Freightliner Columbia door issues

do you know the difference from a freightliner and a jehovas witness












you can close the door on the jehovas witness

 

Put some shims between the door frame and the striker plate.

 

i had a century class once that the door would NEVER OPEN










AT MY DANG HOUSE! of course, i think that was more the company than the truck

 

If like most doors there is a pin in the door frame. When you slam the door shut your pushing this pin closer to the frame. The simple repair and 5 minutes of work is to get a Torx bit and loosen that pin. Chances are you will see a shadow of where that pin was originally. Otherwise it will take a little bit longer to "fit" the pin. Tighten up the pin and you should be golden.

The pin is in a oversized hole. There is a oversized plate on the backside. If you are not careful you will loosen the pin too much and it will drop to the edge of the pin hole and then the door latch may not work at all.

Its really a simple fix.

 

Real common on Freightliners. Door handle inside are bad about breaking and a real booger to replace. Don't cost much, but a good Sunday project to do it right. Rear sleeper windows leak and if used often are prone to fall out of hinges. Wind shields leak like crazy. Goes on and on. All you can do is try to keep things lubed and not beat on them too much. They are going to fail. You get what you pay for in long run.

 

Got the same thing on my 2003 Century. The driver door sometimes pops open when I raise the window on it (manual). The lock is also progressively getting harder and harder to open. Just waiting for spring to take it apart and fix it. Did it once, not really happy to do it again. Took about 5 hrs.

Had a 1999 Century where the driver door wouldn't open from the inside. The little plastic pieces that hold all the wire rods in place often break or bend, which was my case. Freightliner knows about this problem but does nothing to correct it.

 

Its easy to fix a lock that bends the keys and is hard to turn. Just remove bottom panel of door cover, it has screws at top and snaps into compartment on bottom. Then pull plastic cover to the side and spray lock mechanism with wd40. Worked great for my Columbia, took about 15 minutes.

 

If you spray door locks with white lithium grease you will never have a problem with the lock. Most brands come with a plastic extension, just put that right in the key hole and spray away. The door latch can use some of the same and or motor oil. If one takes the inner panel off and sprays the pivot points and such now you are approaching one fine operating door. As far as the passenger door,one has to use it. Open it from either side,forget the power or inside lock get out of the truck and put the key in the slot and turn it. You know those little trap doors in the locks that shut when you pull the key out every one on my truck,my truck tool boxes and my trailer boxes work as do all the locks and all the latches. No bungee cords holding the box doors closed. Routine maintenance. If you bought it and it was beat up so be it. But you bought it new and let it go to c-rap,who we gonna blame. If you are a driver and they gave you a piece of c-rap and won't fix it,then it's on them. As far as doors that open on their own or doors that won't open at all,i doubt if the DOT would think much of that. Probably be some CSA points involved. Time to look for a new job. If possible.

 

My worst nightmare... answer the door and there's a Jehovah's Witness selling Amway!!!