Hinges

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bill crommett

Hinges

Post by bill crommett »

Yesterday I replaced the fourth (or fifth) upper cabinet hinge. I thought I had the problem whipped when I dabed little silicone sealer over the nut and screw head, but the silicone comes loose and the bolt turns out of the nut with the vibration of the road, and the bolt falls out and is impossible to replace. Has anyone found a solution to these hinges falling apart ? Kim is very kind to send replacements, but the replacing is a bear.
Yestrday I dobbed some Cyanoacrylate (Crazy) glue over the head of the bolt and the nut, hoping it would work better than the silicone sealer.
Time will tell.
Barbara & Ken
Posts: 143
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 5:36 pm

Re: Hinges

Post by Barbara & Ken »

bill crommett wrote: Has anyone found a solution to these hinges falling apart?
Not us. After our first six months using our BF, we simply resigned ourselves to the fact that any of the hinges and latches can and will "blow out" regularly. So, we make sure we have a decent supply of hinges and latches on hand for replacement.
Barbara & Ken
w5vthdonb

Post by w5vthdonb »

Bill
I don't know what kind of nut is comming off your doors. Do you have the room to put a locknut on the bolt. These can be purchased from any hardware store. These are the type of nuts used in aircraft. If you have a tow hitch and look at the nuts on the bottom of the arms, you will see they are lock nuts also.

Don USN ret
2002 26' RSB
1987 Cabriolet Toad
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bcope01
Posts: 1290
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2005 6:55 pm

Loosening Hinges

Post by bcope01 »

Although I haven't used any yet on my hinges (haven't needed to), I'm sure Loctite makes a suitable "Threadlocker" product that would solve your problem. You can find the exact Loctite product to fit your needs at http://www.loctite.com
Barb & Bill
2004 Born Free 22' Built for Two (Sold)
no longer towing a 2008 Smart ForTwo

Escondido, CA
jhillis625

Re: Hinges

Post by jhillis625 »

bill crommett wrote:Yesterday I replaced the fourth (or fifth) upper cabinet hinge. I thought I had the problem whipped when I dabed little silicone sealer over the nut and screw head, but the silicone comes loose and the bolt turns out of the nut with the vibration of the road, and the bolt falls out and is impossible to replace. Has anyone found a solution to these hinges falling apart ? Kim is very kind to send replacements, but the replacing is a bear.
Yestrday I dobbed some Cyanoacrylate (Crazy) glue over the head of the bolt and the nut, hoping it would work better than the silicone sealer.
Time will tell.
Bill, I have found that the upper hinges have a weak point that fails after what seems to be a short time.
The problem I found is that the rivits in the hinges have the greatest stress and start poping. You my find, as we did, some small rivit heads either in the cabinet or down below and wonder where they came from. At the same time you notice the cabinet door is not working properly and you try to tighten the tenison screw and that dosen't help.
I got replacements from the factory which work fine until the rivits fail and it needs another replacement.
I have slowed down the failure rate to almost nothing.

This is what I do I remove the affected hinges, loosen the tension screw, its better not to remove the tension screw. Install two #2-56 flat head machine screws 1/4 inch long. The screws have to be installed in the old rivit holes from the inside to outside so that a #2 washer and nut will be on the out side. As you install the nut put a little dab of Loctite on the end of the screw or in the threads of the nut do not tighten the nut tight leave it just loose enough so it is free to move. I let it set overnight for the loctite to set up.
I have not had one of these modified in this way to fail yet. I keep spare hinges in the motorhome so I can replace as needed. :lol:


I trust that if this is in fact your problem that this will help
Trisha

Post by Trisha »

Okay born free folks, let's get our heads together and design and patent and sell a hinge that does the job right without wearing out. i raise my hand as a person in a study group to determine exactly what fails and why, how to redesign to elimination the failure and test to make sure no new problems were introduced, and then get a pattent and push it to the moanufacturers....

Anyone else game?

Patricia
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whemme
Posts: 2110
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:05 pm

Overhead Cabinent Door Hinge Failures

Post by whemme »

I have suffered the same hinge failure problem in my 2002 BF 26' RSB. I think I have replaced 3 of those hinges so far in a little over a year. You can tell in advance when one is about to fail because when you open and close the door, you get both a 'gritty' sound and feeling as the hinge moves. As stated, it's the rivets that seem to fail with the head of the rivet coming off and flying around like a bullett.

I though about trying to modify the hinge with machine screws and nuts but decided it was not worth the effort since the last four spares I bought from the Born Free factory cost only $4.00 each. The P/N for the hinge is 706-00010.

