Jayco 1207 Door Issue

[Hammer_2012]

Hey everyone,

I have a 2007 Jayco 1206, and the door frame doesn't stay in place very well when it's installed. The door itself works fine, but the frame keeps coming out of place on one side. There are two white plastic "turn latches" on each side of the frame, but on the one side the latches don't come close to holding the door frame in place. I've attached a few photos below.

Anyone else have this issue or come up with a fix? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

[emjayuu]

How level are you parked? It has a lot to do with your frame.

[bailee21]

my sport 8 had this same problem i never figured out a fix

[TNCraig]

Looks like the shaft on the latch is bent. If you can disassemble and straighten it, then it should work better. Worth a shot

[DocBrown]

Wow, I thought that issue had been fixed years ago. Our '93 1208 did the same thing but we sold it before it got bad. Notice how the door gap is wider the higher up it is. That's your frame flexing. Because the door creates a gap in side wall rigidity, as time goes on and the trailer bounces down the road, the frame slowly bends in the area below the door. Eventually this leads to a cracked frame, but it takes many, many years to get that bad.

The short term fix when camping is to put a small bottle jack at the corner closest to the door and raise up enough to close the gap. In fact, if you watch for older Jayco pop-ups some people have had to put an extra latch on the outside of the door to keep it from opening up while traveling.

The long term fix is jack it up, make sure the frame is straight by lining up the door, bolt a 6" long 1/4" thick steel plate inside the frame, and find a welding shop who can strengthen the plate by welding it also. If you don't weld it, the bolt holes will just round out after a short time and you'll be back to square one. This is how I fixed my '72 Jayco pop-up. I bought that one in late '91 and what a piece of junk, I knew nothing at the time about trailers. It was a good learning experience though!

Originally Posted by TNCraig

Looks like the shaft on the latch is bent. If you can disassemble and straighten it, then it should work better. Worth a shot

Unfortunately, the shaft is bent because the pressure on the door being forced open while traveling bent it. He can fix it, but in one or two trips it'll just be bent again.

[mkwittenberg]

Just purchased (yesterday) a 2010 Jayco 1007 - SAME PROBLEM
Door came open twice while traveling down the road.
I would like to get it fixed as I really like the camper, but not sure if I should have the dealer fix it or go with your "fix"??? Could you be more specific on the placement of the steel plate that could be welded to the frame? Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[Lifespalette]

Mine is a new 2013 model 1206 and I'v already got the same condition at my door on the left jamb if you're standing outside looking at the door. When I close the step / hatch in the travel position, the rubber trim piece covers the side panel jamb at the bottom, but by time you get to the top or the hatch it just barely touches........about a 1/4" difference in plumb as you travel up the panel jamb. I thought it was just a side panel cut out of square at installation (lack of quality control), but now, after reading this, think I should do some more investigating and see if there is any deflection in the frame at this point.................so far this has been the only real issue I've found short of a few loose bracket screws underneath the trailer holding gas lines and such.

If it turns out to be the frame sound like an easier fix than going back to the Dealer and having to deal with that.........guess I know what i"m doing today.

[bailee21]

i know Jayco redesign the locks in 2014 i dont have this problem on my 14

[Lifespalette]

Well.... now I'm perplexed. Checked the underneath framing didn't see anything that appeared to be sagging. Broke out the levels (stick and laser), checked the outrigger framing to the main frame members....level. Checked the outrigger frame from behind the axle to in front of the axle........ level. Checked the individual members for sagging (bending) which would show up with the levels.............nothing. But there is definitely a variation from the bottom of the door opening in the side panel to the top of the door cut in the side panel of almost 3/8 of an inch. I'm beginning to suspect just a poor (angled cut) for the left jamb.......... Have my measurements to the 64th of inch and will just monitor it for now. Step/hatch closes and locks solid.....we'll see. Time will tell.

[Owen Stubbs]

Just so we are all on the same page, we are talking about the full height door, not the travel door, correct?

I have noticed this on my Jayco 1207 as well... except this past trip. And the only difference was that my site was not level side to side, so I used my newly purchased BAL 28050 leveler on the left/back/driver's side wheel to raise that side up about 2-3 inches. Even though I have felt my camper was level side to side in the past, jacking up the side opposite the door seemed to make the door fit much better.

[DocBrown]

Originally Posted by mkwittenberg

Just purchased (yesterday) a 2010 Jayco 1007 - SAME PROBLEM
Door came open twice while traveling down the road.
I would like to get it fixed as I really like the camper, but not sure if I should have the dealer fix it or go with your "fix"??? Could you be more specific on the placement of the steel plate that could be welded to the frame? Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Not really, it's been over 20 years since I fixed the pop-up I described above. And that was easy to see because the frame was cracked. Best suggestion I could offer is to crawl under it and have someone use a floor jack on each corner and look for the flex point, which will be in the area under the door. But keep in mind that it won't necessarily look stressed because its the entire frame that's bending.

