RV Sliding Doors - Adjustment How-To

Damaged sliding RV door. Out of adjustment

Sliding doors have become increasingly common in RVs and travel trailers. They also come with a common issue, needing to be adjusted. While these doors save valuable space by tucking out of the way, they are also hanging from the ceiling on a track system that allows them to get bounced around quite a bit during travel throwing them out of adjustment or worse.

The first thing I look at with sliding doors is if they are mounted properly. More than once I’ve ran into issues where the manufacturer missed the roof stud when securing the mounting track. If your entire track is coming down, you’re going to need to get a stud finder and mount it back on the actual studs. The second thing I look at is the securing mechanism for travel. Is it there and is it functioning to secure the door. Sometimes it is sufficient to hold the door in place, but there is room for the door to slide back and forth when stowed during travel. To fix this, simply get some felt stick-on pads and put them along the area the door stows away at. This will provide a friction-free buffer to prevent unwanted movement and limit any damage to the door.

Now we look at the adjustment. If when moving the door you feel spots that are tight or see wood shavings at the base of the door, you’re going to need to adjust the door. Luckily, this is an easy DIY project. You’ll need a #2 square bit (which is pretty much used on every screw in an RV) and a wrench (10mm is the most common).

1) Take any decorative panels off. If you don’t see the screws, try popping off any button covers hiding them. This should expose the track.

2) Looking between the door and the track you should see the door hangers. Try sliding the door to the point of friction and determine which of the track hangers will need adjusted.

3) Take your wrench and turn the nut on the hanger to adjusts the ride height of the door either up or down to achieve the correct clearance.

4) Before putting everything back together, move the door several times to ensure the door moves freely and no other mechanical failures are present. Tighten or inspect any loose screws or hardware.

It’s that easy. Be warned though, you’ll probably be doing this once or twice a year depending on how much travel you do. These doors get bounced around a lot and come out of adjustment just from the vibration moving the hanger set screws. It’s probably not the most resilient choice for an RV going down the road. Always be sure to check the door hardware to make sure nothing is truly damaged. A heavy hit on the road could cause a fastener to fail. Catch that early and you can often move the track screw to a new location or add additional screws into the ceiling stud. Loose screws are much more likely to cause a failure during travel and once again, vibration can cause them to get loose.

RV Sliding Doors - Adjustment How-To

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