Until the manufacturer fixes the failure mode in this part, I would recommend keeping a few extra of these hinges as spares.
Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad
Steve W
Posts: 147
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:00 pm

Post by Steve W »

Bill. I think all of us have at one time or another, had a hinge problem. I lost a nut on one and Kim was kind enough to send "several" replacements. Since then, after two years of opening & closing the cabinet doors, I have become somewhat attuned to the "sound" of the hinges or their feel as the cabinet opens. When that occurs, I take the trusty screwdriver and give the screws a half turn or so. To date, that has worked fine. I have also found that with a bit of body language, I can see where the nut is sitting on the hinge screw. Have fun. :D
pete&mindy

Post by pete&mindy »

We've replaced three or four, too. Previously, I would have agreed that replacement was a bear but we licked that problem. Use a STANLEY flexible screwdriver which is available at Wal-Mart.

Getting the screws in and out is a breeze and the hinge can be replaced in less than 5 minutes.

We also ordered 4 extra hinges from Kim so we always have a spare or two on hand.
Bob Proctor
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2005 7:23 pm

Hinges

Post by Bob Proctor »

I recently came up with an idea for a fix for the breaking rivets in the overhead cabinet door hinges that I think may be easier than using little bolts. I've used one-eighth inch diameter steel rivets with one eighth inch long grip length. Installed them using a hand operated pop rivet tool from the hardware store. The holes the rivets go into are one-eighth inch diameter, but I found it a little easier to get the rivets in if you drill the holes out to nine sixty-fourths. I'm hoping the steel rivets will be enough stronger than the original brass ones to be able to avoid having their heads sheared off by the action of the hinges over time. I just did this, so don't know how long it'll last, but I'm hopeful.
2002 24RB
George Boley

Post by George Boley »

Hey Folks, Those hinges that the nuts fall out of, save them for me. I have been fixing them for years, don't want to buy new ones. (shouldn't surprise anyone). Simply hold the door all the way open, taking the tension off the hinge, hold the nut in place with one finger and with a little patience you can get the screw back in the nut. George B
Dave&JanPotter

Post by Dave&JanPotter »

Over a year ago I treated all the adjustment nuts in the hinges on the upper cabinets of our 22 BFT to a dose of Loctite RED, #271 and after a year of use, none of them have backed off at all. As Loctite RED #271 is a permanent thread locker, I first adjusted the hinge nut/screw to a comfortable tension when I lifted the door then I removed the hinge from the cabinet to gain easy access to the adjusting screw/nut. If you just backed the screw out of the adjusting nut and treated it with Loctite, it would be a struggle/mess to get the nut back onto the screw before the Loctite started to set up. I avoided this by turning the adjusting screw fully INTO the nut, counting the turns as it went in. I then treated the exposed end of the screw which emerged from the far side of the nut with the Loctite and then backed the treated area into the nut to the adjusted position by turning it the same number of turns I counted previously. I allowed the Loctite to set up for 24 hours before reinstalling the hinge. Since I had an extra set of hinges, I did this procedure door by door over a period of several days. I also carry a few small screws/nuts to replace the rivets that fail and I treat those nuts with Loctite also to keep them in place. I found the Loctite at Home Depot but any auto parts store should have it also.
Trisha

Post by Trisha »

I need pictures with labels to keep this conversation straight! Want to see what I can FIX so I don't have to replace.

Anyone want to take a macro zoom of the nut and bolt assembly that needs replacing so the hinge doesn't fail.

Trisha
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whemme
Posts: 2110
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:05 pm

Hinge Failures!

Post by whemme »

All of my hinge failures have been due to the failure of the two rivets at the main pivot point of the hinge. I have never had the adjustment nut come loose and fall off as several of you have experienced above. When I get a chance, I will take a digital photo of one of these hinges and point out the two rivets that fail over time in a future posting of that photo. I have successfully repaired one hinge with broken rivets using two small 2-56 screws and friction nuts. Actually, I think that 3-48 size hardware would be a better fit, but that size hardware is rather rare and hard to find. The screws must be rather short and the nut must be quite thin in order to fit properly in the small space where the rivet originally was. The hinge repairs discussed by both Jim Hillis and Bob Proctor above would appear to be similar to my repair method.

I would suppose that George Boley has repaired some hinges with rivet failures in a similar manner.
Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad
hrgermany

hinge faillure

Post by hrgermany »

I have an older BF 1995 26RSB I had problems with latches breaking.I replaced all with the new style that the factory is using.It took a little bit of work to install then so they can be adjusted.No more problems.

Hans Rueckert
1995 26 RSB
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