Foretravel Owners' Forum

Hi folks,

Well, I managed to break the plastic slide in the screen door. Fortunately, the RV park has an excellent hobby shop which would allow me to manufacture a replacement plastic slide. However, I can't figure out how to get the old slide out and, therefore, how to put a new slide in. The frame appears to be welded after the slide was originally installed.

I have attached a pic below and can provide closer shots if anyone has any ideas.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Don

On mine there are white plastic "fillers" in the top and bottom channels that look like they are inserted to keep the glass slide tight.  Try pulling one of them out to gain enough room to remove the slide.

Hi Don,

You take it to FOT and they sell a whole new door to you. Smile

Jim

2002 U320

Don, I broke the sliding glass section in mine.  Snagged a belt loop on the metal knob. Thousands of bits of tempered glass to pick up.  I replaced it with 1/8" clear lexan plastic with a felt strip wrapped around the top and bottom.  I don't remember exactly how big I cut it but I had to flex the lexan maybe 3/4" to get it to fit up into the top track.  Worked well.  I added a vertical felt tape strip as well to make the seal better against insects.  And a pretty cool blue no-snag handle too.

Amazon.com: JVCC FELT-06 Polyester Felt Tape: 3/4 in. x 15 ft. (Black):... (https://amazon.com/gp/product/B01455QMX4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

And if it isn't Lexan you might want to warm it up--a lot--in order to flex it enough to get the plexiglass to go into the tracks. Otherwise, if you don't warm it up you might want to make extra pieces so you have something to try after you break the first few. :))

OK here's my "temporary" fix. Been fixed for about a year now. The real fix is on the list.
Really it is.
Ric  8)

I notice you made it in a very eye-catching "Safety Yellow" color, to keep ham-fisted operators from breaking it!  ^.^d

Google : rv screen door slide,  all kinds of replacements come up.

T-Man,

Good idea. On a closer look, I saw some black rubber fillers. Took them out and tried it, but not enough gap to remove the plastic. When I put them back in, it was apparent they were cut to a size that would cushion the sliding portion from coming too far back.

Good idea, though.

Don

Roger,

Mine came with the plastic. I'm going to see if I can pick some up and cut to size.

Thanks,

Don

Nighthawk,

Am definitely going to work with the Lexan. It's going to have to be a fair bit of flex.

Don

When I remove either the top or bottom filler on my window I gain 5/8", and the glass only needs 1/2" of vertical movement to come out.

I think PTL Engineering in La Peer, Michigan made the door; 
 PTL Engineering - Committed to quality from start to finish (http://ptlengineering.com/)

Did you buy your coach new?  If not it's possible that the PO broke the glass and replaced it with plastic,
using the bending/flexing technique you've described.  Did the screen doors come OEM with plastic in 2007?

I'll bet PTL can tell you how to R&R the glass/plastic in the door frame.

Well, T-Man, you hit the nail on the head. I saw a reference to PTL in Beamalarm docs and gave them a call. Sure enough, they have the replacement (made of acrylic) and they walked me through removing the upper and lower spacers to do the replacement. Have ordered the replacement panel ($25 and change) and will start working on removing the spacers once it gets here and it stops raining here in Mesa, Arizona (can't believe I have the words "rain" and "Arizona" in the same sentence).

Many thanks,

Don

Good deal Don.

I know this is a bit late but may be of help for others. 

Belt loop caught the knob and split the plexiglass in two.  Took the 2 halves to ACE.  Had the guy find a comparable piece and cut a new one less than 1 mm shorter than the original.  He drilled a hole and reinstalled the knob on the new piece.  Interestingly enough, the new plexiglass is much more flexible than the 10 year old stuff so I could bend it enough to reinsert.  Less than 3 bucks.  FWIW.