The sliding door track and corresponding cover are attached by bolts. I was thinking of shimming out the rear of the track (and the cover) about 1 1/4" to accomodate larger tires. I've taken the cover off, and also examined the rollers on the front and it looks like there's plenty of 'play' to allow this. The door wouldn't hit the track because the front of the the track would remain in the stock position. I tried it out and it doesn't look as bad as I was afraid it might. From the side you can't tell at all. It's only noticeable from the top and rear. Anyone done this before/see any potential problems?

 

spngy,

They used to make longer replacement arms for the rear hinge of sliding van doors for the purpose you mentioned. When opened, the door would stand out further from the side of the van than with the stock part. I don't know if they are still available. Maybe JC Whitney or a van conversion parts supplier would have them.

Gene

 

good idea, i've never thought of that but, it might work....

a door extender would look better thought.. if you cant find one a good fabricator should be able to cut and lenghten your.

 

What's a door extender?

If the rear door track arm were lengthened, wouldn't it push the door further forward when closed? I looked at doing that, but I couldn't see how it would look when it was closed, and if I made that arm/bracket able to telescope, what would make it push out when needed and then retract to close?

 

How would that work? Would it still shut right or would it have to be modified at the closure point. Just describe what you remember please. Thanks!

 

The door extender is also the rear door track arm. I'm not sure the late model arms can be modified. Here's an example.
[IMG][/IMG]

 

spnrgy,

blue _mule and I are refering to the same part. As far as I know, it simply replaces the stock part and works in the same manor. I would guess that it just lays into the exterior door track / slot when the door is closed. They used to be very common on the older vans with extended fenders. I think most newer vans with extended fenders have swinging doors now, so you don't see them as often.
Maybe blue_mule knows where they are available.

Gene

 

Ahhh, I see said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw. Do you possibly have a closeup of that? I'm sure I could figure it out but I'd rather not reinvent the wheel. Do you know what else they might be called? I'm having trouble finding one. I used 'door extender' 'track arm' etc.

 

Well, I couldn't find any sort of door extender for my van, so I decided to make my own. Ooops, bigger project than I signed on for. I have an electric automatic door opener that uses a chain drive system (handicapped van) and although I accounted for extending this chain drive system, it doesn't work like I figured it would. I cut the bracket that attaches the door to the track in half, and welded a rod onto the door half of the bracket and the rod attaches to a pivot point on the track half of the bracket. After a little figuring, test fitting, and tweaking, this part works great. However, then I found that when opening, the door makes metal-to-metal contact with the rear door post before opening, so i installed a wheel on the rod to guide the door out before the rod takes over and pushes the rear out wide. Next problem: even though the end of the chain drive is now attached to the track half of the bracket, it does not pull hard enough to stand out the extension rod. Spring time. I have figured out a lot of ways to install a spring that don't work. I have put the wheel I mentioned earlier on an arm and sprung the arm to get a little more push out. Works great, but only to a point. Now I have to spring the main rod too. I think I have figured out the best way now to get the most pull, so I will try it and find out. Wish me luck.

I think I have had these brackets on and off the van more than three dozen times fitting and tweaking the system, so unless you are a reasonably skilled, mechanically adept fabricator, I do not reccomend you try this. After I get it to work, I will post pictures. I have taken some pictures along the way through the process, but I would need space for at least 40 pictures or so to lay it all out for someone to follow. Updates to follow...

 

On my factory length door extender the customizer also added a spring to mine to work in the same fashion as yours. I too have the electric door opener (chain drive).

 

Do a search and check this out:
Fender Flares - Extend-A-Fender - Rear by Bushwacker
Black
2200611BUS
Econoline Fits Vehicles With Sliding Door
$189.95 Pair

They include the extended arm.

 

You're kidding me right? I have spent weeks doing this. Not full time of course but nonetheless it has been quite a design process. I'm not sure if a simple arm would cut it anyway. It's not an arm so much as it is a bracket, which has a single pivot point at the edge of the door, and is rigidly connected to the wheels that ride in the track.

