Problems with Arcadia sliding door

Question

Having problems with 8' wide Arcadia sliding door installed in single family home in 1970.

1. The handle broke and needs replacement. I can't find a replacement handle. It has 3-3/4" screw hole spacing and the metal door frame is 1-5/16' wide. What do you have that can fit?

2. I am able to close and lock the door, but the door rolls roughly and sticks, so I've tried adjusting the leveling screws. Leaving the door slightly ajar, the vertical gap is narrower at the top than at the bottom. I've turned the leveling screw on the side closest to the frame all the way up and lowered the other side. There is still a gap, and I can't seem to raise it any higher or lower the other side any lower. I didn't want to force it too much for fear of stripping something. It still rolls rough, and the vertical gap is less, but still there. What needs to be done to fix this? I could try to take the door off and replace the rollers but want to know that you have replacement rollers before I try that.

Tom · Accepted Answer

Hello! Thanks for reaching out to us. This is a very old door, and this handle hasn't been made in a long time. I don't know what rollers you have, but odds are good the same can be said of them.

With that in mind, you're not going to get this project done without some alterations. In the case of the handle, drilling new installation holes is the minimum amount of work you can expect to put into this. That's routine for repairing old doors like this.

As for what handle set we sell that might replace this, my top pick is going to be the 82-005. This has the same style latch mechanism as yours, so it should lock the same way, but it has a 4-15/16" hole spacing. You're probably not going to find anything closer.

As for the rollers, Arcadia has used a ton of different styles. 81-183, 81-074, and 81-051 are potential options, but this is just the tip of the ice berg. There are plenty that were used that we don't have access to anymore, given their age. With a door this old you could have anything, and there's no way to verify what without seeing the original.

My advice to you is to remove the door first before you buy anything. I know that's probably more work than you wanted to put into this project, but it has to be done. This kind of job usually requires taking the door down twice at minimum, so you have to set aside the time to do that. Again, that's routine. Otherwise you're looking at multiple returns and taking the door down more than a couple times just from guessing. Do yourself a favor and take it down now so that you know exactly what you need. It will make this project much, much easier when it's time to actually do it.

I'm happy to make a recommendation for your roller once you remove it. We need to see the back end, top, and sides. You'll also want to write down your dimensions for the sake of comparison.