We purchased our 2001 Country Coach Intrigue in 2016. The door has never closed correctly. You always had to kind of slam it. Country Coach used a crazy hinge system, see the middle picture that it is not lined up correctly. If you look at the last picture you will see that it is too close to the back of the door opening. It would hit in this back corner making it hard to close the door. I tried many things to try and fix it but with no success. Oregon Motor Coach ( one of the two best shops for Country Coaches) tried a quick fix and the mechanic just made it worse. I have been thinking about this for a long time and being able to park it in our back yard, where the coach was secure, gave me the opportunity to dive in and do something.
I figured that the door was bent out and back at the top of the door, starting at the bottom of the window. I had no idea how the door was built but thought maybe it was just a wood frame that was weak, I found out that I was totally wrong on that!
I decided to make a table / jig to hold door and try to bend it back to shape using some clamps. I purchased a 4’x 8′ sheet of plywood and a sheet of 1″ foam insulation to cover the door space when I took the door off.
I took out the window first, to try and figure out how the door was built. All the while trying to build up the courage to take off the door.
I drilled a small hole through the wood in the window opening and found that it was steel behind the wood. Next I made my table. I cut the sheet of plywood in half and screwed the two pieces together. I screwed also screwed a couple 2 x 4s on the bottom for bracing. I took off the door and cut the foam insulation to fill the space where the door usually was. I was committed and a little terrified.
I bought a few extra clamps. I set the door on the jig and tried to figure out how and where to bend the door. I tried to figure out how to measure how much I would bend it. It ended up kind of trial and error. I put the door on once and decide I needed to bend it some more so took it off and bent it some more.
The pictures of the jig and clamps that I used show that the door was a lot stronger than I thought it was, see how much the table bent! After I would clamp the door down I would release it and lay the long level on it to see if it was a little straighter, then I would bend it some more. In the pictures you can see that I used a bar clamp to bend it to the back. After doing this many times I installed the door and it actually fits much better and closes very nicely. I am hoping that it will stay that way. Time will tell.
The screen door needed some attention also, so I rebuilt the screen door. I sprayed on some satin black paint, tightened thing up and installed a new screen. I had never replaced a screen before and I did ruin the screen on the first try. I just refer to that as my practice screen:-) The second time it came out nice.
This project was a long time coming. It will be really nice not to have to slam the door all the time. It will also be interesting to see if this quiets the wind noise that we always had. I hope that this might help someone out there with a door issues on their vintage Country Coach. Click here if you would like to see all the pictures in my door rebuild album.
