[VAC] Re: Door Lock 1976

["jim clark" <jec1938@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Don:
I don't know if my 78 is like your 76, but the age would indicate to me that
you are likely to have my problem eventually.... The plate inside the lock
that pulls the bolt out of the door frame broke with Mary inside and me
outside... I thought the door had just locked somehow from the inside and
the words were going back and forth as I "suggested" how she should get the
door unlocked....I wound up taking the door off before she did anything
drastic like kicking out a window...(I drilled a small hole under each of
the hinge pins and drove the pin up with the drill....no style but
effective)

The Airstream dealer in Grand Rapids MI said there was a kit from Airstream
that was fairly expensive and that the best replacements he had seen were by
not using the kit but making the plate to cover the hole and mounting the
replacement lock.... I found a lock at the RV supply near (50miles) the park
I was staying (not really a replacement)  and filed and hacksawed for about
a day and a half to get the thing to work fairly well....(I am guessing that
the kit would have been less work)

The end result after I got home and finished the job, was fairly
satisfactory, but a recent trip to the Airstream factory revealed a new
automotive style "post" lock that is really nice...solid and closes like a
bank vault....Maybe someone like Charlie Burke can tell us if someone has
retrofitted the new lock to an old door.... and can supply the necessary
parts.... I looked at the parts at the store at the factory and was
concerned that I might not be able to get all the right pieces from the
store... the book showed several parts .... one at $75, one at $37 or so and
a few at lesser prices....when I looked at the door, the door frame is cut
away to allow the post to get into the lock and the edge of the door is
reinforced by a long steel plate with a lot of machine work.... I was afraid
that might be a part of the door and not the lock.....I lost my courage and
went to other projects....I even thought briefly about changing the door and
the frame....(after seeing them mount that whole package in about 15
minutes....)

Have fun and keep us posted ....

Jim