Norcold Hinge Repair

Lynnmor wrote:
...to do the freezer door as well, you need to buy two of the over-priced Norcold 634166 kits...

Right! One "kit" is a pair of opposite brackets so they'll do one door no matter if hung left or hung right. Just won't do two lefts or two rights, as in both bottom hinges.

Dittmer found an eBay offer for two kits and made some form of bid/counter-offer. Ended up with close to two-for-one and did both his doors.

I went to do ours and found that even though it's an N811, I do NOT have the Plastic Hinge. So I went merrily along, happy that this was one problem we didn't have. Till the door came most of the way off as I was opening it... The Metal setup is held with two small shouldered screws. The pivoting part is about 5/16" and there are #10 threads into the other part of the hinge. About 4 threads, and they stripped themselves out. Drilled out and installed 1/4" stainless bolts with elastic nuts. Used plastic bushings to get a tight bolt fit.

Anyhow, not every Norcold N-series has that Plastic Hinge. Ours was made in 2002.

I haven't done this and really should. My idea is to take a thin wooden strip and put it, slip fit, under the edge of the door for travel. Just looked at ours and I think a piece of one of the big paint stirrers Home Depot gives out for 5-gallon buckets would work. Or two of their 1-gallon ones.

Speaking of paint stirrers (or free wooden yardsticks!) we can notch one corresponding to the burner and oven control shafts of our stove. Then drop it behind the knobs for travel. Keeps us from bumping a knob and turning the gas on.