Originally Posted by Lifespalette

I'm beginning to suspect just a poor (angled cut) for the left jamb.......... Have my measurements to the 64th of inch and will just monitor it for now. Step/hatch closes and locks solid.....we'll see. Time will tell.

Possibly. But a 1/4 inch gap at the top of the door could easily be caused by a very small amount of frame flex that will show as level. The best way to verify that is take it to a parking lot with a flat concrete surface, level the trailer, then measure all points of the frame to the ground. Then jack put jacks under the corners until the door gap is closed then measure the same frame points again. But you are right, time will tell because if it is the frame it will will only get worse.

[Lifespalette]

Well, the week of Memorial Day took off to the lake for a 5 day break. Went early and left for home the day before Memorial Day to beat the rush out and the crowds. On the way home the travel hatch / steps door popped open twice on the way home. The first time while pulling the trailer over a drainage swale that crossed the road diagonally. Was only going about 5 MPH so no damage done. I figured I hadn't closed it good enough and the latch bolt didn't catch. Later on, doing 60 MPH on the Interstate, I crossed over a bridge. There must be something with bridge abutments and road connections in MS and TN that have civil engineers totally baffled. They are all an "E" Ticket ride ( for the young people who don't know, those were the best rides at Disney World way back when). Short story, I realized both events ended up torquing the trailer frame allowing the latch bolt that was barely engaging with the latch plate to loose contact allowing the travel hatch to disengage totally. So I called the dealer and made an appointment to get it looked at. Last week I took it in and left it with them.

Today I get a phone call explaining that the heater error board problem was supposedly due to a faulty propane tank........(3 different tanks were tried on that heater unit before I took it in....didn't work with any of them. All 3 filled). Next they tried to tell me the door issue wasn't covered under my warranty due to obvious damage caused by my dog chewing up the weather stripping on the side of the hatch door..........????? I asked who denied the issue and was told Jayco did. When I asked for the name and number of the person they talked to at Jayco and explained that there was no way a dog chewing the weather strip could have caused that gap that is now about 3/4" of an inch difference from the bottom to the top, they said they would look at it again and file another request with Jayco.

This tells me one of three things........1. The tech at this dealership is an idiot, which causes me to suspect their explanation of the heater failure as well.... or 2. I've been fed a bunch of BS from the get go and someone dropped the ball completely and this morning someone asked why this J1206 was still sitting there.....or 3. Jayco isn't as good as I've been told when it comes to satisfying the customer.

For now I'm thinking it's 1 or 2 or both. I'm trying really hard to stay optimistic about the Jayco product and service. They said they would refile the claim and we would have an answer from Jayco within 48 hours. I suspect it's more a lazy dealership tech that just wanted to close out a work order as quickly as possible.............at least I'm hoping that's it. We'll see

[Lifespalette]

Well... that was a quick 48 hours....got a call this afternoon that the door was fixed and it was ready to pick up.......................................we'll see tomorrow.

[Lifespalette]

Picked up the Pup this morning. I have to give credit to the dealership technicians. The resolution on the door issue came out fantastic. The frame hasn't bent, it was checked, and as I found it to be, aligned and level from front to back. It was the other option, that being a poorly cutout on the side panel that quality control failed to catch or just passed through. The solution was the tech pulled off the frame and flashing from the floor to the top of the side panel, cut a custom wedge of solid wood to square the door opening up. Glued and anchored that to the side panel, installed new flashing with the proper sealant and reinstalled the door frame itself. The end result was a properly sized and squared door opening that looked factor fresh from all appearances.

The issue with the furnace is still pending. The tech claims it was a problem with my propane tank (3 different tanks?) and that it fired up just fine for him when he attached their tank......couldn't explain the 4 different error codes on the board. After I explained that: 1. I had gas at the other appliances during this event with the furnace, 2. that I had tested the thermostat with a meter to insure the initiate voltage was within factory limits, 3. that I got 4 different errors codes on 4 different heat calls from the thermostat, and that 4. the failure attempts happened 4 months apart (just before Thanksgiving while we were staying in the PUp during the renovation and then again on Memorial Day week while camping).....another technician was more inclined to believe it's a faulty board. The tech of record though stood by his write up that it was the propane tank...............since it was already 98 degrees outside with HI already above 100 and only getting hotter and they didn't have the Pup opened up like I asked to inspect the furnace operation, I told them I would check it the next time I had it opened up and that I expected the work order to remain in a pending status until I got the opportunity to check it...... I paid the service charge of $120/hr for labor since it wasn't covered by warranty with the understanding that when I did check it and if it didn't work properly, my labor charge would be refunded. So that's where it is at.....

[bedrck46]

If it happens again make sure you have them check it on the so called bad propane tanks.

[DocBrown]

Thanks for the update! Very nice on the door! I thought it would have been odd that a late model unit had a bent frame.