Weird situation with door frame

[Mark60]

I bought a 1999 camplite U10 pop up by Damon, the entry door is two pieces with the bottom half fixed and the top part swings up and mounts to the ceiling for lowering the top. My issue is the top half of the door has a u- shaped channel on the bottom that slides over the bottom half of the door when you are setting up the camper. the bottom half has a weather seal across the top of the door. When I Lower the top to let the top half channel slide over the bottom half to lock the doors together the side frames on the top half are bottoming out on the side rail. I can stick my little finger through the corners because top half isn’t coming down enough to close the gap and the door frame want let you lower the top anymore. This is making my canvas on the right side of the door to short to slip in the rails, also you have to crank the top up so high to get the channel above the lower half of the door before lowering it in place it pulls the canvas out of the groove.so my question is do I cut off about 1/2” on sides of the upper door so you can lower the top and it will let the top come on down and sit on the weather strip of the bottom door which will give me slack in the canvas to get it in the grooves, plus I want have to crank it up so high to get the top door in position to lower over the bottom half and it want pull the canvas out of the track. The top half of the door is mounted with a hinge at the top and there is not enough to lower the door any it has to stay mounted where it is. The only choice I see is cutting the sides to let the top come down 1/2” inch. I’m pretty sure it’s the original door because it has a sticker with the year model on it. Should I trim the bottom of the upper door frame.

 

[Sjm9911]

First things first, is it level?

 

[Mark60]

Trailer is level, I can swing the top half of the door out of the way and lower the top untill the canvas is where it’s suppose to fasten to the track, I then measured the corners from the top to the top of the rail and all dimension are the same. Lower the door and raise it up enough to line up the door and lower it till the frame contacts the rail that it sits on, and I’m around 3/4” short and the measurements From top to rail on the 4 corners are off front to back about the same. The channel on the bottom of the top door that slips over the top of the bottom door just slides over 1/4, you can see the gap it could lower to which is around 3/4” which would seat it on the weatherstrip on top of the lower door, but the only way that will happen is by cutting off the door frame on each side at the bottom, then when you lower the top to seat the doors together you would be close to where you need to be.

 

[Sjm9911]

Take some pictures if you can. And wait to cut it in case someone has a better fix. I never had the two peice door.

 

[Mark60]

I looked the situation over carefully, by cutting off 3/4” of the bottom of the top half of door frame is going to let the top come down around 1/2”. No geometry will be changed, I will gain 1/2” slack in canvas length all the way around. I have my metal working surgeon going to look at it in the morning, he has a welding machine and angle grinder with speedy cut blade on his truck. The wife is already raising hell about operating on her camper, but if I don’t get some slack in the canvas it’s never going to attach right in a couple of places, plus the stretch when you raise it high enough to get the the plastic stops out of the bottom door So you can latch it off when your closing it up is also 1/2” long that is causing the canvas to be pulled out of the track.

 

[Sjm9911]

Unfortunately, without pictures its only guessing from here. Canvas can shrink , but also stretches when warmed up. If the canvas is making it not fit, i would look into that, not the door.

 

[Mark60]

Camper was popped up all day in the sun, fooled with the canvas still to tight to get it all locked in, all I’m loosing is 1/2” head room by cutting off the 2- door frames. Canvas looks to good to trash.

 

[bupkis]

I'd keep practicing on putting the door in place, I remember it took me a while to get it right.
I do not recall an issue with raising the top halve, it had a hinged plate that allowed for more than enough room.
I could easily get the sides in with their little plastic guides, if I recall there was an issue with the U and sliding the top of the door far enough down or it was a piece of weather stripping that was not in is place. It was like magic when it fit correctly!

 

[neighbormike]

Do not cut the door... it likely fit fine before you bought the trailer. In my experience, you should not be raising and lowering the roof to lower the door in place. Raise the roof to the correct height, go inside and lower the the door. Slide the door halves together and push the top into place.

 

[Mark60]

My Top door Half frame has 2- pieces of plastic that stick down about 1/2” On the bottom of each side that must slide in the top channel of the lower door frame, these hold the frame in place, the only way to make this happen is to raise the top which has the top door frame bolted to it. Somebody has to be at the door to tell you when it’s high enough to move in place then they align it while you lower the top guiding the 2- guides into the bottom frame, no other way to mate the door half’s together. When the bottom of the top door frame makes contact with the top of the lower door Frame that is all you can lower it.

