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XLII Door Handle Issue
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thanks Jon, the dark brown weld is what failed on our handle. Prevost Nashville said this is the common failure and its been replaced with a solid part with no welds is what they tell me.
New handle is great!
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Way back when I was employed my shop had about 50 welders. To a man I would bet they would agree the base metal should tear before a weld failed. This is proof of the insanity relative to certain Prevost parts. To make a great weld instead of just a weld doesn’t require much more than properly adjusting the welder itself or spending another couple of SECONDS on the weld.
If you have a latch fail, and the broken weld is the problem just reweld it. If you choose to weld it on the coach observe the procedures for isolating the electronincs as spelled out in the Prevost shop manual. Why buy a new mechanism when less than a minute doing a decent weld cures the problem.
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I see what their problem is when that weld is so small keeping everything together. When I heard about this what came to mind would be those rod clips used to keep 90 degree travel rods in place. Another failure is the rod worms out a large hole with the receiver plate splitting at the hole insert.
Prevost sure put a lot of faith in a tiny weld.
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Another dues paying member brought up to me that our door is still original. After looking at the photo of the weld that fails – could one shore up the weld to make sure the handle break doesn’t happen?in addition to being prepared of course….
I think that weld fails because those parts look Nickle plated. If you don’t grind off the plating it’s hard to get a good weld. At least it is for me!
walt
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Since this is not fresh in everyone’s mind here is something for both older and newer owners to consider.
Keep a spare bay door key hidden but accessible outside the coach. Make sure it is the key that opens the driver’s door and bay doors. This does not apply to XL owners, but only for coaches with doors that allow you to gain access through the toll window. Then you can reach inside enough with a stick or something to reach all the way across to pull on the inside door handle to open the door.
I have a three section expandable rod I use to attach a brush for washing the coach. That will work to reach the door handle, and if I fashion a wire loop on the end I can pull the handle. As an alternative if you can reach the buttons you can turn on the key or turn on the flashers and then push the button to lower the entry door window. Everything depends on how your dash is layed out and how you can reach things.
If you have an XL you might be able to move the sliding window on the door to be able to reach inside, but if not you can be inside the XL in a few minutes just by pulling the welting and popping the windshield. An XL windshield can be removed and replaced in as little as 20 minutes using only a flat bladed screw driver and soapy solution to get the window gasket back around the window and to get the welting strip to lock it in.
Losing access is a remote possibility but worth thinking about.
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Libety has a fix already in place…open the door under the toll window, pull plastic cover off that covers the electronics, and they have a switch in there to open the toll window. You still have the issue of reaching the inside door handle, but at least it gives you a chance. FWIW, there is no operating window in the entry door of my “H”.
I don’t know if it is on all years, or only multiplexed coaches, but it is on mine. I try to carry the key that unlocks this door as well as the rest of the bay doors on me at all times.
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A NAPA truck store has those 90’s style handles for under $50.
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After watching the guy at Prevost Nashville replace our door handle, I would not do this as a home project. The guy worked on it for a couple of hours making sure it closed, latched and released perfectly. it was a science this guy did. He also fixed our air lock which we did not know was faulty.
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You would think the former owner would warranty those repairs, TXPrevost.
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Sounds like one of those buyer beware situations.
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Tom and Bill what was wrong with the air lock????
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The prior owner did a decent job fixing all the air leaks so we were good with fixing the door handle!
Peter, the air lock never engaged until we had the door handle replaced and the service guy noticed it was not locking.
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This is a great thread to bookmark.
But when its needed …. the only way to access it will be via the laptop which will be securely locked inside the coach!
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Dick, that is so true. Our saving grace was that the bay doors were unlocked and we could get to the beer!
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We touch on this from time to time. There are somethings we have to have etched in our memory so our response is correct. Clearly those issues that affect your safety are the most important and Al the leak fixer does a great job of reminding us to view the video regarding blowouts so if something like that happens we won’t even think about it, but will respond with the correct inputs to retain control.
As drivers we also have to think about getting to a safe spot if we get a stop engine light and we need to automatically put our finger on the over ride button so if needed we don’t end up stopped in the lane of traffic.
But there are other things that also must be part of our memory so we don’t make a simple matter into a crisis. Have a plan in case the door latch fails. It might be as simple as hiding a key for the bays so we can access a pole to reach across from the driver’s side through a toll window to pull the inside latch, or it might be to remove the windshield on an XL.
If we accept the fact that our coaches are mechanical devices, and mechanical devices break, then the next step it to think about what we are going to do when something does break.
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