on my 87 e350, the sliding door is a constant problem for me. the only way to close it is to move it forward at high speed then push inward on the rear of the door with quite a bit of force as its sliding or it won't latch. many times when it does latch, it comes off track to do so. then to open it i often (not always) have to fight it some more. whether its in the track or not, i usually have to jerk the rear of the door outward a few times to get it to start moving. as soon as its out, it slides easily.
the PO welded a reinforcing piece under the front of the track, making me think its been a persistent problem long before i owned it
i've replaced the nylon guide block twice with gently used ones, and the one on there now only has slight wear, but it seems that an alignment issue is forcing it off track when i close the door

so, i started wondering if i would be able to take the entire track from a junkyard van and install it on mine to correct what would appear to be an alignment problem. is it possible to simply unbolt the track from the body, or is it part of the body where you don't want to mess with it?
on further thought, i noticed a couple of newer vans at the junkyard (97 and 99) that had a different style of track and rollers that seems to be a better design. i'm seriously thinking about finding a way to adapt the newer track system to my older van.
has this ever been thought about or done before? or are there any better ideas you could send my way

 

Before you try such wild modifications maybe check the existing latches and sliding mechanisms? When that van was brand new there were no such issues with the sliding doors and unless something has damaged the track or rusted simple maintenance and possibly new parts could be the answer.

 

i don't know and details of the history of damage to it, but i do know both doors on that side have been replaced and the PO welded a support piece under the front of the track, presumably at about the same time as replacing the door (but i wouldn't know for sure). possibly it got bent out of alignment at that time... is there an easy way to remove the track to replace it with an identical one from another van...or does it sound more likely that i would want to shim mine to another position or...? also, the post between the 2 doors on the right side sits inward from the doors by 3/4" or so at the bottom, reaching proper alignment around handle height.
as for the slides and latches, the top slide has never had a problem, the bottom one has tried twice to move outward, locking the door in place. i have dealt with this by striking the door inward with a 4x6 block of wood, which is successful. the rear slide is the one that has all my problems. the latch at the front of the door looks and works great, on the latch at the rear, the striker bolt is worn out, as it has the nylon piece totally missing. i plan to replace it, but that shouldn't mess up the door staying on track.

 

Curious what you think aligns the sliding door & steers the front rollers straight down the top & bottom tracks?

You say "i usually have to jerk the rear of the door outward a few times to get it to start moving...the rear slide is the one that has all my problems...on the latch at the rear, the striker bolt is worn out...but that shouldn't mess up the door staying on track".

You say "PO welded a reinforcing piece under the front of the track" but it's unclear which of the 3 tracks.

Got good news & bad news. The rear roller aligns & steers the door so the front rollers won't bind & aims the rear latch to properly strike its pin.

The tracks are spot welded into their body sections making them very difficult to R&R, so maintaining & repairing correctly is the only practical way to deal w/25 YO van.

Keep in mind that the door opening is a large aperture, the force of a collision could tweak it out of shape, making it difficult for a straight sliding door to fit, or vice versa. Accidents/abuse can bend a door where the roller arms bolt on, misaligning things.

 

lots of good info there, thank you! the more i think about it, i'm thinking that maybe the pillar at the front of the door being pushed in at the bottom is causing the door to try to be an inch too far in there and pull the whole thing out of alignment... and it doesn't seem very practical to attempt to move the bottom track outward (welded in as you said) or to attempt to lengthen the roller arm from the door to change that alignment (don't want to go there)... so if it was your van, what would you do to help it work smoother? i'm thinking about having the rear latch bolt a little outward of where it "should" be with the hopes that it won't pull the door off track as often... and better suggestions?

 

Have a couple of experienced bodymen look at it. They may be able to straighten "the pillar...pushed in at the bottom" & can give you Hands On advice. Got to work better than spoon feeding on keyboard.

 

youre probably right on that - i've got a friend or two in the business i guess i'll ask... thanks again

 

reviving an old thread...

i'd gotten the door to where it was easily manageable if i was careful, with the trim cover over the rear track missing so it was easier to pop it back on track everytime. all was well until i allowed a friend to grab something out of the van, with strict instructions "don't touch the sliding door". well some friends don't listen, and he called me over after he jerked on it and had the door entirely seperated from the van, all 3 tracks. putting it back in place, i found some major height concerns, when i put the bottom track on, the top roller was about an inch below its track. i bent it upward half an inch to where i can barely get it in, but i'm thinking the bottom bracket got bent when dips**t ripped it off the van. i also found that the front latch got damaged somehow in the process, with its outboard plate of steel bent out, so i straightened that and it happened again the next day, so i straightened it again and haven't used the door today.
since its been in this condition, closing the door takes a couple minutes of fighting to make it latch, the latch bolt is already as far out as it can get, and was at the best possible height before this happened (haven't checked since).
at the junkyard today, i measured distances between tracks on both door and frame of a couple vans, so that should help me figure out if my newest problem is damage to the door or the tracks

