Door Stop for Passenger Slider on Sprinter Camper Van
The door stop in action in the Steens Mountains.
Design and how it works
My rad brother-in-law Jesse and I designed a two-sided ramp with a divot for the passenger slider wheel in it using a CNC machine. I used old engineering skills from bygone days to sketch out a design and then we used CAD to model the door stop in Solidworks, a 3D design program. This ramp rests right in the main track that the passenger door wheel slides over and works great! The divot is sized to fit the wheel of the passenger door. The door stop is just 3″ long, 1/4″ wide and 1/10″ tall, and attaches with JB Weld. When installed, it provides a perfect way to hold the door in place, even when you’re parked at an angle. Plus, you get to choose where you want to install it – anywhere on the sliding surface of the passenger slider track, so it should work with a RAM Promaster, Ford Transit, or any van with a metal sliding surface that the door rolls on. Being able to hold the door only 1/3 open keeps things more private, makes it so the door doesn’t slide all the way shut or open, and keeps wind gusts out while letting a breeze in. A small, easy fix that we love. By the way, dig these kinds of posts? Sign up for the free Traipsing About newsletter for van talk and outdoor adventures.The door stop installed on the van rail slide. (Photo from LivingtheVantasy.com.)
How to buy one
Dozens of people have contacted me via email to buy one, but it’s not something I’m interested in. Not to worry: Jesse put up a simple order page here, plus wrote an installation manual. He ships the stops with JB Weld, so it shouldn’t take more than 5-10 minutes to install one. People on the Sprinter forum dig it, and we’ve even had unsolicited feedback from people like Jason at LivingtheVantasy.com, who recently wrote an entire post about it (excerpt below):As soon as I finished reading Dakota’s post, I ordered one on the spot and I cannot believe I owned my Sprinter for so many years without it. Not only was the product excellent, the service that Jesse provided was wonderful and the installation manual/kit he provides is extremely easy to follow. That was about a year and a half ago and I have consciously appreciated the brilliance of this simple doorstop every day.
Hope you enjoy this quick and easy DIY solution! Just a little karma back into the Sprinter world that helped me out so much when I was designing and building our van.Some shots of the design and manufacturing process
Designing the door stop in Solidworks.
Setting up the part in the CNC machine.
Finished door stop in the CNC jig.
thanks for this.
question: this allows for the door to continue all the way open i assume? how difficult does this make the sliding action? are you still able to slide it all the way shut in one go? or do you need to let it ‘rest’ in the door stop and then continue?
great price for a great idea, but just want to clear that up before i jb weld it onto my shiny new sprinter…
thanks again for this write up.
-s
Yo! Yep, the door can slide in one motion all the way open. The stop is just a small bump in the middle of the run. Works great. Enjoy yours!
Not to put your brother out of business, but would you mind sending me the .STEP file? I’m interested in 3D printing a few of these (mostly to play with 3D printers).
Ha! Sorry, no can do. We spent too much time designing the exact dimensions and curve for the catch feature for me to just send it out. There are lots of free files online for you to download to text your 3D printer.
The chemists where I worked told me to never mix epoxy on cardboard. Something about it soaking out some essential part of the epoxy. FWIW, I always use a plastic lid.
Interesting. I had no idea. Thanks for the insight!
I like the door stop, want one. Questions: What tempreature range does the epoxy have to be applied in? Can more than one door stop be used? Has anyone done this yet? Whats the likely hood of preventing a smooth (OEM) operating door with more than one stop?
Thanks!
Howdy! Yeah, my brother-in-law has sold over a hundred of them and people are loving them. You could definitely use more than one stop if you wanted. Drop him a line with questions – the link to his site is on this blog post. Sorry, I’m not involved with the sale/questions about epoxy and other items. I think you’ll love it though!
Dakota,
I like the door stop. I have searched your BIL’s website looking for an email address, to no avail. We have a RAM Promaster and I was wondering if it would fit our van.
Thank you.
Nancy
It’s a great add! I think it will work with the Promaster assuming the door slider runs on metal rail the same way as the Sprinter (which I believe they do). I’ll email you my BIL’s info.
Any update? i have a promaster and would like to have this amazing door stop too!! 😀
Hey Sam! Nothing on the Promaster yet – the wheel diameter is slightly bigger, so Jesse needs to redo the design a bit. Drop him a line through his website and he’ll get you all set up.
I own a 2007 Sprinter. The side sliding door has always been a problem. It requires different amounts force to close the door depending on the angle how it is parked. Too bad it is not electric with a manual over ride. It would be safer and much easier closing this door.
