Rear door slamming into me in high wind!

[Boomerweps]

Much as I prefer and love the rear cargo doors, I've had it with them slamming into me when loading groceries. In the past it really only happened occasionally at one particular store where we usually only bought a couple bags worth of stuff. But yesterday I got slammed three times while loading a large purchase at Sam's club. I was swearing up a storm, had to have my wife hold the door open. Wouldn't even work in the 180 degree position.  We had three carts full of stuff. 

So I'm looking at making some kind of prop to hold the doors open at the 90 degree position. Anybody already have something similar?

 

[G B L]

I have not yet gotten mad enough to take on the issue. If you check out Windguy he built a clever tie bar for his rig that could be helpful. His post's have some pictures

[windguy]

GBL has a very good memory. Maybe those arctic temps in the Green Mountains are good for the mind

 

@boomerweps - I feel your pain. That's the number one annoyance for me in having the rear barn doors. There is very little resistance to hold the doors in place at 90deg or 180deg. Because I go to the beach mostly to windsurf, it's generally windy even where I park on the shoulder of the highway. Aside from the wind being an issue, trucks whizzing by at 55+ a few feet away will sometimes slam the driver side door shut. After being assaulted by the doors a few times soon after I got my van, I had an immediate need to create some type of door holder. For me, it's mainly the driver side door that is affected. My first attempt was propping up a stick wedged against the door in the 90 deg position. Instant failure because the door flops too much. The hinge isn't stiff enough. Second attempt was to put a piece of wood between the doors in the 90deg position. The wood had a notch in each side to grab onto the top of the door frame. Again, failure in a windy area because doors don't flop in unison and the brace just popped out after a while. After more careful analysis of my previous failures, my third attempt was much more successful and I'm still using the prototype after almost 3 years. In fact, I intended to throw this out to the forum in hopes of getting a more refined design, but never got around to it. I appreciate your bringing up the topic so we can share ideas.

 

The door holder below was made of scrap items from the garage, so it's really crude. The u-bolts make use of the locking mechanism of the door basically mimicking what the door latches onto when you close it. You release the u-bolt by opening the door latch on both sides. It's not going to pop out on it's own and it just flows back and forth a little when the wind blows so the hinges aren't stressed. I'm 6-2 so I needed a little extra height in the cross brace. I have to duck only a little bit to avoid it. I've never had the need, but you could probably use this as a holder for a tarp if you need some shade. Let me know if you need more details on the parts I used.

 

Ideally, it would be great if the door had some type of piston holder like hatchback door has to give it some tension to stay open or an arm like a screen door or some type of swing out holder that you can lock the door in place. A door that swings open 270deg like the big vans have might help also since you can easily latch the door to the body of the van.

 

Edited November 23, 2017 by windguy

[Boomerweps]

Thanks, Windguy. I thought I remembered you doing this but the search wouldn't find it for me. 

Yup, a little crude looking on the close up

But effective. Being able to throw a tarp over that makes for a great standup changing area, too. I had a thought today about using a rubber or plastic trailer wheel chock in the hinge area. It's a pretty big gap, might have to design my own. These would take up less space than a two door spanning bar like you have, unless I could make the bar a folding version. I have more storage concerns because I have the passenger van (or as Ford calls it, the wagon)

The driver's side door is the one I have the most problems with.

Edited November 23, 2017 by Boomerweps

[windguy]

@boomereps - glad I can help. Even if you don't want to replicate this, at least it gives you a starting point to ponder off of.

Yeah, it's very crude. It was a proof of concept. Considering how my first two attempts failed quickly, I really slapped this together just to see if it would work without trying to make it fancy out of the gate. I've made that mistake too many times. I guess I can clean it up a little and replace those shimmed out drywall screws with some bolts/nuts.

Because I park on the shoulder of the road, there might just enough camber in the road to make the driver's side door more vulnerable. Perhaps that's your situation in the parking lot that maybe isn't flat. As creatures of habits, we always park in the same parking area when going to stores. Try a different spot next time.

 

Attached is marked up pic with another option shown in red. For me, the height would be a problem.

The one reason I like my design is because it doesn't stress the hinges. There's enough give so the doors can flop freely.

I guess you can replace the rigid piece of wood with something that telescopes out if storage is an issue. I store mine between sail bags on the hanging rack so it's out of the way. 

Keep us posted on what you come up with.

