Door Stop for Passenger Slider on Sprinter Camper Van

The door stop in action in the Steens Mountains.

The door stop in action in the Steens Mountains.

Looking back, I can’t believe we used our van for a year without a door stop for the sliding passenger door. It’s one of my favorite tweaks for the van! Most of the Sprinters or other camper vans don’t have this as a stock feature unless you ordered it new. Ours didn’t, and we decided it was worth looking into, especially with one of our cabinets blocking half the door space. If you don’t have a door stop installed at the factory, it’s a couple hundred bucks +$120/hr for a shop to do it OR a giant pain to retrofit. I opted for the fun of a DIY version.

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.

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.

Designing the door stop in Solidworks.

Setting up the part in the CNC machine.

Setting up the part in the CNC machine.

Finished door stop in the CNC jig.

Finished door stop in the CNC jig.

37 replies
  1. scott
    scott says:

    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

    Reply
  2. Joffrey Peters
    Joffrey Peters says:

    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).

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      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.

      Reply
  3. Marc
    Marc says:

    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.

    Reply
  4. Frank Blanchard
    Frank Blanchard says:

    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!

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      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!

      Reply
      • Nancy Neiley
        Nancy Neiley says:

        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

        Reply
        • Dakota
          Dakota says:

          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.

          Reply
          • Dakota
            Dakota says:

            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.

  5. David Coleman
    David Coleman says:

    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.

    Reply
  6. Dennis
    Dennis says:

    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!

    Reply
  7. Kim
    Kim says:

    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!

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      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.

      Reply
  8. Daniel Poirier
    Daniel Poirier says:

    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.

    Reply
  9. Jason Culver
    Jason Culver says:

    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.

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      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!

      Reply
  10. Terry
    Terry says:

    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?

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      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!

      Reply
      • Terry
        Terry says:

        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?

        Reply
  11. Vance
    Vance says:

    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?

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      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.

      Reply
  12. Kevin
    Kevin says:

    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.

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      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!

      Reply
      • Kevin
        Kevin says:

        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.

        Reply
  13. Ron Gosney
    Ron Gosney says:

    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?

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      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!

      Reply
  14. JUAN A ALVAREZ
    JUAN A ALVAREZ says:

    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

    Reply
    • Dakota
      Dakota says:

      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.

      Reply

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