To have a longer "standout" the bracket has to be cut in half and a rod welded in, and a pivot point added at the 'track half' of the bracket. This is because a longer space between the door and the track when open means that the track half does not come as far forward when the door is shut. Thus the need for another pivot point. The rod has to have a curve as well (or a "jog") to get from the flat portion of the track in to the point on the edge of the door where the door half of the bracket attaches.

Another issue: The rigid bracket would normally guide the door out along the curved portion of the track, but since the track half of the bracket no longer comes that far forward, it is not in the curved portion of the track. It simply goes straight back instead of out and back. So, a wheel is required to perform the function of the curve on the track. It rolls against the curved portion of the track and guides the door Out before it starts to go back and keeps the door from bumping the rear door post as it opens. I mounted thus wheel on a spring loaded arm to get the most push out I could.

My van being a hadicapped van, it has an automatic chain drive door opener, and that was a consideration as well. The "loop" length of the chain (the perimeter or circumference to misuse some words). changes from when the door is closed to when it is open. This was the case before the extended arm, and there was a spring to compensate for the increased loop length. Now the issue is exaggerated, and increased spring tension was necessary, as well as a different attachment point to give the door incentive to stand out at the full length of the rod. As opposed to being attached to the door, the end of the "loop" now pulls from the track half of the bracket, in order to maintain full extension. The resistance to full extension was much higher at the beginning of the door opening cycle, and decreases significantly as the door travels backward. However, it wasn't going to do it on its own. So I had initially toyed with the idea of a torsion spring at either or both of the pivot points, or an extension spring (as opposed to compression, like a coil spring) attached to the track half at one end and the end of the rod near the door at the other end. I decided none of these options provided efficient OR Sufficient! force vectors in the direction pull was needed. Fortunately, I had a really quality brain fart; I came up with the idea of attaching a catch to the side of the van just below the track that would stop the track half of the bracket just long enough for the pulling force from the chain drive to stand out the rear of the door to full extension, at which point a "cam" of sorts would depress the catch, and allow the track bracket to continue on. It works great, and most importantly, does not stress the chain drive, and will be dependable.

I'm sure this is all very hard to follow without seeing it, compounded by the fact that I am less than adept at explaining the images I see so clearly in my mind. I've put some pictures on my member page, but keep in mind this is still a work in progress, and there was a lot of trial and error, fitting and re-fitting, and so it's not pretty yet. All I have left to do now is finalize the cam and weld it onto the rod, and then clean up the rod assembly and paint it. I got a little carried away and started polishing all the parts to a high gloss, starting with the spring loaded arm for the wheel, and the "pullers" above and below the wheel that I cut out of a stainless steel blank outlet plate. I needed them to be thin and strong, and given their postition and purpose, I knew it would be difficult to get paint to stick, so stainless steel seemed the only choice, and the only thin stuff I could find at Lowe's on a Sunday afternoon was in the form of a blank outlet plate -- but it worked great! Babble babble babble blah blah blah if any one actually read all this I am shocked. Go look at the pictures it's much clearer. I have only taken pictures of part of the process, and will add more this weekend when I get closer to done. I fully anitcipate finishing it this weekend... but I said that last weekend... so who knows.

Anyway, getting around to my pointless, if you have a picture of the "arm" that is included with the Bushwacker flares, post a picture. I have seen the flares, if fact that is part of what prompted this project, but I don't want the smaller ones designed for a van with a sliding door, I want the maximum coverage I can get. I called Bushwacker and they said the hinged door version offers an additional 2" of coverage versus 1 1/2" additional coverage for the sliding door version. I am surprised to hear about the extended arm, because I asked lots of questions, and neither the rep nor the tech I talked to mentioned anything about an arm. The tech told me the sliding door version is designed to clear with no mods to the door.

 

So have you filed your patent application yet? Nice work.

Gene