Ford Transit USA Forum banner

Rear door exit handle mod

21K views 28 replies 13 participants last post by  Perpedualmotion 
#1 ·
I got tired of exiting out the rear door using that crappy plastic latch that is 10 inches off the floor

So this is my mod that I just finished so I have a nice exit lever

 
#5 · (Edited)
Oh man, I need to get rid of some stuff also
I have 4 drawers full of old cassettes, chains, cranks, brakes, pedals, etc
None of it is any good to use on a modern bike

Both my current bikes are Carbon fiber frames, carbon fiber wheels, carbon fiber parts and 1 x 11 SRAM XX1 drive trains
 
#14 ·
I have 4 drawers full of old cassettes, chains, cranks, brakes, pedals, etc
Did you get rid of them? I've got a friend whose Shimano 600EX rear hub broke and he was scrounging around for repair parts. Apparently Shimano changes their designs slightly very frequently so it's hard finding parts. At this point, he may well have just machined his own part.
 
#4 ·
Pretty sure my rear door is different, some kind of lever and I think it is higher, but I would have to get dressed and go out and look. Mine was built early 2016. Still a huge hassle to enter/exit by the rear doors. Definitely on the project list with the 2" lift coming soon.
That bicycle handle really gives it the "steam punk" look.
 
#7 ·
EL34, I like it. Great idea! What part of the latch mechanism did you attach the cable end to and how is it attached?
 
#8 ·
I found a half round section on the plastic housing that contains the electric door solenoid stuff.
I was able to attach a bicycle seat tube/brake cable stop there.

So my black bike cable housing comes to that point and terminates
There is about 3 inches of the stainless bike cable exposed after the housing
I attached my brake cable to the cable end point of the van cable with a screw on cable stop

It's hard to picture and it was impossible to get good pics of it all

If you undo the 3 screws that hold the lower van door latch (the 3 in my video)
Then pull the whole assembly back and twist it, you can see the van cable stop point that opens the rear door
You need to pull on that cable just as if you are pushing down the black plastic van door opening mechanism
 
#16 ·
Now I'm all hot under the collar about 27.5+ bikes. I need to ride one to see, but people who's opinion I respect say they're great for the type riding I do.

27.5+ is a 27.5" (650b) wheel with FAT 2.75-3.5" tires. 2.75" seems to be the performance size. Same outer diameter as most 29" rim mt bikes, and the wheels are often interchangeable. The extra air in the tires is it's own form of suspension, but you can get a full suspension 27.5+ bike; most come with front shock. They seem to be about 27-31lbs, a bit much for me, but like with any bike huge weight savings can be had by building your own wheelset, some guys have built their 27.5+ hardtails down to 23-24lbs, with full suspension being a pound or two higher.

I like to be able to climb without too much sweat, and I don't do breakneck downhill speed so long travel suspension isn't needed or desired. I want a bike that has traction for climbs and is cushy on my old bones for all day trail rides, and it seems the 27.5+ system might be able to provide that. Being able to float over sand instead of sink is a plus, too!
 
#17 ·
I only ride 29er bikes
It's really technical riding here in Pisgah national forest
The bigger the wheel, the better it rolls over the rocks, bumps, logs etc

I sold my last road bike and only ride off road now
Pictures of my carbon fiber bikes I built are here
http://el34world.com/Misc/bike/MyBikes.htm

My Full suspension 29er carbon fiber dual suspension bike with carbon fiber wheels and parts weight in at under 25 pounds




This fully rigid carbon fiber bike of mine weighs in a 18.5 pounds
I use this one for gravel road loops

 
This post has been deleted
#18 · (Edited)
As long as this thread has gone off topic and I wasn't responsible; used to be a huge road cyclist; centuries, criteriums, etc before the era of mountain bikes. Got scared of roads right after I bought a fancy bike and stopped riding. It's 16 years old already but still probably fits in with those fancy bike pictures up there. It's indoors/flat tires reflecting its use. Maybe I'll get back to biking in CO.
 

Attachments

#21 ·
I love a bailout gear; my bike has a 20-32-44 front and 11-28 rear. I don't think I'd mess around with a single front, not with the steep stuff I usually have to go up around here. Singles are for those people who ride a chairlift up and coast down. Not that there's anything WRONG with that. It's just something I don't do. I think the newer doubles matched with a wide range cassette have close to the same gearing ratios I have now. Too bad no one can come up with a durable and reliable CVT for bikes, where you can infinitesimally change ratios.

My Ex wanted to get a cyclocross bike, saying "it's good for the road AND trails" when actually it's not very good for either. It's good for cyclocross courses.
 