We purchased the doorstop after reading the post about it. Installation was dead simple, and the little chunk of metal works far better than I’d expected. Even when parked on a slope, once the side door wheel drops into the center slot the door will stay open. Brilliant!
Excellent! So glad to hear you’re enjoying your door stop as much as we (still) are. Thanks for the feedback.
Hi there. I see that the doorstop needed some tweeking for the promaster. Do you know if it worked out for the ford transit? Thank you!
It should work just fine for any door that slides on top of a rail. I think that’s how the Transit works? Email Jesse directly through his site to check.
Hi, I’m trying to access your brother in law’s website through the link you provided to purchase a Sprinter door stop. However, both my web browser and router are preventing me to do so, stating security reasons. (saying the website I’m trying to access contains malware). Could you give me another way to contact your BIL? Thanks, and keep posting all this valuable info.
Huh, weird! We’ve never seen that happen before. You can email Jesse at jbluetooth@gmail.com. Enjoy that door stop! Still one of my favorite upgrades to our van.
Thanks Dakota.
Very cool. I think I’m going to buy one. Do you know what material this is made of? Little concerned about how long it will last.
I still love ours and so do hundreds of people that have bought one. The doorstop is made of aluminum and (to my knowledge) none have worn out. Ours shows zero wear after three years. Do it!
Seems like a great product – just ordered one. So to installing it so the sliding door stays open by 1/3 is still where you figure works best for you?
You’re going to dig it! Ours is set up so that the sliding door lines up with our passenger-side cabinet. It’s totally up to you where yours makes sense because the layout dictates how it’ll work best. Enjoy!
THX Dakota – I see that you set the opening to where you cabinet ends – however – are there times where you wished the cabinet was not so wide allowing more room for the opening?
Do you think it would cause a potential problem to install 2 of these for multiple stop points? Or maybe it would be too much stress on the door going over multiple bumps?
I think you’re fine with two! It’s a small bump and the wheel rests back on the track immediately. Worst case, you just pop one of them off the track if it doesn’t work. Hope that helps.
We will have a stop on our 2017 Road Trek 144″ Sprinter that keeps the door from opening the whole way. The factory is concerned that the door could slide open the whole way and it would interfere with or damage the awning and/or an open window behind the door (4 inch flip out window). Would this be a possible solution – would it require an “action” to affirmatively open the door all the way – or do you think would be too much risk of it opening all the way and inadvertently breaking the awning or window.
If you need a “must stop the door” kind of thing, this doorstop probably isn’t what you’re looking for. You have to push fairly hard to push past it with the door, but if you were on a steep slope and the door got away from you, you’re going to slam past it for sure. Good luck figuring out a solution!
Thanks, I need something between the upfitter’s “hard stop” (requiring removing 8-10 screws holding on two different door stops, and this. I’ll need something like a drawer slide, allowing an over-ride, when I want to open the door all the way.
Thank you for sharing this article. I need something like this.
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Having purchased the door stop and using it for 15 days on a trip I would like to offer some feedback. When the door is in the stop spot it takes considerable force to move it out of the stop position. Something to consider is this – a simple ramp with rounded peak (essentially what you supply without the stop divet) may be more suitable for most people. The reality is that we are all trying to park our vans on a level spot for living and sleeping, so if not quite level the door just slowly rolls one way or the other. A simple ramp will allow the door to be held, just as the door stop does. Sure, it does not lock it in place, but no need and much easier to initiate moving the door when you want to close it or open it further. Maybe someone has advice on what I can use to fill in the divet on the door stop I bought?
Thanks for the feedback, Ron! When we designed it years ago, we went with the divot because we wanted to be able to hold the door in place uphill or downhill in one fixed spot. A solid fixed point seems to be the preference for the thousands of customers that we’ve sold these to, so we’ll likely stick with it. That said, I bet a spot of JB Weld in the divot will make it easier to initially move. Hope that helps!
Thanks, will try the JB Weld solution.
Hello there! I installed the doorstop and i am very pleased with it.
I need to relocate the doorstop.
How do remove/melt/dissolve the JB Weld?
Thanks in advance.
J A
Howdy Juan! Sorry, I have no idea. Did you try Googling it? I know Jesse (the guy you bought them from) includes info on how to dissolve JB Weld in the installation package he sends, but I’m guessing you don’t have that. I’m sure you can find the info online though! Glad the doorstop is working well for you.
Is there something like this for the VW Transporter T6? 🙂