locker hinges sticking

[Lorpet]

The locker door hinges on my motorhome (Bessacarr) and the door with the fly screen are gradually siezing up. Is there an easy way to free them, I have tried WD 40 and all sorts of other oils to no avail.

 

Is complete replacement the only answer. That seems difficult as they are rivited in place.

[breakaleg]

Hi Lorpet,

I always use silicone spray, bought a can from a motorhome a few years ago.

It dosen't gum up the works like oil and wd40 dries things out.

pete

[Philman]

I also use silicone oil on any of the hinges that start to get tight. It works very well on the habitation door hinges and gas locker hinges which have nylon bushes.

 

The other important use is on the cassette rubber seal, this stops it deteriorating and allows the plate to open and shut easily.

 

Phil.

[Derek Uzzell]

Lorpet:

 

Seizing-up is a commonplace problem when the hinges can't be dismantled. Suggest you try the silicone-based lubricant that's already been mentioned, but the main difficulty (in my experience) is getting the stuff to penetrate into the hinge itself.

 

The entrance-door hinges on my Herald stiffened up over time and, despite being regularly sprayed with lubricant, never really recovered their original smooth operation. Like your own motorhome's hinges, the Herald's were riveted to the door's framework and, if I had decided to remove them, I'm not sure that replacements would have been available. As it turned out, although the door's stiffer-than-ideal action was annoying, the hinges never actually seized solid. So, as long as you lubricate your Bessacarr's hinges regularly, they will probably remain operable.

 

If your hinges are now really stiff, you could try carefully warming them up with a hair-drier prior to lubricating them. This might cause their component parts to expand enough to permit the lubricant to penetrate more effectively.

[Basil]

Lorpet, I had the same problem with ours and tried all the above solutions (using silicone rather than WD40) but although some improvement was apparent it was never right. I put off the inevitable taking off and seperating the parts and unfortunately in France last year the bottom one sheared off with a load bang. On return to UK I ordered one from the factory, which I was told may take a while to get, so in the meantime I removed the hinge unit and took it to an alloy welder who did a quite reasonable, though costly, repair.

Now I had the hinge off I decided to completely service it and found no matter how much lubricant was used it only slightly improved the situation. I ended up having to ream out the nylon bushes that appear to have swollen though not softened and also 'attached' themselves to the metal spindle requireing the spindles to also be cleaned using wet and dry paper. It was also quite apparent that little of the lubricant had got into the hinge from outside applications. I then reassembled the hinge using White PTFE grease and replaced it. Having seen this and remembering the first one sheared off I removed the others, one at a time after refitting the previous one to keep the door in position, and carried out the same with them. In all honesty it was a relatively easy job to remove the hinges but not so easy to take them appart without damage due to the stiffness. It was also easy to replace them, just requireing the correct size stainless steel 'pop' rivets (two different sizes and readily available from boat chandlers) and a Phillips/ Posidrive screwdriver. After my experience I would suggest anyone having this problem to bite the bullet and strip the hinges, it is not that difficult and I do not believe, after my experience, that trying to lubricate from outside is a solution. The door operates supremely well now, perhaps better than it ever did from new, and can be closed really gently.

By the way the new hinge finally arrived in May 08 after being on order since September 07 and curiously cost far less than having the old hinge alloy welded (hinge cost £11 welding cost £20). This was from the Explorer group who have informed me that I now have the last available one in this colour (bronze) in their warehouse! So should anyone know of a supplier, as they must be made by someone else and used to be available from Burdens before they were bought out by Unipart, please would they post thanks.

 

Bas

[bob b]

How about carefully drilling a hole in the outer barrel of the hinge, thus allowing some "squirts" to penetrate through to the inner pin easier.

 

Do I remember seeing hinges manufactured like that years ago ?...or have I had an original thought for once !

