getting fridge out?

[dreadydreame]

How do we get the fridge out of our 65 overlander. We want to burp it but are wondering if it can be removed without removing the entire cabinet and counter. Is it just the bolts on the floor we are working with or are there things up top we have to do to get it out. We really don't want to take the cabinet out but we found the burner to be missing and it won't get cold on electric.
It gets hot in the back but not cold inside. anyone know what to try?

[VIKING]

On my Safari there were 2 long screws going down at an angle into the floor at the front of the fridge and there are two screws with really large heads going straight down through the frame of the appliance about half-way back on the side rails. I don't know yet if they go into the floor or not, as I'm just starting on this today myself. My fridge has 1/4" side panels that appear to be riveted to the refer frame, and there are no visible fasteners holding the countertop in place. So I am guessing that the side panels are attached to the counter from below, maybe with metal "L" brackets, and the whole thing is probably held in place by the fasteners going into the floor.
I'll know much more tomorrow evening.
Good luck, Rich

[Alumin8]

Several things come to mind for checking. If there is any smell of ammonia, inside or out, it is junk. I have tried to have them repaired and it takes a special jig that is unique to each unit. I contacted every repair shop and most private guys, but none had the jigs as they were so old. One fellow in Tennessee would rebuild the jig and repair my box but in the long run, it was cheaper to buy a new unit.

Removal is slightly different for each refrigerator. My '73 has a big box with cabinets overhead and toward the rear. There is a wall the seperates it from the salon. Remove the forward wall and there is an aluminum sheet that is attached to the box by screws and then screwed to the floor. There is a similar aluminum sheet at the top of the box with some scattered screws through the upper shelves. Once disconnected, it is fairly easy to remove.

My experience was that I wanted to keep the box original and I am a fix-it guy but modern is better here to assure reliability. Spend your time on something of more import. The new boxes require a 12 volt power source even on gas to run the control panel unlike the old ones that were able to operate without completely manually.

Good luck.

[dreadydreame]

There is no ammonia smell. So maybe there is still a chance.

here is a picture of what ours looks like and the cabinet.

[JuliaPowell]

At the end of the summer our original fridge in our 66 Overlander also packed up with the dreaded smell of ammonia, It is only now that I have the time to attempt to remove the fridge and get it fixed or replaced ready for the spring, from what I know there are 2 bolts fixing the fridge to the floor, there is also an L shape angle bracket riveted to the side and underneath of the work surface. (See photos)

I guess this means I need to drill out the rivets holding the side panel in place, is there anything else I need to watch out for when doing this??

I am hoping to tackle this job at the weekend so any advice now before I drive down to our storage site would be greatly appreciated.

Dave + Julia

[Tom Nugler]

Burped mine 3 years ago. So far, so good.
Bolts from underneath the floor, through the frame and there is a metal angle screwed to the counter.
The easy part was unscrewing the side panel. The angle was a bit trickier. I used an air ratchet with a magnetic bit to reach those.
The hard part was grinding the nuts off the bolts holding the frame to the floor.
One more thing. The fridge is heavier than it looks and was a pain to get off the protruding bolts.

Good luck,
Tom.

[dreadydreame]

so do you have to drop the belly pan to get to these bolts?Do you just take the nuts off and lift the fridge off the bolts? and is the difficult angle you used the air ratchet for what is in Julia Powell's photo above? I am wondering if this L bracket is only on the one side? We have the oven next to ours and it would be very tricky to get around that.

[dreadydreame]

Well I have answered my own question as far as do you have to remove the cabinet- yes you must. The cabinet and the counter top and side wood panel. So far we have everything off the top of it. The side still seems to be attached to the oven somehow- ugh! We are just hoping when burped it works. There were many more tie in points than expected.

[JuliaPowell]

Katie & Anthony

This weekend we cracked getting the fridge out,, after some fun and games. I have list all the steps we took to remove along with some photos which may help. For me this was a two man job.

1. Remove screws from the left-hand side panel nearest the door.
2. Remove screws from the right-hand side panel on the Oven/Bed side.
3. Remove the top oven control knobs and face panel
4. Remove 4 screws holding the oven in place 2 at the top 2 at the bottom (see photos of screw positions)
5. Disconnect oven Gas pipe.

