Chevy & GMC Vans

Not sure if anyone has had this problem and found a fix. My sliding door is extremely hard to open. Is it the weather stripping? Or is there any adjustment you can make to the door? It's like you have to pull out and slide... Any thoughts?

On my 97 Astro the handle is connected to the lower latch by a cable. There is a plastic bushing holding the cable in place. The plastic bushing rotted away and that left too much slack in the cable to unlatch the door. My fix for that was to use a flat washer in place of the bushing. Cut a slot in the flat washer. Slide the cable through the slot so the cable is now in the flat washer and with some pliers squeeze the slot closed. The washer has to be small enough so the swedged end of the cable won't slide through. The door works fine. The flat washer won't rot away.

Smilesafari, could you post a pic?

If it doesn't rain all day tomorrow I'll get some pics. Weather report isn't all good.

meetthespeakers wrote:Not sure if anyone has had this problem and found a fix. My sliding door is extremely hard to open. Is it the weather stripping? Or is there any adjustment you can make to the door? It's like you have to pull out and slide... Any thoughts?

Do you mean as in having to reach up to the top rear corner of the door and pull it towards you to get the back edge of the door to "pop out"?

Waterboy, I have to pull out toward the top front. I wish it weren't so cold out so I could do a thorough inspection as to why this is happening, my initial thought was that the door was sealed to tightly at the top where the weather stripping is, but maybe it is the latching mechanism...

I did a write up not long ago on how I removed the body trim to gain full access to the roller assy and other points to lube.

Since you say the top front I'm not sure if my fix will help yours.
But it could not hurt.

I have the exact problem that WaterBoy described in his first post. I have to pull the rear edge of the slider away from the van before the door will slide open. I've just been dealing with it for quite a while because I haven't had the time to investigate it.
If there's a quick fix I would be most greatfull.
Smilesafari, is this the issue you fixed with the washer?

I added pics of the interior sliding door mechanisms here in a similar thread:

Sliding door frozen shut will not open