colin weston Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Back again. Noticed recently that it was difficult to get the habitation door to close properly. Found that the upper latch was not locking in the closed position. With great difficulty I managed to remove the interior door trim sufficient to see that a spring was missing from the upper part of the mechanism. (I have attached a photo of the lower mechanism which is similar). Does anyone know who might have supplied or manufactured these door mechanisms for Autocruise? My van is a 2007 Starburst. The tension spring is 6mm long over the coils in it's retracted state, i.e. close coiled. The mean dia is approx. 8.5mm and the wire dia 0.75mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 This any good Colin? http://caravan-parts.store.buegle.com/index.php/-auto-cruise-motorhome-parts-parts-for-autocruise-motorhomes-autotrail-motorhome-parts-/?k=:12:: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocro Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 The spring on my Stardream's top lock failed about six weeks ago, what a job to get the covers off using a hairdryer that is good sticky tape they used. I bought a box of assorted springs from E-bay (http://tinyurl.com/muduruz )and put two on in place of the single one. Two weeks after I fixed the lock the bottom spring snapped so I had to repeat the exercise , no problems since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin weston Posted August 10, 2014 Author Share Posted August 10, 2014 Thanks for your responses. I should have also included info that it is an 8 coil spring. It is a good thing that we are able to carry out this sort of job. Dread to think how much they would charge at a repair facility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin weston Posted August 10, 2014 Author Share Posted August 10, 2014 As a matter of interest, how did your spring fail? Where did it fail,? At the ends? I never found my top spring, it may have fallen into the depths of the door and I have no wish to strip things down further!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocro Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 In both cases it was at the 90 degree bend in the upper half of th spring fractured, weird. Just my theory but I think using a pair of softer springs may last longer than the original Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin weston Posted August 10, 2014 Author Share Posted August 10, 2014 I guess that the stress would be highest at the bend. However, it would seem that the springs are either poorly specified or manufactured if they fail after a few years of relatively low usage. I think I have found a near equivalent at Lee Springs on the web. I looked at the big boxes at give away prices and decided the quality must be very poor. I would rather pay a few quid extra for the replacement springs than have to keep stripping the door down! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin weston Posted August 12, 2014 Author Share Posted August 12, 2014 In the end I had to resort to a box of 150 assorted springs from Maplin at £3.59. A little tweaking and all is well. It's difficult to believe that the quality is much good, made in China, but time will tell. At least I have a few spares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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