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Topic: Re: Door Hinge Spacers (Read 667 times) previous topic - next topic - Topic derived from Door Hinge Spacers

Re: Door Hinge Spacers



 Many new owners here so thought I would resurrect this thread.

All the foretravel's that I've come across with this door hinge have the plastic bearings missing and showing wear to the aluminum hinge and dropping down. I have replaced mine with 1/2" PEX tubing a couple times over the years an easy fix.


Quote from: Barry & Cindy –
Our front door which does not have a screen door, was used by Foretravel over several model years.  Our continuous aluminum hinge has always had two gaps that we learned originally had plastic 'bearings'.  The bearings carried the weight of door to keep the aluminum hinges from rubbing and wearing.  Member Thisldu, last November told the forum about the plastic inserts. Loose entry door hinge pin

Our plastic bearings have been missing for many years and our aluminum hinges have worn edges.  We used to insert E-clips between a few hinges to raise door and reduce the number of wear points.

Inner hinge pin is 3/8" in diameter and outer aluminum hinge is 5/8", so the perfect plastic bearing spacer would have ID 3/8", OD 5/8", .13" wall thickness, 1.05" tall. 

I did not find the perfect size material and did not want to pull the center hinge pin to insert new plastic round parts.  So I used a ½" CPVC piece, cut with a PVC cutter scissor tool to about 1.1".  Then cut a narrow vertical piece out with a Dremel plastic disk, to allow the piece to be pushed over the hinge pin so it would stay in place.  CPVC is only .07" wall thickness, so the insert does not hug the hinge pin, allowing some sideways movement.  I found ½" PEX also could work, but felt CPVC stiffness may hold up longer.

We raised the door up as far as we could and pushed the CPVC in place so it could keep the door up.  Door rotates easier, but the higher position is putting more pressure on the top rubber door seal, making the door slightly harder to close.  I searched on the Internet for rubber door seal lubrication or rejuvenation and found several recommendations for Zymol Seal Conditioner, which we purchased from Amazon but we have not tried to use Zymol yet.

Re: Re: Door Hinge Spacers

Reply #1 –
Would like to see some pictures.
My door is not loose when I lift up , but, it does stick out at the bottom when it's closed.
No wind noise when riding down the road.