[G B L]

If you take Windguy's rig and make two pieces you could have the option of using each door independently using the middle latch points

[JackGrimshaw]

A much simpler solution.Looking at my 2016 rear door check arm I noticed a 1/8in bulge on the side arms.I cut a 1/4 in slit in a piece of 1/16 x2x3 aluminum and can insert it between the door and the bulge.Works like a champ

[JackGrimshaw]

Windguy,

I copied your design with a few modifications to help support a half-fast awning to cover the kitchen when my wife and I camp.I built a slide out chuck box between the rear doors(now in the basement so not in the pictures).

I used 5/16 eye bolts ,6x8 tarp and 2 sizes of electrical conduit to make the length adjustable.

[windguy]

@JackGrimshaw - Thanks for sharing what you did. You made a better mousetrap! 

Definitely a more refined version of mine. The eyebolt worked out really nice as a latch interface compared to the u-bolt.

Crap, now I might have to redo mine to look good like yours. 

 

The door insert shim you made looks neat. So you open the door 180deg, slip this shim on and then close the door to 90deg and it won't shut any more?

And the shim won't work it way down the arm?

 

[DonShockley]

When looking at how you both did your ends, a couple methods I have used in the past on other projects came to mind that you might find useful. I did a quick mockup using some junk laying around the house so I could post some photos.

 

If you just need a straight spreader bar, a piece of PVC with eyebolts at the ends would work. I've done similar before by heating up the ends of the PVC until it softens, then inserting the nuts. If you match the PVC interior diameter to be a bit smaller than the nuts, it will hold the nuts well once it hardens. You can even bend in the edges to make it almost impossible for the nut to pull out. For even more rigidity, use a longer coupling nut instead of thin regular nut to keep the bolt aligned with the pipe better.

 

And when attaching eye bolts to conduit without it poking out the backside, you can use one nut inside the conduit instead of two on either side. In can be a bit tricky getting the nut on the bolt, but the whole thing wedges pretty firmly into place once the end of the bolt hits the opposite interior side.

Edited December 8, 2017 by DonShockley
Add mention of coupling nut

[G B L]

Lot's of great ideas on this Thread!

[JackGrimshaw]

In the middle photo the door is open 180 just for clarity.

In use the door is opened 90 deg and shim dropped in.

My TC is a 2016.Not sure if other years have the same bulges on the rods.

Or you could clamp a cheap pair of vise-grips on one of the rods.

Edited December 8, 2017 by JackGrimshaw

[windguy]

3 hours ago, JackGrimshaw said:

In the middle photo the door is open 180 just for clarity.

In use the door is opened 90 deg and shim dropped in.

My TC is a 2016.Not sure if other years have the same bulges on the rods.

Or you could clamp a cheap pair of vise-grips on one of the rods.

 

thanks, I'll take a look at that.

[windguy]

21 hours ago, DonShockley said:

When looking at how you both did your ends, a couple methods I have used in the past on other projects came to mind that you might find useful. I did a quick mockup using some junk laying around the house so I could post some photos.

 

If you just need a straight spreader bar, a piece of PVC with eyebolts at the ends would work. I've done similar before by heating up the ends of the PVC until it softens, then inserting the nuts. If you match the PVC interior diameter to be a bit smaller than the nuts, it will hold the nuts well once it hardens. You can even bend in the edges to make it almost impossible for the nut to pull out. For even more rigidity, use a longer coupling nut instead of thin regular nut to keep the bolt aligned with the pipe better.

 

And when attaching eye bolts to conduit without it poking out the backside, you can use one nut inside the conduit instead of two on either side. In can be a bit tricky getting the nut on the bolt, but the whole thing wedges pretty firmly into place once the end of the bolt hits the opposite interior side.

 

Thanks DonS - those are some great tips you shared.

[Boomerweps]

Haven't checked this topic for a while due to illness and family visits (redundant?).

Great ideas. I'll investigate the hinge rod bulge solution, easy to pack away and still be quickly available while shopping. If I can find it, I'll use some kind of scrap plastic vice metal if I can. I do have some PA gear rack mounts I could use for this if I go metal.

[DonShockley]

23 hours ago, Boomerweps said:

... If I can find it, I'll use some kind of scrap plastic vice metal if I can. .......

If you don't have the scrap plastic, a very cheap source I've used in the past for thin stiff plastic stock is cutting boards. Just a couple bucks at most local stores.