| [GMCnet] New door handle [message #146940] |
Tue, 18 October 2011 15:59  |
Richard Denney
Messages: 920
Registered: April 2010
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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Time for my quarterly drive-by posting.
We took Jaws to the Watermelon Park Bluegrass Festival, about the same time
you guys were at Goshen. This is an annual camping trip for us--and one the
Redhead enjoys in particular because it is attended by a large portion of
her circle of friends. It's quite a trek--maybe 25 whole miles from home.
But once again, the coach surprised me--everything just worked as it should.
I don't know why it continues to surprise me.
So, while there, the Redhead noted peeling chrome in a spot right in the
center of the door handle. It required careful placement of one's thumb to
avoid sharp-edged entanglements. And because the Redheard noted it, it had
to be replaced.
Also, as I was sliding the cockpit window closed after conferring with a
friend who was guiding me into place, the handle came off in my hand.
1. Door handle. After digging in Gene's site and looking at some referenced
pictures on the photo site, I ordered the correct Kenworth handle from a
supplier on eBay. Of course, it did not have the tab for the connection over
to the interior door handle, and I didn't really want to take the time to
cut it off the old one and weld it to the new one, so I drilled out the
rivets and used 3/16" stainless steel closed-end rivets with my Harbor
Freight air-powered riveter to move the old mechanism to the new handle. I
also moved the new springs to the old mechanism, which, along with a good
cleaning and some fresh lubrication really made it feel a lot newer.
My early coach has the stainless-steel plate that was a patch for the
original GM-designed door handle that didn't work reliably. It was held in
place with aluminum pop rivets, which didn't seem completely correct, and I
had the suspicion that it had been removed in the past. Sure enough--no
sealing whatsoever. When I removed the plate, there was all sorts of dirt
and evidence of leakage behind it, along with evidence of some leakage
inside the door. And the old gasket under the handle was a worthless sheet
of hard plastic. So, rather than cut a gasket, I installed the plate back on
the door and the handle to the plate with soft gaskets made from butyl
rubber. And I used the stainless rivets with it, too. All nice and new--took
40 minutes total. Those thinking this is a big job--just do it. The handle
makes a first impression. Do it at the same time you replace the door pin,
if you haven't already replaced that.
Question for all: Anybody have a GMC badge for that door patch they are
willing to part with? I didn't even realize that's what those two holes
(filled with rivets) were for until I saw the pictures.
2. Cockpit window handles/latches. These are held onto the window with
adhesive, and held in place while the adhesive sets with a couple of screws.
The reason I know the screws are not intended to be structural is a.) they
are small--maybe 6-32 threads, and b.) they are screwed into plastic (!)
dome-head nuts on the outside.
This did not seem to me adequate. Plus, I want to be able to remove these
for cleaning. So, I drilled out the #6 holes with a #10 drill bit and
installed stainless 10-24 dome-head screws, using a dome-head insert nut
that nestles with only a little play down into the hole in the glass. I used
a 1/4" sealing washer around the inserted portion of the nut to seal it.
Now, the handles are tight, the screws won't rust like the old ones did, and
it doesn't depend on glue that bakes in the sun for decades.
That's my life these days. GMC projects that take an hour, after having
waiting three months for some time to do it. But it was nice to push back
the forces of deterioration even if just a little bit.
Rick "hoping to make it to a rally next year for once" Denney
--
'73 230 "Jaws"
Northern Virginia
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