4-door Fridge door latch failure

[Creativepart]

Our warranty was up at the end of June. So naturally only now are we seeing all manner of new problems.

We're on a month long trip and for the first time our right side lower fridge door will swing open while driving down a bumpy or twisty road.

Looking at these latches it's a miracle they ever held at all. And worse yet, for some reason the latch "mechanism" such as it is is riveted on to the door. It appears you'd have to replace the door to replace the latch.

Could that be any dumber?

Anyone else figure out a way to fix this problem?

[elind]

Originally Posted by Creativepart

Our warranty was up at the end of June. So naturally only now are we seeing all manner of new problems.

We're on a month long trip and for the first time our right side lower fridge door will swing open while driving down a bumpy or twisty road.

Looking at these latches it's a miracle they ever held at all. And worse yet, for some reason the latch "mechanism" such as it is is riveted on to the door. It appears you'd have to replace the door to replace the latch.

Could that be any dumber?

Anyone else figure out a way to fix this problem?

You need to call Forest River parts. I had a few break on my four door frig and they sent me a bunch handles. A couple of screws and a pin or two then the plastic handle comes off. Replacing the handle is about the only answer.

[newRVer]

As much as I like the 4-door fridge for its capacity, I really do not like the latching system they use. I have had issues with mine since the day I bought it. Initially the freezer doors were out of alignment so you could not shut the one door without the door hitting the inside compartment wall. The dealer did the best the could to correct it but it was still way out of alignment. Over the next two trips to the dealer they tried other options recommended by FR and Dometic which not only did not correct the freezer door alignment but now made the refrigerator doors much harder to open. On the last and final try the dealer received all new hinge parts from Dometic. However, some parts were missing in the kit which they received and others just would not fit. According to the dealer, Dometic no longer makes or stores the correct parts for my frig and suggested I contact FR to request a new 4-door frig. Oh yea, and now it is damn near impossible to open the frig doors!

As much as I am having difficulty believing the "no parts" conversation my next step is to request a new Frig from Forest River since I am not willing to make a 5th attempt at getting it fixed.

Anyone else have issues with door alignment on these units?

[13larry]

I Repaired my door handles by adding a shortened feeler gauge as a tension spring. Works great, just remove the handle screw and install cutoff feeler gauge, will never fail again.

Link shows photo of inside door.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1Q...-qE09GQe99HgEI

[KJcachers]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqgPEtsXCIY

[Creativepart]

Thanks for that video. I'll give it a shot.

[Swift 2]

We took a piece of 1/4 " hose about 1 1/2" long and stick it between the handles. Seemed to solve our door opening problem. Did have to change out one handle in the begging.