Drops down and out of the way causing the rear door to be able to open. So far it’s only happening on one side from what I can tell but it’s still quite annoying and could be possibly sketchy if both were to drop down and the rear hatch opened on the highway. It happened the past 2 days on the way in and out of a camp spot that was at the end of a 35 mile dirt road. I’ve never had so much dust inside the camper and I think this was a major reason for that, I think this one corner of the back hatch was flapping open enough to let a lot of dust in.
I’m tempted to just glue it or caulk it with some silicone because I never use these as they are intended, I don’t lock the camper from the inside at night. If I was that worried about something happening at a camp spot I wouldn’t camp there to begin with. I also feel like if someone wanted in that bad they’d be able to get in, it’s just thin aluminum and tent material.
Anyone else run into this and have a better suggestion than permanently fixing them in the up position?
Be interesting to see if there is a tension set screw on the back? If so maybe you could just crank it in. Now I want to take mine off and look because I have had the same issue from time to time. Be nice if it was designed to “fail” latched vs unlatched.
I bet the service team will be able to help get you sorted on that. It’s an issue I’ve heard of, but luckily I haven’t had it myself. However, this one is likely a simple fix or a quick swap. @jedgar brings up a very good point though…
It’s happened to me once. Found out my rear latch wasn’t latching when I got to camp and found that corner was flapping as you say letting dust in. It went back into position with a click so I didn’t consider it a issue at that time, but I’ll see if it’s loosened up over time and I’ll report back
Pulled them apart to see how they worked. There is a ball and spring in there that shoots out so open at your own risk!
No simple way to adjust the pressure, but you could drill the detents a little bit deeper or get a stiffer spring if you wanted to. If you wanted them solid you def could just drill the upper detent hole deep and it would permanently lock up.
Might be possible to glue/place some small washers at the bottom of the spring hole. That would pre-squish the spring a bit, potentially increasing the pressure on the ball and tightening the assembly.
Perhaps drill the hole where the spring sits the rest of the way through and then tap it and use a set screw that could be tightened or loosened to adjust the tension?
Instead of permanently locking it, you could also try ensuring that there’s no gap between it and the lock latch. I would expect constant pressure/friction from the latch should be enough to keep it from dropping. The most jank, but easiest thing that comes to mind is just wrapping the catch or the latch with a thick rubber band.
Otherwise, the lock latches have a threaded hole, or at least mine do. Not sure what size machine screw fits, but you could probably put a set screw in there with threadlocker to the same effect.
Wait! The latches are designed to allow you to slide them and open the rear cabana door if you have locked yourself inside the truck bed (in case the tent is down and both cabana sides are locked). I think its a safety feature GFC never mentioned.
