SO......I am learning a s***ton about how the Chevy sliding door mechanisms work, and it's not all good. After struggling with the door since I bought the van 3 years ago, I started a mission to get it working. Feeling that I didn't need it and it was part of the problem, I looked at switching out my extended arm for a standard stock unit. Of course they are not so easy to find....but I was lucky enough to have a fellow vanner and reader here send me an assembly from the Bay area, which was much appreciated. What I found when I got it was that, for unknown reasons, the round portion of the stud that mounts the arm to the door portion was LONGER on the stock assembly than mine, which then meant the bushing that drops over it was too long, thereby generating a lot of slop when I tried to mount it. Also, from a video I found on Youtube along with my service manual, I found that my cam that catches the door spring was BROKEN. In addition to that, one of the two "levers" that mounts to the sliding portion of the assembly was ALSO broken. Since my gifted assembly did not contain any of that, and the screw that holds the nylon rub strip to the assembly appeared to have been sheared off in the hole, I had to go search for a third assembly. I was lucky enough to actually find one at a Pick Your Part, so I pulled the whole thing and brought it back. What I found was THAT assembly contained the lever broken in EXACTLY the same place as mine. At least I was able to scavenge the correct bushing and unbroken cam from it. I also noted that my stopper bracket seemed to be bent further than the 90 degrees the manual showed, so I tweaked that back to straight. I am STILL on the hunt for an unbroken lever, however. I did a test fit on everything, and found that with an unbroken cam, there is a LOT of preload on the spring attached to the door, so it is a challenge to get everything back together. I also discovered that when I move the stopper forward to its stock position, there was a notch ground out of the track so a socket could be put on one of the bolts to tighten it in its alternate position. I will need to get that welded, as the wheel now catches on it and won't roll smoothly. Now I have the problem that when I mount the stopper bracket, and even slide it as far forward as the slots allow, it is still too far aft and the door will not move far enough forward to even latch into place. I don't even know how to approach that issue other than fab a new bracket that isn't as long. Hopefully I can get it all worked out, and then will be able to send the extended arm and bushing back up north to my compadre.
Last edited by Leakbox; February 11th 2021 2:11 pm.