 

having now gone and messed with it, i found that at the front of the door, the tracks are 1/4"-1/2" farther apart than what i found in vans at the junkyard. measuring with the tape measure hooked inside the top track, and eyeballinga against the floor of the bottom track, JY vans ranged from 55 3/4 to 56", mine at 56 1/4". at the rear of the door, i was in the center of the "normal" range, measuring 55 7/8".
so i put a block of wood on top of a floor jack with the intent of correcting this, and lifted the underbody until i had nearly got the wheels in the air. the dimension hadn't changed, so i gave up on this method, and made no further attempts to change this dimension. from there, i set about adjusting the door hardware to fit the tracks i have. the bottom bracket is cast iron, and the odds are slim of me making a productive adjustment there *but speaking of which, does anybody know of a source for a new one so can have both rollers working instead of just one?* anyway, i bent the top bracket upward enough that its roller was smooth in the track, instead of fighting against the bottom of the track as it was. having done so, and adjusted its roller to bring the door in as far as possible, i closed the door, and found that it closed as easily as it had before this problem. from there, i noticed that to latch the door, i had to push in and up at the rear to make it engage its latch, so i lowered the latch bolt just a little, and that allowed me to push straight in to get it to latch.

as of 2 hours ago, i was strongly intending to spend all of monday and possibly part of tuesday replacing the rear track, as i still haven't done that, and it is cracked for the forward foot of its length, providing no retention for the unit that slides in it. now that its back to where it was, i'm likely to leave it alone for a bit longer.

i guess i haven't left much of a question for y'all, but hopefully my fighting will provide as guidance for someone else

 

Josh this is a good follow-up and I'm sure you're not the only one to deal with such problems with those sliding doors. Not to rub salt in the wound but your troubles are just one reason I've always avoided that option when searching for new-to-me E vans.

As you're noticing sliding doors require a bit of maintenance and the occasional adjustment of its parts in order to operate smoothly and latch/lock in place. Given the age of your van's body new parts might be tough to find unless those of the '92 and forward interchange-----which is probably doubtful.

I wish you the best of luck in restoring this to your own likes-----always glad to get an update too!

 

IMO Josh's sliding door problems/troubles can't be blamed on FORD's design or "a bit of maintenance" missed. Readers should be "noticing" that significant body damage & earlier attempts to repair are to blame.

This '87 van presumably suffered an accident severe enough to; demand replacing sliding door, deform the side door opening & damage tracks welded to body. Repair attempts appear to have been lacking, resulting in chronic misalignment that accelerated wear & broke parts.

Josh is probably "not the only one to deal with" a 25 year old Econoline BENT in an accident. But his issues aren't typical of Econolines w/o body damage & can't fairly be blamed on sliding door design.

E-Series still offers the sliding side door as a no cost option. Econoline's replacement, the full size Transit, is expected as early as November according to dealer. "Not to rub salt in the wound but" currently Transit only offers sliding side cargo doors.

Have owned Econolines w/sliders for over 25 years w/o any side door issues. The only "bit of maintenance" required was 5 minutes annually to oil the rollers & pivot arm. Never needed any "occasional adjustment".

 

i think you're right club wagon, there was more to this can of worms than i realized at first.

one more question, some time ago i attempted to replace the latch bolt with a new one, as mine is missing the nylon bushing i believe its supposed to have, and with it, i was unable to make the door latch at all. every other van i've seen from this time period is also missing the nylon bushing off that bolt. is that a design thing or a neglect thing combined with alignment problems?

 

I have the same problem on my '78. I have done body work for 10 years. What I have noticed is the sag in the back of the door. If you lift up on the bottom of the door in the back when its open is there play? Mine wont catch in the safety latch unless I do this. This could be a number of problems seeing as all the parts rely on eachother but what I saw was the metal bar that attaches to the door and the rear outside track seems to be the center of the problem. Like a door hinge it swivels with weight on it and can just wear out. My plan (if I can find parts) is to remove the rear track. My interior is torn out so I can see it is just held in with large sheet metal screws. If you look inside the track with a flash light you should see bolt heads. Once thats out that arm assmbly should be serviceable. at this point bushings and greasable parts should be accessible. If this IS the problem the door is sagging causing extra weight to be supported by the other two tracks thus bending and tweeking other components. Now the bar that swivels like a hinge may be the problem. I have had to re-bushing door hinges in alot of old cars because through time with all that weight the hinge gets "sloppy". They make kits for firming up door hinges but in this case I would try to track down a NOS part. Thats my two cents. Hope it helps someone! Now back to searching for those elusive part numbers!

 

according to my local ford dealers, all parts relating to this sliding door are obsolete. also vanguy, i'm not sure if i read your post right, but did you say that the rear track was bolted in? nope, its got a whole string of spot welds, so the only way to screw with it is to cut out the welds and weld in a new one. its possible, but should only be done in extreme cases. mine maybe should be, but i've gotten alignment figured out well enough that it only jumps off once every few months now. the little piece of sheet metal that covers it has been removed permanently, so i can inspect the parts for being on track every time.

i think part of your problem might have to do with the top front mount on the sliding door. its designed to be adjustable, and if adjusted wrong it will cause your door to stop before its open far enough to latch open. try loosening the 3 screws that hold it to the door and moving it forward a little, then see how your door works.
also, the top front track doesn't carry any vertical weight, it only stabilizes the door. the other 2 carry all the load.

as for the hinge mechanism in the rear slide unit wearing out, i would find that unlikely. your average front door has several times as many duty cycles of use compared to the slider, and the hinges on the front doors carry a lot of force through the leverage of the whole door pulling down against it. the unit you're looking at is about twice the diameter of the hinge pins in your average front door, and carries the weight only several inches away from the hinge point, greatly reducing that kind of stress on it.

 

double post