 

[bupkis]

Normally there is a hinged plate at the top of the door that gets locked once in place, when not locked there is ample 'play' to raise the top part of the door and stab into the bottom. Once in the top of the door swings in place and is locked into place via turn buttons on the roof's short side wall, they fit through holes or slots in the hinge plate, once the turn buttons are turned they lock the hinge plate against the roof's short side wall.

Found this image here of a hinge plat with missing turn buttons
https://www.popupportal.com/media/door-top-hinge.9391/

 

[Mark60]

Sweet ray bird, my frame does have the twos locks, I will see if I can get the door to push up any,I thought I tried that but maybe not, the guy I bought the camper from just said raise the top to get the door high enough to put in place and it really doesn’t make any sense to have to do it that way. I don’t see where the play comes from since the metal hinge is bolted at the top and to the door. The knobs twisted horizontal allows the door to swing back so you can attach it to roof for folding down the camper.

 

[bupkis]

here are 3 positions the door can be in, tight to the ceiling, during install and installed! The 'during install' should give you room to maneuver.


my issue was always with the weatherstip on top of the bottom half, it was distorted and did not allow the top half to fit all the way down. Once I tried to install the door from outside to see what was going on and noticed the U channel not going where it was supposed to. straighten out the weather strip and everything slide into place.

 

[Mark60]

My door want drop enough to contact the weather strip, that channel on the bottom of the top door that slides over the bottom door just barely goes over it by maybe 1/4”, the side door frames are bottoming out keeping the top door from dropping to the weatherstrip.

 

[Sjm9911]

I had to shake mine a bit the first time. I wasn't putting it in correctly, so it didnt drop. Make sure nothing is holding it up and its in the correct spot.

 

[Mark60]

I will give it a full examination when this rain quits. Thanks for all your help,

 

[Volly]

I had to deal with this problem. Here are the troubleshooting steps I did to fix mine: ( I had several things I had to fix)

1. Verify the lifting cables are lifting the roof to the correct height AND the roof at the door has the same measurement from top to bottom on both sides of the door. You may be off a bit and that is messing you up. If yes, then check to see if a cable is failing. Also check your raise and lower stops on the lifting mechanism to make sure they have not come loose.
   
2. Make sure the door isn't bent or suffers from water damage.
3. Check the door pieces to verify they are square.
   
4. Verify the seals are in good shape.
5. Verify the door opening on the bottom part of the door is square. What I mean by this is if the hard shell part shifted for any reason such as wood rot or being bumped rather hard, this will cause the opening to not be square.
6. Verify the wood under the door opening is in good condition. You can do this quickly by simply looking under the camper and inspecting for rot. In fact check the entire underside for rot, especially the corners.
   
7. Verify the roof is solid and does not have a leak that causes the roof to change shape. Usually the ceiling will show signs of water by the finish puckering or staining.

 

[Mark60]

Very good troubleshooting guide you gave there, every thing seems to be in check and square. The only thing I can think of now is if the hinge on top of the top door that swings back so you can stow the door is bent or not allowing any vertical movement to allow you to lift the door to get the bottom door guides high enough to set the door frame in place then slide back down to seat on the weather seal of the bottom door without having to crank the top up to do this task. The only measurements that are throwing me off is when you have the door frame in place and take measurements on all 4- corners of the camper the front 2- sides are 1” higher than the back 2- sides. Then if you take the top door and frame loose and crank the top down to where it should be seating on the bottom door weather seal the measurements are exact in all 4 corners. I don’t know when the top is in place like it is suppose to be if there are suppose to be some built in slope to allow water to run off the top. I think having to crank the top an extra inch to get the top door frame to clear the bottom frame is what is pulling the canvas out of the tracks in places. You would think that top horizontal door hinge would have some up and down movement so you could put the top door frame in place and start the guides in the lower frame without having to crank everything including the guides above the lower door frame.

 

[fronsm]

I'd keep practicing on putting the door in place, I remember it took me a while to get it right.
I do not recall an issue with raising the top halve, it had a hinged plate that allowed for more than enough room.
I could easily get the sides in with their little plastic guides, if I recall there was an issue with the U and sliding the top of the door far enough down or it was a piece of weather stripping that was not in is place. It was like magic when it fit correctly!

I must not have that magic lol! I can never get the hinged plate flat.

 

[fronsm]

Do not cut the door... it likely fit fine before you bought the trailer. In my experience, you should not be raising and lowering the roof to lower the door in place. Raise the roof to the correct height, go inside and lower the the door. Slide the door halves together and push the top into place.

Sounds good, but my plate will not flatten. All is level but where the doors come together they are not level. The left is higher.