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Our 1984 Newell has basement door latches modified by a previous owner. The latch strikers are made out of 22 gauge metal, wrapped around the rubber gasket of the door. It appears that Newell used all 3 point latch kits, and used a cut off wheel to make them 1 or 2 point. Anyone have a suggestion to improve on this, or know what Newell used for the latch plates. My co pilot does not like my current solution , using black Gorilla tape each day....
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Guy & Sue Cobham
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
1984 Classic 40' #59
Posts: 1,737
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Guy, What is the problem? Are the latches not holding the door tight to the seal?
1993 Newell (316) 45' 8V92,towing an Imperial open trailer or RnR custom built enclosed trailer. FMCA#232958 '67 Airstream Overlander 27' '67GTO,'76TransAm,'52Chevy panel, 2000 Corvette "Lingenfelter"modified, '23 Grand Cherokee.
Posts: 670
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Joined: Jun 2016
The latches work ok. The problem is the is brackets held by Tek screws are not holding up. I have no reference as to how Newell provided a firm place for the ends of the rods to latch to. Normally in an enclosure without gaskets, the rods would get behind the lip of the cabinet, but that is where the rubber gasketing is. I was hoping someone had an unmolested classic door to look at. By now maybe all have been modified in some way. 40 years is a long time.
Guy & Sue Cobham
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
1984 Classic 40' #59
Posts: 232
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Joined: Sep 2024
For a temp solution you could remove them inner brackets and flip them from one side of the bay door to the other. That would effectively give you fresh metal to hold against.
Carl Little
1996 Coach 435 Detroit 60
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(03-03-2025, 10:28 AM)cwl1979 Wrote: For a temp solution you could remove them inner brackets and flip them from one side of the bay door to the other. That would effectively give you fresh metal to hold against.
Thank you Carl. I will do that. I know Newell had a better solution, but who knows what it was.
Guy & Sue Cobham
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
1984 Classic 40' #59
Posts: 1,737
Threads: 125
Joined: Aug 2012
I like Carls suggestion. I'm thinking my '78 had similar brackets. I bent the end of the rods slightly to adjust the tightness of the door .
1993 Newell (316) 45' 8V92,towing an Imperial open trailer or RnR custom built enclosed trailer. FMCA#232958 '67 Airstream Overlander 27' '67GTO,'76TransAm,'52Chevy panel, 2000 Corvette "Lingenfelter"modified, '23 Grand Cherokee.
Posts: 670
Threads: 70
Joined: Jun 2016
(03-03-2025, 08:49 PM)HoosierDaddy Wrote: I like Carls suggestion. I'm thinking my '78 had similar brackets. I bent the end of the rods slightly to adjust the tightness of the door .
Amazing what a different will do. Never thought about taking the rods off and adjusting them -Duh
Guy & Sue Cobham
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
1984 Classic 40' #59
Posts: 1,737
Threads: 125
Joined: Aug 2012
I don’t remember even removing them. I think I probably used a “box end” wrench, I slipped it over the end of the rod and tweaked it. It might be easier to take the bracket loose near the end of the rod so you can have more clearance between the rod and the door then just slightly bend it.
1993 Newell (316) 45' 8V92,towing an Imperial open trailer or RnR custom built enclosed trailer. FMCA#232958 '67 Airstream Overlander 27' '67GTO,'76TransAm,'52Chevy panel, 2000 Corvette "Lingenfelter"modified, '23 Grand Cherokee.
(This post was last modified: 03-04-2025, 11:51 AM by
HoosierDaddy.)
