > Instantly, it dropped.  Uh-oh.  Door is now all wonky....can barely
> > move....what the heck did I just do?
> >  Now, Bentley clearly says it's a 2-man job right there at the top of the
> > page.  But I was solo.  Watched how everything back there moves and
> pivots
> > when those 2 hex bolts are loose and assembly is free to move.  Anyway,
> > after lots of trial and error, it's all working good; better than ever
> > actually since I've owned the van.  Was pretty gloomy though for about an
> > hour when everything seemed to be binding up and all; basically, that
> pivot
> > hinge with the torsional spring at the aft end of door?....definitely
> needs
> > to be exactly VERTICAL.  And that slider door is heavy; hard to lift and
> > hold (should have used a floor jack) while tightening those hex bolts by
> > yourself.  Always learning.
> >
> >
> > Rich
> > San Diego
> >
>