I noticed that my friends 2000 U270 has a wider door and it is supported by a STEEL hinge. I am not familiar with whether or not models after 1996 have aluminum hinges or not. If they do, and you are perhaps full-timers, the door will probably have dropped by now at least .020″.
I would believe that if that is the case, inserting the clips into the hinge prior to it dropping down anymore, would be a preventative measure. After installing the clips, you can not see them, but the spaces between the in/out hinge is about equal on top and bottom. Another indicator of how far the door may have dropped is how well the decals on the door line up with those on the body.
I purchased 15 3/8″ C-clips (at the local hardware stores) and inserted seven pairs of them in seven equally spaced locations on the hinge and then lubricated the hinge.
The door works quite well at this point but it seems that adding just one more (for a total of 3) at each location will put the door back to its’ original location of 11 years ago.
It is going to take a bunch of C-clips, but they snap into place and so far it looks like they will stay in place. I believe it will be a good FIX.
BTW, you can not see the C-clips and they actually improve the look of the hinge situation. My guess is, that future wear will be greatly reduced by the addition of the “steel” C-clips due to allowing a more friction-free movement. Jon Twork – 1996 U270-36 4/07
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We have had ordinary e-clips from Lowes, etc. in our door for about 3-years and they continue to work fine. For us, it is a permanent fix. Door sag is completely taken out and the door meets latch cleanly.
I did not modify clips. Just had the door held up and clips pushed in. In a few places two clips filled in the space. They have not even thought about coming out on their own. They are cheap. Buy several sizes to determine which fits your hinge vertical rod. We lub hinge once in a while with an oil-based spray.
We also have an adjustable door slot below the lock on the open edge of the door, that is used to lift the door to help the lock latch grab the adjustable post on the door frame. Barry
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 the door to keep the aluminum hinges from rubbing and wearing. Member this, 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 the door and reduce the number of wear points.
The inner hinge pin is 3/8” in diameter and the outer aluminum hinge is 5/8”, so the perfect plastic bearing spacer would have ID 3/8”, OD 5/8”, 0.13” 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. The 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.
Open
Close
Insert
Top
Bottom
Alternative:
A new hinge from Foretravel, ( it is about $300.00) and the door worked like new. It will take two people to put the hinge on and it is a bit of a pain to adjust the door, but it is doable.
The installation video on a 1995 280 se by Greg Jones
Photos by Jerry Whitaker 96 U270 36′ 4/26/10