#22 ·
That's old school thinking on gearing and I used to be one of those
I am 62 and have been riding road bikes since the 70's
Then mountain bikes in the 80's until today
Everything had triple rings way back then

It took me about 1/2 a ride to fall in love with a 29er wheel bike and 1 x 11 gearing
It made my lightest 26 inch bikes feel like I was dragging a weight behind them
I sold both my Yeti 26 inch wheel bikes right after I built the 29er

Go to a gear calculator and punch in these two ratios
30 tooth chain ring x 42 tooth cassette cog for the low end
Now punch in 30 tooth x 10 tooth and look at the high end

Check out that spread and compare that to the outdated triple ring crank set gearing ratios

I use a 36 tooth on the rigid instead of a 30 tooth
Same cassette as the mountain bike
 
#24 ·
I did same thing ish -

Hooked cable to small metal tab in lock that moves -

mounted lever to to door with several strong magnets -
cable is longer -


tried different locations for lever and now
its on hinge side of door half way up window -
so far like it best -

amazed ford did not put a handle in - WTF

when I first got van I looked several days for handle -
thought maybe was built into door button -
finally Realized no handle -

pretty sure there is thousands of doors that have
been opened/bent using lever on 2nd door -
salesman opened door like that -
I did it too -

likely bends stuff - not sure -

to me handle a safety issue
 
#27 · (Edited)
Last year (in order to deal with the rear door lock and the badly placed rear door handle) I installed a couple of lock actuators wired to a foot pedal (that I step on when I want out). This allows me to install a pair of hinged screen doors in the back and not have to fight to open the back door from the inside. This also allowed me to completely cover the rear door with FRP with only one cut out (for the yellow hinge lock).

For wiring, I had relocated the rear speaker to my partition/bulkhead behind the driver, so I repurposed the speaker wires to connect to the foot pedal. I did have to install an inexpensive one second delay timer relay so that the lock actuator fires before the latch actuator. Below is a (sideways) photo of the back door under construction, as well of the one of the screen doors.




Unfortunately the foot pedal was always in the way. One night, my wife got up to use the toilet and I woke up to the sound of the actuators firing. I called out "Stop that" and my wife replied "Stop what, I'm not doing anything". We went back and forth with this a couple of times, and when I finally got there, I found the foot pedal jammed under the crank on the side of the toilet (where a bit of pressure on the toilet would fire the actuator). The door wouldn't open any more using the pedal.

When we got home I found the actuator that opened the door latch was burnt out. I bought another but I wasn't able to get the system to work reliably. This was because the actuator wasn't really strong enough to open the door latch. With the original I managed to carefully preload the latch so that it worked, but I wasn't able to duplicate that setup with the replacement.

(On a side note, while trying to get the replacement to work, I managed to somehow jam the latch or lock so that I couldn't open the door from the outside either. With the screen door in place, I had a real adventure unbolting Ford's latch to open the doors. I'll rework the screen doors next summer so that they can be easily removed, even from the inside, to eliminate any similar problems. And I'll probably remove the screen doors each winter.)

To get the door opener working again, I ordered a heavier (20 mm stroke) linear actuator. With free international shipping the item arrived 11 weeks later (3 weeks after their latest delivery date). I also ordered some push buttons.

With a couple of exceptionally warm days last week, I installed the new actuator. To get it to work, I needed to run a wire through the (door to van) wire run. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Once I ran that wire, I decided that I would run a total of 4 wires, 2 for the (light) lock actuator and 2 for the (heavy) latch actuator. This allowed me to move the electronics (the delay circuit and two relays, one for each latch wire) into the van, where I don't have to worry about waterproofing (and have easier access). I abandoned the speaker wires because they were short and hard to work with.

With the buttons, it's tricky to detach the black middle part so that they can be mounted in a 7/8" hole. Thanks to a helpful online post I was able to figure it out, but then realized that (once mounted in the hole and snapped together) you can't disassemble it without smashing something. Accordingly I made up mounting brackets with u-shaped slots instead of holes.

My prototype door opener (version 2.0) is now working and I can once again open the rear door from the inside.
 

Attachments

#29 ·
Wow - I like that so many on this forum are into bicycles - my 'career' occupation of choice, though it has involved software and other interruptions along the way!

Since my van will be used primarily for bike-oriented trips and mobile service, I think I may have to steal it. That was a great idea EL34!

I have a number of old Shimano XT levers from the 80's and 90's. I have kept my old early-80's Fisher Mt Tam and also my mid-80's Ritchey, with most of the original parts, as they were enjoyable bikes to ride. Modern Full-Sus bikes are amazing in comparison though. I have a Pivot Switchblade that is reasonably light, climbs so well, and descends with more capability than this old guy will likely use, but it's nice to know it's there. I have the 27.5" Plus tires (2.8") and plush is the best description!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top