Cargo door locking mechanisms

I bought new cargo side and rear doors for my van shortly after I bought my A108. This is because someone before me thought it would be a good idea to use spray in insulation in the bottom 8 inches of the cargo doors (why I don't know). This plugged the water drain holes in the bottom of the doors and you can figure out what happened next.

The doors that I got did not have any of the locking mechanism parts in them (no lock ass, top/bottom rods, springs, "arrow head" rod tips, etc.).

I bought the parts to put the locking mechanism in the door and I have been struggling with the installation for hours.

I have a service manual but I still can't figure it out. Every thing is in one door (the right) but I can't figure out how to get the springs compressed enough to get the "hairpin" clips in.

If anyone has done this is there some trick? Do you put the springs with the clips on the rods first before you install the rods or compress them after the rods are installed? Either way I (A) can't even see where the hole in the rod is for the clip when it is in the door. (B) No matter which way that I try I can't get enough strength to compress the springs enough.

So what section do you mean,,,,,,key cylinder, latch or rods?

donivan65 wrote:So what section do you mean,,,,,,key cylinder, latch or rods?

The cargo door latch rods (figure 7)...They have springs over them that are under tension, held to the rod by a washer and pin setup. Not sure how to compress the springs to get the pin into the hole in the rod. Beside having to compress a strong spring there is not much room to work in the door as the rods are in the very corner of the door.

So,,,,,,,,are you are trying to get to your 7 turns ?

donivan65 wrote:So,,,,,,,,are you are trying to get to your 7 turns ?

No... Everything is in and setup correctly, now I have to compress the springs and put the hairpin keeper clip in.

Here is a picture of the a rod coming off the lock assembly (the top rod in this case), the tip unscrews from the rod. The rod goes thru the the door either thru the top or bottom of the door then the tips screws on to the rods (7 turns) once they are through the door. The hole in the top or bottom of the door that the rods go thru have a reinforcement standoff  bracket on the inside of the door that is about a inch tall.

The problem is that in order to get the rod to stick out past the door in order to screw the tip on you have to either push the rod to compress the spring  about 3-4 inches and hold it while you screw the tip on. Or take out the clip that holds the spring to the rod then try to compress the spring and put the clip thru the rod hole after you have threaded the tip on to the rod. Both of these options I'm finding impossible.

Looks like they want the wedge pulled out of the door with a wire or pushed out from inside and vice grips clamped on to compress and hold the spring long enough to line up and hook up the rods inside.

That's my problem... How do you hook a wire on the wedge when it is down in the door pocket?

I can't push the rod up against the spring tension far enough to get it to hook onto the latch assembly or the get the wedge out of the door pocket.

There is no room inside the door where the rod runs to get a pair of vice grips in to clamp on to the rod. Barley enough room for my fingers.

The spring tension is a lot and maybe I can get the rod to move may be 1/2 inch max, I need it to move more like 2 1/2 - 3 inches.

I'm going to try to get some wood dowels and come in from the inside with the spring attached to the rod and shove the dowel in at an angle then try a little longer dowel, and so forth.

I would think there would be an easier way, keep in mind that I have new paint on the van doors and don't want to scratch it. What a pain!!!

the idea is to tie a wire under the spring and pull it outwards and tie it there while you connect the rod inside,,,,I guess you can take the rod out, wrap a wire on the rod  under the spring, then shove them back up in the hole or just send a wire down the hole and wrap it anywhere you can get to on the rod so as you pull the wire up, it will work its way up to the spring and then you can compress and tie the wire to work on the inside,,,,,,,

donivan65 wrote:the idea is to tie a wire under the spring and pull it outwards and tie it there while you connect the rod inside,,,,I guess you can take the rod out, wrap a wire on the rod  under the spring, then shove them back up in the hole or just send a wire down the hole and wrap it anywhere you can get to on the rod so as you pull the wire up, it will work its way up to the spring and then you can compress and tie the wire to work on the inside,,,,,,,

I will give it a try... It's going to take a thicker gauge wire to compress the spring and not break. I will see if there is enough room for a thicker gauge wire to get by the wedge and through the rod hole with the rod in place.

Thanks for your help and time figuring this out.. I know I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but I am mechanical and this just has me confounded.    

Not sure what they did at the factory when they put together the doors.

Every type of van has something that could of been designed better,,,,,,but hang in there,,,,its just our wildfires, they they set up containment then move in to finish it,,,,,,we like to hear about problems, you are not going to be the only one with this problem, and lets see if someone else has some ideas....