Getting more life from an old door catch
Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:43 pm
Over the years door handle mechanisms wear. Eventually it becomes more an more difficult to open the door. The following method can brings new life back to the mechanism and many more years use.
1. Unscrew door handle
2. Remove square rod and put in pocket
(now is not the time to close the door, especially if rod and screw driver are on the wrong side of the door)
3. Unscrew mechanism and pull out mechanism from door. If it's been painted over you may need to score round with a knife and lever it out carefully with a screwdriver.
4. Place the mechanism on a solid surface (my choice of a slatted bench is probably not the best). Identify the screw(s) that hold it together. Mine here is like many I've seen and has a single central screw.
5. Open mechanism. Take care not to release the springs... unless you want a 3D jigsaw and have several hours to spare.
6. Remove the actuator mechanism. This is a fiddle but it will come out with care. Again take care not to release the springs.
7. With luck you find that you have an actuator like mine that has one warn arm and one that's not. Make a note of which arm (upper or lower) is warn. Now rotate the actuator in your hand so the top and bottom lugs swap places Do this either flipping top and bottom, or by rotating by 180 degrees and then flipping left and right. Both method produce the same effect.
8. Replace the actuator in the reverse of how you removed it. Now would be a good time to apply a little oil.
9. Reassemble the mechanism. Take care not to over-tighten screws. Reverse your steps to place it back in the door. Don't forget the square rod. Sometimes this rod can also be warn so reversing this also might help.
You should now find the door opens a little easier than before. Generally not as good as new, but with many more years life left in it.
I've done this to several doors now and they mostly give me a good improvement. However, I probably would not bother unless the door getting noticeably awkward.
1. Unscrew door handle
- Remove door handle
- one.jpg (54.51 KiB) Viewed 3602 times
(now is not the time to close the door, especially if rod and screw driver are on the wrong side of the door)
3. Unscrew mechanism and pull out mechanism from door. If it's been painted over you may need to score round with a knife and lever it out carefully with a screwdriver.
- Unscrew mechanism and remove
- three.jpg (50.43 KiB) Viewed 3602 times
- Mechanism often secured by a single screw
- four.jpg (51.63 KiB) Viewed 3602 times
- Open
- five.jpg (58.95 KiB) Viewed 3602 times
- Remove actuator
- six.jpg (83.63 KiB) Viewed 3602 times
- Asymmetrically warn actuator
- seven.jpg (65.21 KiB) Viewed 3602 times
9. Reassemble the mechanism. Take care not to over-tighten screws. Reverse your steps to place it back in the door. Don't forget the square rod. Sometimes this rod can also be warn so reversing this also might help.
You should now find the door opens a little easier than before. Generally not as good as new, but with many more years life left in it.
I've done this to several doors now and they mostly give me a good improvement. However, I probably would not bother unless the door getting noticeably awkward.
