Trav rear door seals (quadrant)

[blundell74]

Hi all and Happy New Year!
Having spent all summer restoring and fitting rear doors to our trav we finally added new quadrant seals only to find the doors won't shut without huge pressure! This was the fault with the old ones which caused them to split at the joints and rot. We spent ages even-ing out the gaps and checking the off-side door would open independently. It looked like there was room for the seals...but no.
Has anyone had this problem? Are the seals too rigid (bought from ESM)?
We even tried cutting off one side of the quadrant but that didn't help.
Any advice from all you clever minorists would be greatly appreciated.
Charlotte
x

[newagetraveller]

I did a quick search on the ESM website and could not find anything called a quadrant seal so I am assuming that you mean the seals which they describe as aperture seals or part T24.

Firstly I would take the new seals off one at a time and then refit them one at a time to see if it is one particular seal that is causing the problem. Secondly, with the new seals fitted, I would loosen all 16 nuts that hold the hinges to the doors and see if it is possible the fit the doors more easily like this.
Thirdly I would examine the hinges very carefully and make sure that they all the right way up and in the correct position as there are several different types in a traveller and you may have swopped some of them over. You may need to look at another traveller to do this last part.

[millerman]

I have the same problem as Blundell.

Newage or any other Trav experts, have you a way of identifying which hinge is which?

Thanks

[Longdog]

I got my seals from a well known trav speciallist in Chichester.These do need time to "adjust" to the shape of the doors.Cold weather does not help this.Mine were tight at first but after about two weeks they begin to dent to the profile of the door.You need this level of firmness to form a watertight seal.I applied these after doing my complete rebuild so speak from experience.Are the ones you have hollow?As for the hinges they will only fit in one place so trial and error is the only way.If you have dismantled them and not labelled the pairs its even more of a puzzle.I will look later today for you and see if there are any part number clues.

[Longdog]

N/s top<br><br>

[Longdog]

N/s bottom<br><br>

[Longdog]

O/s top<br><br>

[Longdog]

O/s bottom.Sorry about the longwinded approach. Long arms attach to the doors with the longest going to the top hinges.The bottom hinge pillar base is 90 degree whereas the top one is slightly angled.
Hope this is helpful.<br><br>

[millerman]

Longdog

Thanks very much for photos. I shall now compare with mine.

I didn't fit the doors originally; to align the o/s door I glued wooden dowels into the hinge holes in the door and re-drilled. Both doors line up

[blundell74]

Thanks for all your replies.
The seal is indeed part no T24 (rear door seal). It is triangular in cross-section and is hollow but fairly rigid. All 4 seals caused a problem near the hinge sides.
I was meticulous in keeping the hinges in their original position but who's to say they were in the correct position in the first place! They had LOADS of differing paint colours visible when I stripped them so who's to say they came from my car originally anyway. Part no's for them would be fab!
Thankyou Longdog for the pics, will try and work it out from them and fit new seals (maybe from a different supplier this time) on a warmer day.
I'm not keen on loosening the nuts as we spent ages getting the doors aligned and this would lose that alignment? Also, like Millerman, we had to do a certain amount of re-drilling and (concealed) 'filling'!
Starter has died so car not going anywhere for the mo anyway....

[ASL642]

We had just the same problem when we redid the wood and fitted the hinges again. Got all lined up ok but the rubber seals are so large it makes the doors almost impossible to close. After 2 years we still have trouble, need to use knee against the wood.

[blundell74]

Are the doors standing up to the pressure at the joints? No sign of flexing?

[Longdog]

I'm afraid part nos are probably under hinge plates so I can't help with those.I have to apply gentle pressure to close the doors but all joints are ok and not showing any signs of cracking, What sort of gap have you ended up with between hinge pillar and door when closed?This is the first point of contact for the seal so is most likely to cause flexing.My doors come together tightly in the middle and have about 4mm on the hinge pillars.

[ASL642]

Everything seems to be ok, but as my car has to live outside I'm rather loath to sand down the wood where to doors meet as when the weather warms up (if ever!) dont want a gap. There's loads of room between the door hinges and the wood to take the rubber, just the top and bottom that seem to foul.

[newagetraveller]

The fact that blundell74 and millerman both had to redrill the holes to get their hinges to fit and then both found that the door seals prevented the doors from closing properly is ringing alarm bells for me.

I wonder if they have fitted the top hinges at the bottom and the bottom hinges at the top?

[ASL642]

Just take your time. We laid out the hinges and checked everything a zillion times before drilling the holes in new wood. It was nerve racking, but by taking loads of time you avoid mistakes. The photos show which way round/up the hinges go. Drill a small hole to start with so if it's a little "Out" you can always go left or right a bit.

It helps to lay the hinges on top of the wood where they are to go to do the final check. I labelled mine after that so could not put them in the wrong place.

[Kevin]

When I redid my seals last year after much to-ing & fro-ing my biggest problem is the seal between the doors which I couldnt get to close with the quadrant and I resorted to a flatter profile rubber which although I can now close the doors it doesnt go quite as tight as it should and I get a small leak in bad weather.

[Longdog]

Hi Chaps.The seal between the doors should be a flat profile about 4mm*13mm and stuck to the left hand door so any rain that gets into the gap runs down the curve and out the bottom.I can imagine quadrant in here would make doors impossible to close.

[Kevin]

I can imagine quadrant in here would make doors impossible to close.

With mine it certainly seems to be but I have seen lots with the quadrant fitted including one as it came from the factory with it fitted, however I have to agree that sometimes there seem to be no alternative, do you happen to know where this is available from as the last lot I got wasnt perfect and tended to try and stick to the first door opening which I think was caused by the surface of the rubber not being of the correct finish.

[Longdog]

Hi Kevin,supplier is Steve Foreman 01243 788660