 

8-)

 

 

[Basil]

Hi Bob, nice idea I thought the same myself origionally, however having removed and stripped down our hinges I know this just will not work on a permanent basis, no amount of lubrication will release the damaged nylon bonded to the spindle nor will it lessen the effect of the 'swollen' nylon gripping the spindle. The only answer is to strip the hinges (by the way the bottom hinge attachment can be left in place if you wish as the rest can be pulled out of it) completely clean the spindle, this has the outer door alloy hinge interferance fitted to it, and clean and ream the nylon inserts before reassembling the whole unit with (preferably) PTFE based grease. Out of interest because of the leverage given by the door you do not realise just how badly these hinges are sticking, at least one of the hinges on ours had to be disassembled with a hammer.

The difference in door operation once this is done is incredible, you just don't realise how badly it has been deteriorating over time. In our case it was also making the door appear slightly warped at the bottom outer corner something that I could not see how to correct at the time, this problem stopped as soon as the door hinge sheared and after repair this is returned to normal.

[Derek Uzzell]

Trouble is not all these hinges are the same design-wise and I know that the ones on the entrance-door of my Compass-built Herald couldn't have been dismantled without producing cosmetic damage as I did explore the possibility.

 

It's frustrating that motorhome/caravan manufacturers fitted (and continue to fit) exterior door/locker hinges that are attached in a way that makes them unnecessarily hard to replace (assuming one can actually source a replacement!) and that use materials that are patently not up to coping with long-term exposure to the elements. All the external hinges on my Hobby, although more substantial than those of the Herald and bolted not riveted to their frames, are just as impossible to lubricate. No sign of stickiness in operation yet, but perhaps I should try to get hold of a few spares just in case.

 

I believe that Hymer, on their A-Class motorhomes of about 20 years ago, had massive cab-door hinges with integrated grease-nipples. Not greatly pleasing to the eye, but likely to last forever.

[Basil]

Derek Uzzell - 2008-07-31 7:35 AM

 

Trouble is not all these hinges are the same design-wise and I know that the ones on the entrance-door of my Compass-built Herald couldn't have been dismantled without producing cosmetic damage as I did explore the possibility.

 

I agree with your sentiments on the lack of forethought on the part of the manufacturer on the ability to maintain the hinges Derek and would not dispute what you are saying re your Herald hinges, however I find it remarkable that Compass (being the same manufacturer as the Elddis we have) would use a different manufacturer for their doors. All the Compasses I looked at when we were buying ours (Drifter etc.) had exactly the same door as ours.

I am curious what is/ was different about your Herald hinges that made them impossible to maintain without 'cosmetic' damage.

 

Bas

[Ris]

Sorry to ask a silly question, but what brand name does silicone spray go under. Have looked but can't see any in usual hardware shops.

[Bazza454]

Ris - 2008-07-31 1:59 PM Sorry to ask a silly question, but what brand name does silicone spray go under. Have looked but can't see any in usual hardware shops.

There are numerous manufacturers -

Autoglym and 3-In-One are a couple that i've used -

 http://www.screwfix.com/prods/52410/Automotive/Car-Lubricants/3-In-One-Oil-Pro-Silicone-Spray-Lubricant-400ml

[Derek Uzzell]

basil:

 

A fair question and one I may not be able to answer satisfactorily as the Herald is nearly 4 years gone now and its exact door-hinge design is not something I deliberately stored in my memory cells for possible future recall.

 

My Herald was a Templar and, when Compass took over the Herald name, was one of the three Dave Thomas-designed Herald models (Aragon, Templar and Valencia) that continued to be built pretty much as clones to the vehicles that had been made by the original Herald company at Poole. Later Herald models (Insignia and Squire) were pure Compass designs. So there's a real possibility that my Templar's hinges were different to those used on 'genuine' Compass models like the Drifter and those in the Elddis range.

 

From what I recall, the Herald's door-hinges had domed plastic 'plugs' at the top and bottom of the hinge-line and, when I tried to remove the plugs to access the hinge-pin, they plainly didn't want to co-operate and I was sure they would get damaged if I used more strenuous methods. I don't know if the plugs were glued in or just very tight, but, as the door's action was sticky but nowhere near seized, I never bothered to explore further.