Barn doors or sliding door on Van. Pro/Cons

AUTO360

Adventurer
Just thought I might start this thread for future Van owners. Its not terribly exciting but might give some helpful views on what might be better for the person buying a Van and his/her planned uses. My 03 E350 has a sliding side door. I think I like it but have not had a Van with side barn doors. Two good points on the barn doors is you can have fender flares and you can mount boxes on the inside of the doors like SMB does. Thats pretty clever. I'm actually not aware of a good point with the sliding door though I like mine. I don't think its so much of which is better more than what might work for the individual.
Please share your views, I, and maybe others, will be interested in what you have to say. Thanks

Matt
 

Sheep Shagger

Adventurer
Getting in and out when parked next to something is a lot easier with sliding doors.
You can also get extensions for the door to pass a normal fender flare, or get a thinner fender flare for the rear.
Barn doors never shut right or align correctly, always have to slam the smaller one.
Grove on the side of the van on a sliding door fills up with crap, runners & bearings ware out.
 

Chazz Layne

Administrator
As much as I love to bolt stuff to everything, I prefer the sliding door for the simple fact it is never in the way. Also, anything you lose by having a slider can always be moved to the barn doors out back...
 

Accrete

Explorer
the 1.75" flexiflares fit in the rear with slider on the Express RB...but they do lightly touch the inner slider when going back. but workable.

yes on the slider not being in the way. and on the chevy vans (2010 anyway) you are unable to open the side barn doors past perpendicular so they aren't much good under an awning.
 

bat

Explorer
Having had a van with a slider, I would never buy one with a slider again. They rattle and can not handle an over sized tire opening up.
 

deserteagle56

Adventurer
Having had a van with a slider, I would never buy one with a slider again. They rattle and can not handle an over sized tire opening up.

And I'm just the opposite! i drove a GMC 4x4 van with big tires for 32+ years; it had the sliding side door. An extension on the pivoting lever let it easily clear the rear tire and flare. And in 32 years that's one of the parts of the van that didn't rattle!

Now I have a Ford Quigley which I bought used with the barn doors. Hate them. No matter how they've been adjusted, they will not stayed latched when driving over severe washboards. And they are always in the way. The rear door is free-swinging and if the wind is blowing in the right direction the door keep slamming shut. The front door has a restraining arm - but if you want the door to open all the way you have to disconnect the arm and then there's the same problem with wind swinging the door around. If you don't disconnect the arm then the door will not open fully.

I would dearly love to have a sliding side door again - one that I could slide back out of the way and not worry about it coming back around and slamming into me!
 

Wyowanderer

Explorer
I've never personally OWNED a van, but two people I've camped with a lot have had one of each, and they both preferred the slider over the double barn doors. Neither had the wheel flares, though.
One of the guys mounted a small cabinet to the rear of the double doors-I don't really know how much he liked it, but it was very clever. The red carpet, not so much. We referred to it as the "Chinese Living Room" for years.:victory:
 

BCHauler

Adventurer
Well, allow me to put down a vote for the barn doors. I had an Astro for many years and the slider was a constant irritant; alignment, roller bearings, weight, wider tire interferance. I love the side doors. I haven't offroaded a van with side doors but for ease and low maintanence, I personally prefer the double doors.
 

Gvan

Observer
Good Topic

As you have noticed this is a very hard decision to make. I too had an old Chevy Van for 30 years that I bought new in 1977 and at that time there was no option for 60/40 side doors so slider it was. In the mid 80's when hinge doors came out I thought long and hard about trying to swap them onto my van but there were so many things different it just wasn't worth doing. Even back then some of the guys that had sliders and then bought hinge doors did not like them as well, but some liked them better. I was using the van for camping and towing my boat only and the slider was just too hard for most people to figure out how to open and close so I always had to do it for them. I put a sliding door extender on it when it was new because I had 10 inch rims and fender flares on it. It worked as good as any Chevy slider I ever saw and had no rattles or problems ever for 30 years. Now I have a 1995 GMC Van with a slider and a 1993 GMC with cargo or 60/40 doors. BOTH have their good points and as well as problems. I like the way the slider is always able to open no matter where you park it is never in the way. I wish I could get a good sliding door extender for it these days (and a set of fender flares as well) but I still feel the door is hard for my girlfriend and others to use. Nothing can be mounted to the inside or it won't clear the van when opened. On the 60/40 van I like that the front door opens just like any car or truck door anyone can use it I never have to help someone open or close it or try to explain how it works. That said it can be in the way of the passengers side front door to be opened if you let it open past the 90 degree stop. The doors can also hit each other so thats not good. Sometimes you have to go around it to move towards the front of the van something you never have to do with a slider. I also do not like the way they feel when they shut. They just don't have a solid feel because the big door latches to the little door. For me I have issues with the looks of both. I don't like that one door is bigger than the other (as are the windows) on the hinge doors and I don't like the track (especially on Fords) of the slider door. If you are off roading much the slider tracks will have to be cleaned all of the time to prevent damage to the rollers and tracks as dirt and rocks will get onto them. I do like having things mounted on the hinge doors but as stated that can be a pain as you always have to have clearance for the item to move in and out of the van. I guess in the end it is like many things with a choice "if you have one you always want the other"
 

Toolman

Explorer
I went with the barn doors for the simple fact that I can have any tire size I choose. You can add interior door storage, fold down shelves that prove to be useful when on the trail. The barn doors also create a wind barrier when the doors are open.. if you want you can open only one door and sneak in and out easily without to much disturbance to everyone around you.

I had a slider and there was always a problem with it.. The vans I looked at that had sliders had problems..

Yes the barn doors need to be shut properly but that's a small price to pay
 

cwsqbm

Explorer
My family has owned vans since the early 1970s, and we've had ONE with a sliding door. The sliding door is nice for confined parking spaces - I once had to enter through the rear when two idiots parks close to me on either side at the mall. The rest of the time, the sliding door takes a lot more effort than a side barn door. Plenty of friends have had vans with sliders, and I never like them. Minivans with powered sliding doors are nice, as it eliminates that problem.

The one thing I miss is the single rear door on some Dodge vans in the 1980s - no center post in the rear view mirror. The downside was you couldn't leave the door open when hauling something long, and it took a ton of space to open.
 

Loopie

Adventurer
Slider hitting the rear tire? You're just not high enough!:victory:

4c4e1218.jpg
 

Stumpalump

Expedition Leader
Mine is a slider. 02 E350. It hits the bigger tire but still opens far enough. Given a choice I'd say barn doors would be the way to go but 4x4 vans are rare so don't let a slider be a deal breaker.

I've heard rumors about extensions for the slider to get it to clear the tire but on the Fords I came up blank. Does anybody have any info on them?
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,530
Messages
2,875,568
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top