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Locked in coach
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on a previous coach 1989 xl I had a air lock on outside. do you have that? Sucks door shut tight. Loose air and you were in trouble–also finger getter.
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XL coaches that had air locked doors allowed the air lock to be released by bleeding off aux air.
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Yes my bus does have the air lock door. I press a button on the dash and the door locks and the air lock sucks the door in.
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As an alternative to having to access your “pull cord” from outside the coach, here’s an idea. My outside door handle has a 1” or so hole in the recessed area that is plugged with a metal cap like you’d use to cover an unused electrical knockout. I had my door apart yesterday to adjust the handle, and I saw that this access hole would allow me to use a screwdriver to lever the latch up, rather than pull it up with a cord. Of course this doesn’t help if you’re locked in, so I’ll go with the belt and suspenders approach. I’ll post pictures when I can.
Edit: Pictures added. I found similar handles online. The brand is Atwood. It seems the plug is covering the hole where a lock cylinder would go. The access in this case is just a happy coincidence.
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What are the part numbers needed to change latch??
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Chad that plug is for a doorbell button, mine has it but I also have the doorbell button.
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Interesting place for a doorbell. Mine is mounted on the body to the left of the door. I found a used door handle for sale that had a cam lock installed there. I guess a hole can be for whatever you want.
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In looking at the photos on this thread, the new style latch appears to be a stouter design at the failure point. If I open the door panel, I’m inclined simply to replace the old latch with the new one and not bother with a ripcord.
Is this wishful thinking on my part? Do you folks who have replaced door latch agree the new one appears stronger? Has anyone had a failure occur with the new style latch, either as a replacement on an XL or as oem on an XLII?
Hmmm…in looking back, it appears there are 2 instances of failure on later model coaches.
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I had the same problem with my 97 XL. When i have time I will give the details. Question today is, do any of the lock issues pertain to 2001 and newer with the new body style? I now have a 2001 Marathon. I want to be prepared.
Cal
Here is my story being locked out. We were getting ready to pack the coach for a week out west. I brought the coach home and parked it in the driveway with the engine running. My wife grabs the handle to open the door. She couldn’t open the door. I checked it out thinking it was a wife thing. There wasn’t any resistance what so ever. The guts of the inside were disconnected. Coach is still running. Fortunately I knew where the kill switch was in the engine compartment.
I thought I could break in by destroying the outside lock. However this was a bad idea. Once the outside latch lever is removed the internal latch cannot be reached from the outside through this opening . On top of that the dead bold is still engaged. Next day I have a locksmith come out. He is not able to open it and drilled out the dead bold. The dead bold would not turn by any means. The locksmith gave up and went home.
Now what?
On the older coaches they have a driver window that slides. with some maneuvering I was able to force it past the stop and get it open At that point I could reach the keys which were useless since the dead bolt was drilled out and keys would not work. The next thought was for me to try to get through the window by smearing myself with oil. I didn’t do that which would have been a sight with me stuck half way inside the coach with the fire department doing a rescue. I opted to call my daughter who weighs 100 pounds. She was able to shimmy through this window and open the inside side window so we could crawl in to work on the lock. After an hour we were able to get the door open. Once the inside panel was off we could see that the linkage was destroyed from us trying to get in the coach. No way to fix any of it. The spring latch was working so we could shut the door and leave on our trip two days latter. Unfortunately when we go to the destination the spring latch failed and locked around the 3/4 inch stud in the door jam. Brute force with a hammer unlocked it. Now it is bent and needs to be straightened out to temporarily work on the way home. Once we got home I called Prevost to order a new latch and mechanism only to find it it was discontinued by the company that made them. After discussing it further with Prevost parts over a period of a couple of weeks they sent me a newer model latch. I was able to rig it with cables and get it all working. This took about a month to put it all back together.
The bottom line in all of this, don’t worry about someone breaking into your coach when the door is locked. It is build like a bank safe.
Cal
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I’ve had the new design mechanism for a few months without a problem. It does appear to be a simpler and stronger design. But ya never l know. So, for insurance I hooked a lanyard, (one of those things you hang around your neck with a clip on the end) hooked it onto the new mechanism which has a hole in it and left a small tab sticking through the top of the door panel. Perfect fit and matches the interior.
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After reading this thread, adding a lanyard is going to the top of my things to do list.
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UPDATE: After removing door panel and inspecting my handle, I decided that failure did not appear imminent but there appeared to be some wear and play so I decided to replace.
Called Prevost parts. they advised the handle on my bus had been superceded twice. There was only 1 (surprised by only 1 in system, priced in the $100’s) of the first superceded # in the system and he sent me a photo which appeared to be identical to the construction of my existing handle. The second superceded # had many in system and was a kit designed to replace mine. Priced in the $500’s, it included the handle, 2 pieces of linkage, and the upper whatever it is assembly that’s connected to the inside door handle. This is the same updated handle pictured earlier in this thread.
I purchased the kit. Only mods required were filing two small notches in the door for the handle to physically fit and slightly bending a linkage rod to clear a return spring on the new handle. I did not use the 2 new linkage pieces or replace the whatever it’s called from the inside door handle. SPECULATION would lead me to conclude a “kit” is unnecessary for my application and that all I used was a new design (XLII ?) handle. Possibly money could be saved?
Finally, I did not install a safety release. The apparent improved construction of the new part with heavier hardware and plastic wear bushings has made me comfortable enough that I doubt one will be necessary.
P.S. Part # of “kit, handle doorlock mth XL2” was 288556
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Good job Joel…
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I only had my coach for about 6 months and the same thing happened to my latch.A box of spare parts came with the coach and there was a door handle in there. I dug it out and it was broken the same as the one in the door. It was in Kenworth box and i can get a discount at Kenworth but at $ 2850 I decided to fix
Mine. So i fixed my old one so it will never break again. And it works great.
Herb
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Freightliner door handles??
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