Pilothouse door wheel replacement

[svaron]

Hey Guys:

I have a 1990 54 ED and I have been trying to figure out the best way to replace the wheels on my pilothouse door. I have the wheels from Sam's Marine.

I tried to take the bottom track off without much success. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

Of course as luck would have it, the directions that Steve M. at Sam's extended to me were of a different design Aluminum 2000 door.

Looking forward to your comments...


Sam

[yachtsmanbill]

Sorry I cant help you with this, but can you document this job with some pics? I would like to build a sliding starboard side PH door on my 58 that only has wing doors, which makes docking a real PITA ! Thanks, ws

[MikeP]

There is probably a strip attached to the bottom door track that encloses a few inches vertically of the bottom of the door - hope that makes sense. On our 53 it is attached with 8 or 9 screws. Remove that. Than grasp the door on the fore and aft side from the outside, lift it up and it will clear the bottom track and can be swing outward, pivoting on the top track and swinging out from the bottom.

The wheels that engage the upper track are spring loaded and will compress "into" the door when you lift it. It will do this whether you remove the shield on the bottom or not but without it removed, the door cannot lift high enough to clear it - which is the intent, of course!

At least that's the way it works on our 53MY.

[Pete]

To remove the sliding doors on our 48 LRC, I had to do everything MikeP suggested and also had to remove the top track in the frame. Both the bottom and top wheels run in a brass track that is held in place with some #4 flat head screws, that you can remove by shifting the door between the open and close position. Once they are out the track is very flexible and can be slid out towards the stern of the boat. It can not go forward due to the door jam. This made the difference for me and out they came. BTW, sliding the track back in after the door is in place is just as easy.

Pete

[SKYCHENEY]

When I replaced the wheels on my doors, I removed the lower metal strip on the outside as stated. Then I had to pry the bottom of the door up and out with a wide flat putty knife. Just lifting it was not enough to clear the bottom edge.

[svaron]

Thank you for your advice> I tried to post pictures with no luck. Please send me an email to pianos2000@aol.com and I will send some images.

As always, thank you for everyones help!!!!


Sam