Note - To remove the oven it was a bit tricky as it would not slide straight out, as the nice chrome edging around the oven got caught on the right-hand side of the end side panel which formed part of the door way between the Kitchen and the bedroom area. You might be lucky! (At this point we feared the worse that the bedroom furniture and draws would also need to be dismantled,

The way we got around this was to have someone pull on the right-hand side panel to make a slightly larger gap to allow the other person to angel the oven pass and wiggle the oven out.

6. Remove the screws from the wooden shelf that the oven sat on, there are 3 screws at the front and 3 screws underneath which screw into a support batten (These were very long and also screwed into the fridge frame.

Sorry more screws

7. Remove the 5 screws from the wooden oven frame on the left hand-side (These are also long and screwed into the side of the fridge, and were a night mare to get out.)

8. Drill out the 4 rivet heads on the right-hand side of the fridge holding a separating piece of plywood in place these behind this plywood was an angle bracket that is fixed to the underside of the counter work top and the fridge (see the photo care of Tom. (attached)

9. Oh yes back to the fridge, I had 2 big floor bolts which were accessible from under the belly of the Airstream, I only had to remove 2 rubber plugs in belly pan that allowed me to access to the bolts with a long extension arm from a socket set, while the other person from inside the Airstream was able to hold the nut in place with a spanner.

10. Disconnect the Gas and Electric to the Fridge.

11. Remove the left-hand side panel by the door, I used a paint knife to slide down the side of the Aluminium edging strip (which does not have to be removed) to help relive the pressure on the wooden side panel, and with a little patience it finally pulled out to revel more angel bracket riveted to the fridge. (see more photos)

12. Drill out the 6 rivets on the left-hand side of the fridge holding in it place

We were now able to move the Fridge… hooray !!!!!!!!!

The only issue I have now is who in the UK can I get to take a look and think about repairing / re-gassing a 42 year old Dometic fridge for an Airstreams that runs on 110v and uses gas fittings that are not standard either in the UK Market.

We did not have to remove the counter work surface to remove the fridge, however will as it has a lot of water damage where rain water as leaked in from the fridge vent on the roof and soaked into the counter.

I hope this is of help you as I know it will help me…

I decided to make a note while it is all fresh in my mind, sometime soon I shall need to reverse this process to get the fridge and the oven back in place… and without to many screws left over I hope.

Good Luck

Dave, Julia + Ella

[JuliaPowell]

I have got some extra photos to attach, but I can't get them off my camera phone at this time.. Dave

[dreadydreame]

Dave, Julia,+ Ella, so glad to know we were not alone in doing this project this weekend! Glad you got yours out, hopefully burping the fridge will make ours run. Thank you for writing up the process, we went about it from the top down, and could not seem to figure out how to get the oven and fridge separated. We ended up doing some cutting of screws and will have to built a bit of a frame to hold the oven up when replaced. It was not easy at all, but I have my fingers crossed that burping will work. good luck finding repair places, if all else fails I am sure you can find a new one and modify the cabinet.

[JuliaPowell]

What do you mean by burping the fridge, I have never heard of this expression ?

[JulianneJ]

I haven't heard that expression either.
Nothing but trouble with my 2003 International CCD fridge. Just had the back compartment cleaned out at the dealer because it was not working on propane, unfortunetly this did not solve the problem. Works fine on electric.

[dreadydreame]

Dave and Julia, I don't think burping will work for you being that you smelled amonia (leaking). From what I have read units that are amonia cooled ( I don't know if newer ones are) can get an air bubble in the tubes, if you flip the fridge over you can get the bubble out. Some people on here did it years ago and they are working fine still. Others say you don't know how long the burp will last.
I think it's worth a try for us because there is no leak and the back heats up but the inside does not cool. here is a link to the thread http://www.airforums.com/forums/f425...dge-33735.html

[Diesel1]

It gets hot in the back but not cold inside. anyone know what to try?[/quote]
On my 1967 Tradewind the gas oriffice had viberated loose. There is a small threaded coller at the base of the gas oriffice where the flame burns. this coller screws up and down to mix air with the gas to get a properly burning flame. Mine was burning very rich( to much gas) this produced LOTS of soot and caused the fridge to not cool. When I ajusted the flame to a bright blue (not yellow) and cleaned the soot out of the chimminy my fridge began to cool again. Adios, John

[JuliaPowell]

Attached are the extra photo's showing our condemned smelly ammonia Dometic M52 fridge, In case anyone else finds this thread and details helpful, when removing their fridge

I guess it is of to buy a new fridge..

Dave Julia+Ella