door hinges

[wb13798]

cant win
put the hinges on and the lower hinge is too tight. what is happening is when you close the door it twist the door frame just enough to brake the sealer on the lower half of the door. and the gap from the skin to the door is 1/8 inch. when the door is opened the frame returns to the norman position. snug against the skin with a hair line crack in the seal. im going to take the new hinge off and see if i can find another hinge . may put the old one on . dont want to do that. also my old hinges has pins on the bottom the mew hinges have the pins on the top. has any one had this problem??? amy thoughts????

[74Argosy24MH]

When I changed hinges they had 'U' and 'L' cast inside them, I assumed for upper and lower. I think they are the same as used on the trailers but the doors open backwards to the motorhomes, so the the 'U' goes on the bottom. The pins on the originals and replacements were the same orientation on mine when installed that way. The pins have to be in line vertically and vertical (dead on) or they will bind and wear.

John

[wb13798]

thanks for the info
i was worried that it would eventually split the door frame from the flexing back and forth. lol
al

[wb13798]

the airstream dealer told me to put the u on top and the L on the bottom. but he doesnt do many motorhomes he works mostly on trailers. got hung up and didnt help with the install or i would have checked that .going to have a few words with that guy tomorrow we got every thing back in place before i noticed the problem .
al

[wb13798]

turned the hinges over and still have the same problem. call jackson center and they cinfirm that you are correct the himge w1th the L goes on top and the u is monted on the bottom. for tt it is just the opposite u is for upper and L is for lower.
next question is why dont these work . dont know , we need to look at this problem as they should work.
going to back up and put old hinges on and take it to them. about 10 hrs shot in the #&@% ..
al;

[evan]

I think John is right about the precise alignment. The centerline/axis of the hinge pins need to be perfectly aligned or your going to get the binding. You may need to shim or adjust to achieve this ( advanced tinkering 101). Something just does not seem right. Are these the only part numbers for your year AS? I think you need to get with an expert. Try Inland RV

http://inlandrv.com/

[wb13798]

the part # i have has been verified by airstream in jackson center. tina the parts lady im sure andy knows her. doesnt mean i got the right hinges, these could have a production
flaw error. have no way of verifing that these are correct. the dealer put a set of these hinges on a classic motor home just like mine last month . weather permitting i will be at jackson center monday the 3 of feb. i enjoy the trip but not in the winter. i could shim the hing and make it work but what do i do to stop the water coming in thru the space in the door gasket?? as the say it runs down hill. thanks for the insights and advice. it is probably going to be some simple fix. as long as it get fixed .
al

[PeterH-350LE]

I am sure you checked for proper clearance on the inside of the frame? Since your old hinges were worn out, could someone have added a spacer to the step switch?

[74Argosy24MH]

Hinge pins have to be aligned perfectly in all planes for the door to operate properly. The hinges have an angle cut on the mounting surfaces because of the curve of the body and door. The half of the hinge which mounts to the body attaches to the door frame which is a deep thick (strong) extrusion. The half which mounts to the door goes through a reinforcement. If these are mounted backwards there is going to be distortion, probably in the door. Look at your door skin and see if the bottom of the top hinge mount and top of the bottom mount are high to the surrounding area. Look inside the door at the reinforcement and see if it appears to be twisted in comparison to the frame.

John

[wb13798]

peter
my door had a spacer for the step switch . that was the first thing i removed. no change.
thnx al

[PeterH-350LE]

Al,
some more weird thoughts:
did you happen to look inside the wall when you pulled the interior skin back? If you did, you may have seen that there is no rib. The frame is riveted to the skin. Did you see if the door frame rivets actually hit the skin. I have seen them just miss the skin. If your frame seperates from the skin, the frame must not be properly riveted to the skin!?
When I replaced the skin on my 79, the door would not even close until it was riveted to the skin. I added at least 30 rivets on the hinge side of the frame. I moved them over to the right by 1/8".
The stability of the door frame is the skin.

[wb13798]

peter
no i didnt notice. the inside skin had quite a few rivets. which were re-riveted before the trim was put back on. i havent talked to john today he was going to see if he could figure this thing out. if not he was going to button up . park it in the yard for me to pick up. he started in the rv repair business working on airstream tt and A S motor homes. he says the hinges are the problem. my hands love aluminum i got a zillion little cuts and i have already surrendered and now waving the white flag dont cut me any more. weather permitting im going to jackson center next week. i will let everyone know what they did to fix the problem.

[wb13798]

got the mh back and it has a new hinge on top and a old hinge on the bottom . the door jam is not flexing as it was. but john busted the step switch some how. he may have got disgusted and took a hammer to it. i dont think i checked the switch for full travel . it was jamed at 1/4 inch out .which would not help the problem i was having. i still have a little binding that might be the door frame it only has 6 rivets in it the door skin . weather isnt loking to good for next week. o well
al

[wb13798]

as promised i will advise as to what jackson center did to get the hinges to operate correctly. the nice man put them on like he alwas does and they worked perfectly. didnt do any thing special just put them on.. i dont know what to say , the hinges can not be adjusted why they didnt work for john here in alabama i dont have the foggiest. lol
al