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Every season, our 1997 Ford Four Winds Axl Roads gives us a run for our money in the maintenance department. Like last year.
This past weekend he showed us that in his 22nd year on tour, he has no plans to be tamed.
Background & Before
During a what was an otherwise pleasant weekend RV trip to Kinzua Bridge and Sizerville State Park, Russ headed out the door in the morning to set up some chairs- but couldn’t get back in.
And the dogs and I couldn’t get out from the inside, either.
The door was locked, and no matter what the position of the lock was or what direction the key was turned, it wasn’t coming unlocked.
We’re lucky that we were able to use the passenger side door for the remainder of the trip – God bless those with only one door on pull-behinds – but that was not super convenient with two dogs!
We tried to assess the situation at the campground with our handy headlamps. After removing the three screws from the inside side of the lock set, we could see the long, flat latch inside had cracked right down the middle.
The RV Lock Set Replacement Quick Fix
Luckily, our local RV fix-it spot had a new lock set by Trimark on the shelf- although it didn’t have a deadbolt like the original. Since the original had cracked in half, we decided that wasn’t a deal breaker for us.
After spending a quick $135 and finding out the next service opening at our fix-it spot was in July, we also decided this was a fix we’d need to make ourselves!
We removed the old RV door lock set by taking out the three screws on the inside of the door again. Then we used needle-nose pliers to pry out the busted metal bar inside that had bolted us in.
Here’s are a few side-by-side comparisons of the old RV door lock set vs. the new version:
Wow! This was so easy!
The old lock set was off, the new lock set screwed right in. So simple!
OR NOT.
Check out these two pieces, and notice the notches on the new one on the left are slightly wider than the old one on the right.
UGH.
So, of course, that meant the bolts that stuck out of the sides from the new lock set didn’t fit into the old notches in the old door strike (had to look that term up- just means the flat metal part inside the door frame the lock sets into).
We tried to maneuver the old strike out- impossible. We unscrewed, we twisted, we un-nailed the interior edging. No go.
Then Russ had the amazing idea of unscrewing the old bolts from the side of the old lock set and exchanging them with the new bolts into the new set.
IT WORKED! Two minutes and two bolt switches later, we were done, and our new lock set had been installed!
Our RV door opened & closed and could be locked again!
We finished the job by putting a small bead of clear caulk around the whole set and rejoicing that this repair did not turn out to be a near-divorce incident!
Did you replace an RV door lock set? Have any other tips to share? Let us know below!
