Sliding Rear Cabinet Doors (50 layout)

[DosMars]

The time has come to address an issue we've had since day one of our purchase. Love the van and the layout, but the sliding doors which allow access to the rear cabinet/storage area in our 50 layout have always jumped off the tracks. They will also bind up when trying to access the inside or close them.

On the last trip over Spring Break, the washboard & wup-dedoos were enough to finally blow out the floor of the rear cabinet. While trying to empty everything out so I could get in and fix things, I decided this would be a good time to address the sliding door issue.

Question: Has anyone come up with a good alternative to sliding doors on tracks? I think part of the problem is the doors themselves are fairly flimsy and tend to bow out or in, depending on how much gear is pressed up against them or how much things inside have shifted. So, keeping them sliding and replacing the doors with something stiffer may be an option; although there is always sand, chip residue and other detritus in those tracks. I've also been looking at something on rollers, similar to barn-door closet doors. I figure having the weight supported on rollers from above would be better than sliding and binding.

So, has anyone addressed this issue effectively? Would love some input before I try to reinvent the wheel...

-Mark

Edit: Just mentioned to the wife I strarted this thread and her exact words were: "Yes... Yes... YES! I HATE THOSE DOORS!"

 

[jbick71]

I've long thought about improving the rear cabinet sliding door situation but have yet to do anything about it myself. This may be no help whatsoever, but fwiw: there was a sale listing not too long ago (pretty damn sure it was on this forum but I can't seem to find it now for the life of me) for a really sweet (and high-priced) bright red 04-06 SMB with a custom RB50 layout. In place of the sliding by-pass rear cabinet doors were what appeared to be tambour style roll up panels that were clear translucent. Looked pretty slick and I liked the option of having both sides of the cabinet open simultaneously ...instead of her having to wait for me to get my stuff in/out or vice versa. It would certainly be a custom application and the doors need not be the clear translucent plastic I saw in that other van, but the tambour roll-up approach seems appealing to me. I've yet to dive in deeper to research options, but it's on the list.

 

[DosMars]

Interesting... I hadn't thought of roll up doors, although I have another project for the van that I thought a roll jup door would be a cool feature.
Thanks for the tip, I'll look up tambour roll-up door

 

[DosMars]

O.K., I might have found something that could work. Here are some barn door slides for cabinet doors I was able to google up:
Barn Door Cabinet

 

[DosMars]

Here's another style:
Top Sliding Track

 

[DosMars]

Here's a Tambour kit that looks way too inexpensive to me. The cheapest I've seen is in the $70 and up range with most north of $100.
Then I run across this set of 2 for $6.75?
Tambour Kit
What am I not seeing?

 

[Scalf77]

Here's a Tambour kit that looks way too inexpensive to me. The cheapest I've seen is in the $70 and up range with most north of $100.
Then I run across this set of 2 for $6.75?
Tambour Kit
What am I not seeing?

It just includes the track hardware, it doesn't include the tambour.

 

[DosMars]

It just includes the track hardware, it doesn't include the tambour.

Is the tambour just the decorative overlay? The photo makes it look like there's a front that rolls up and down. If that's the case it might work as is, just find a facade to put over the roll-up?

 

[86Scotty]

You can rebuild your sliding doors and improve them greatly. I've built a couple sets from scratch many years ago. The track is readily available from RV supply houses and the paneling and material are whatever you want them to be. You can add adhesive backed felt to the tracks to keep them still and silent.

It takes a bit of effort do get them right.

 

[DosMars]

O.K., I'm going to go with the top hanging track. Similar to the existing setup, but hangs from above instead of sliding from below. Shouldn't gunk up there & I'll look at gluing a felt liner to the track to cut down on the noise (thanks for the tip 86Scotty!)

 

[geoffff]

This may be no help whatsoever, but fwiw: there was a sale listing not too long ago (pretty damn sure it was on this forum but I can't seem to find it now for the life of me) for a really sweet (and high-priced) bright red 04-06 SMB with a custom RB50 layout. In place of the sliding by-pass rear cabinet doors were what appeared to be tambour style roll up panels that were clear translucent.

I found your van with the fancy roll-up panel cabinets over on the Expedition Portal. This is a homemade Sportsmobile copy. All he says is, "Fancy roll up closet doors."

2007 Ford E350 Custom “Sportsmobile” - 45k Miles

 

[jbick71]

Thanks Geofff! Yes, that's the van I was thinking of. If I ever decide to try to replicate that type of closet doors, I'll be sure to post about it.

 

[DosMars]

OK, so the top sliding channels have arrived. Now I need some advice on getting the old doors & tracks out. A quick look and it seems to me like they were installed before the front-facing for the unit was installed.
Can someone with an eye for things who has the sliding door cabinet/storage in the back of a 50 layout take a look and let me know if there's something I'm missing?
From what I can see, it seems like in order to remove the doors, you have to first remove the front-facing from the cabinitry. I'm seeing it's bolted in with angle-strut which doesn't seem too bad, except to get at it and remove it will involve removing the rear seat first...?

 

[vandiesel]

There could be 500 screws and angle brackets if it's anything like mine was from SMB west. Yours looks like it was made custom by a different builder.

 

[1der]

Might be a few screws holding the track in place.