Need to replace hinge to Outdoor Kitchen Door

[Seanpd333]

I have a 2011 FR Surveyor SV 305. My outside kitchen door hinge is splitting at the top between the part screwed to the door and the part screwed into the camper itself. It keeps getting worse. I called FR parts and they said they could not (or would not) sell me a replacement outside kitchen door hinge (??) I am at a loss, and don't dare open the door any more, to keep it from splitting further before I have a solution. Piano hinge? Has anyone solved a similar problem. there is an old thread but it refers to the Piston brackets more than the door hinge. Anyone know of an (east Coast) RV salvage yard? Try FP again for the part?
Thanks, Sean

[Tabasco_Joe]

Can you post pictures?

[Seanpd333]

Of course I should have included these pictures with the original post.
[ATTACH][/ATTACH

[FordMastertech]

A complete replacement door will be necessary.

[Seanpd333]

Thanks for your reply FordmasterTech, I appreciate it. Do you know this from experience? Have you had to replace one from Forest River? I imagine it's costly ... and the shipping! Might be better over driving up to get it!

[WanderMore]

As an alternative, check to see if you have a welding service in your area and if they are willing to tackle the job. If they are you may have to first remove the door as it looks like a bit of realignment is needed.

Option 2 may be to find a used door from an RV salvage company

[Bama Rambler]

You can buy replacement baggage doors from many places besides Rockwood. Take measurements and do a search for doors that size. Measure the frame size, not the door size and the corner radius if applicable (Normal is 3").

I bought two 20" x 40" doors to enlarge some on our RV and they were a very reasonable price including shipping.

[831 BHDS Flagstaff 2015]

If I were you I would look for a complete replacement. I damaged my 2015 outside kitchen door. and found it comes as a complete unit. Made like a replacement door for your home, frame and door all together. The door it's self is filled with foam and small wood frame around outside edge and bottom. Nothing on top but foam. Not cheep but best way to fix it. Look for a sticker on door it will have all the information you need to match it. All this is coming from experience. I learned my lesion.

[DaveNTx]

We have a 2013 Puma Travel trailer with an outside kitchen. The kitchen door has worked with out a problem until last week when the door came off the hinge. I was able to remove the pivoting part of the hinge and check for damage but I didn't find any bends or warps - it looked OK.

The rivets that attached the door to the hinge had broken - the rivet caps appear to have popped off and the door just came off while I was trying to close it.

So, I punched the shafts of the old rivets into the door and reattached the pivot part of the hinge with new rivets - there were 10 original rivets; I added 5 more.

Now I have a repaired door but I've got to get it re-installed into the rail portion of the hinge that is attached to the trailer. Has anyone done this before? The door is like 6ft x 4ft and must weight 100 lbs - it's not like I can just slap it in there. This is going to be a chore.

Here's some pics of the pivot and rail parts of the hinge - you can see how the pivoting part has to slide into the rail part.

Does anyone know who is the manufacturer of this type of hinge?

[Seanpd333]

My hinge split. I searched for quite some time, even called the manufacturer directly. In the end, I had to buy a replacement door, which came with the hinge.

[DaveNTx]

Originally Posted by Seanpd333

My hinge split. I searched for quite some time, even called the manufacturer directly. In the end, I had to buy a replacement door, which came with the hinge.

Ouch! I haven't found a replacement door + hinge + frame but smaller door assemblies (up to 60" wide) were costing north of $700 - installation is extra. When I called the nearest Puma service department they couldn't say how much it would cost to replace our door without first locating and pricing the exact size.

Who was the manufacturer of your replacement door?

I'm going to try to re-assemble my door & hinge but it's going to be tricky - I'm thinking about building a temporary wooden rack in the back of my truck to hold the door up at the right height and angle that would allow me to insert the hinge pivot into the rail. If that fails then it's back to the dealer service dept.

[Seanpd333]

I ordered my replacement door from the Forest River manufacturer. It was not cheap, and I paid a local Mom and Pop RV repair place (they are awesome) to do the work, so in the end I was out just about a grand. Other commenters in the thread had said from the outset that I would end up replacing the whole door, and they were correct. I could not find a salvage door and FR does not sell just the hinge. In fact all assembly parts, the struts, locks etc. came with it, not just the hinge.
Good luck, your plan sounds promising, hope you'll post how it goes.

[DaveNTx]

Originally Posted by Seanpd333

I ordered my replacement door from the Forest River manufacturer. It was not cheap, and I paid a local Mom and Pop RV repair place (they are awesome) to do the work, so in the end I was out just about a grand. Other commenters in the thread had said from the outset that I would end up replacing the whole door, and they were correct. I could not find a salvage door and FR does not sell just the hinge. In fact all assembly parts, the struts, locks etc. came with it, not just the hinge.
Good luck, your plan sounds promising, hope you'll post how it goes.

Well, I was lucky. The part that split on your hinge (I call it the 'pivot') stayed pretty much intact on mine. I was able to remove it and reattach (rivet) it to the door. I was thinking about building a stand to hold the door while I tried to re-insert the pivot but a neighbor said that it could be done without doing all that.

So, he came over and we backed the truck up to the side of the trailer where the outside kitchen is located, climbed into the back of the truck with the door and raised it horizontally to the level of the hinge rail and just inserted the end of the pivot. Once the pivot was in contact with the rail, we just slid the door along the length of the rail and re-hung the door.

It went a lot easier than I though it would - it's too bad that Forest River would not sell you a new hinge. I still haven't found who manufactures these things - it would be useful to know.

[Aussieguy]

https://www.recpro.com/rv-teardrop-t...r-62-aluminum/


maybe you can use this

you may have to look at the door / hatch and stiffen where it gets the screws
stiffen may be to use some sort of epoxy injection?




EDIT..
no reason you could not adapt a piano hinge from hardware store?