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Autotrail gas locker catch replacement advice .


tringy

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Hi to all, I have replacement catches for the gas locker after having a bit of an accident between my head and the inside of the door crashing down on me due to the worn catch.nasty gash blood everywhere.its a autotrail Mohawk 2015 .it seems that these parts are riveted on so I assume I must drill them out but how do I deal with the inside part of the rivets as I think they will be trapped inside as I don’t think its hollow inside the door or the wall of the Motorhome where they are fixed on. Anyone replaced these? and how?

Thanks in anticipation.Regards.Tringy.

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Hi Tringy,

 

I'm pretty certain they are the same white plastic 'catches' as on our 2004 AT.

 

I've had to replace all of ours over the years and some twice so I have fitted the replacements with 'Riv-Nuts' and short pan head screws.

 

Yes you have to drill the head off the old rivet, then I opened up the holes in the bodywork to accept the new Riv-Nut which meant I could retrieve the end of the old rivet. You need to be very careful when drilling on the bodywork either to not slip or not drill too deep (a piece of plastic tube over the drill bit will limit the depth).

 

I can now change the catches in just a couple of minutes with one screwdriver and a squirt of new sealant.

 

Keith.

 

Edit: Like this https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/tool-connection-nut-riveter-40-nut-rivets/

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for what it is worth my head has been pounded by the door covering the area under the bed due to the catch eroding to the point it will not stay open. The gas locker is the same. Yesterday I called in to the service dept of the locally made Trakka motorhomes to see if they have a better catch. Two new ones are to be fitted next Wed so will try to find who the manufacturer is as they look much better quality than the current AT catches, cheers,
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tringy - 2019-12-13 9:31 AM

 

Thanks Geeco ,would you know if the skin where these are attached to is aluminium or grp ?

Kind Regards .Tringy.

 

Tap the panel with your finger nail and it will either sound metallic or plasticy, it should be fairly obvious which is which!

 

But I think your 2015 Mohawk will be fibreglass (my 2004 Cheyenne is aluminium).

 

Keith.

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On a similar catch elsewhere I cut the body fixing down and carefully drilled into the pop rivets so a self tapping screw could be used to secure the new bit on top of the old thus not needing to remove the original pop rivets.

Also I've found these catches don't seem to last long, when at home I use a broom as back up when in the gas locker.

 

B-)

PLASTIC-CATCH.thumb.jpg.cc72e562ff830bad900634796c21040e.jpg

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As a follow up to my earlier post I have now had new door catches replaced. Was not able to ID the source however the design a kind of half moon shape looks to have a much larger contact area between the two pieces. This combined with a black plastic rather than white material (black has better UV resistant qualities) should make this a better product than the oem parts. Hatches are from feel - grp. As a matter of interest the east coast of AU has one of the highest UV counts around. Plastic does not like UV and from my experience reduces component life. As an example plastic house guttering as used in UK is totally unsuitable here. Cheers,
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I have used following fix on all the locker catches fitted to my Auto-Trail.

The problem is where the male portion of the plastic catch wears causing the locker door to drop without warning. I fixed mine by cleaning and abrading the male spigot part of the catch fitted to the door and apply by using a small brush Araldite adhesive. A single thick layer is sufficient. Leave at least 24 hours to set. If the door catch is too stiff to engage lightly remove excess with fine wet/dry or similar.

I only apply the Araldite to the bottom half of the locker door catch spigot ie the area that is facing you when you fully open the locker door. I do this for 2 reasons first you cannot see the Araldite when the locker is shut and second it makes the application of the Araldite easier with the locker door open. You will find that only coating one half of the spigot is sufficient to give a nice snug closure of the catch.

I have used this method with success and it has lasted for 2 years so far with the catch engaging and the locker doors held securely.

Replacing the catches with new is a lot of work and they do not last ie mine lasted 2 years before they started failing. Drilling out and re-pop riveting on all lockers (3 on my Auto-Trail) is a lot of work. Concern on pop riveting fixings to fibre glass is justified with the possibility of cracking when using pop rivets on relatively thin panels.

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