Cruisers Forum
Main Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: Janey on December 13, 2016, 04:46:39 pm
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I HATE THOSE DANG THINGS😡 I am sick to death of getting a knife out to pop that thing open so they will stay shut! Grrrrrrr!
Any suggestions other than ripping the dang door off?
Janey (cranky in the Florida Keys)
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I replace mine with a product from "JR Products" that I found at a dealer and on amazon. Much better quality. The originals kept breaking on me but these latches don't. Other folks have used other brands with good results.
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Hi Janey,
It sounds like your latches need lubricating. Try a spray lubricant. But I warn you. There are a few lubricating sprays that react badly with certain plastics, melting the plastic. Then you'll need to replace the latch. Test your lubricant by spraying some on a rag, then rub rub rub on the outside of one plastic latch. If it gets tacky, DON'T use that lubricant. I recall some silicone sprays can be bad on some plastics. It's not the silicone itself, but rather the evaporating carrier liquid that does the damage.
It is also possible that your latches need adjusting.....maybe both lubricating and adjusting.
Ron Dittmer
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No lubrication won't help. The latches made by Brdsupply.com are trash, I have broken over 25 of them over past few years. When I switched to Genuine Southco latches, none have failed.
I discussed this with Carol, PC's buyer, she thinks that Southco fail also but I assured her they don't. Be careful where you order them and make sure they say Southco.
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keelhauler,
Lubricating all of our latch mechanisms and adjusting a few made a huge improvement for us, but we have a 2007 PC.
Adding: I just came up from the garage. Our PC has Southco latches. That explains why it works for us.
I found THIS (https://www.biscoind.com/Southco/C3-803?gclid=Cj0KEQiA-MPCBRCZ0q23tPGm6_8BEiQAgw_bAnzlNs60d1fY98486ZGaUB8ZfQQvzp-EztdeK0Ym3KYaAhiJ8P8HAQ) supplier selling Southco latches for $3.63 per latch when you buy a minimum of 50 latches. 50 x $3.63 = $181.55. That is a lot of money, but maybe you could work together, one of you could buy enough to cover the needs of another PC owner plus maybe 6 extra latches each just-in-case. Share the purchase to get the deep discount.
Just a suggestion.
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I installed a Southco latch on each of the two drawers I installed under the drivers side bed. Unfortunately one of them broke after a couple of trips. It may have been a fluke or the way I installed them.
I replaced them with these latches https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0095TAXYK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They have worked well and provide a positive latch to prevent inadvertent opening of heavy drawers while traveling. Since they are quarter turn it is easy to visually verify latching . I have not used them yet for doors.
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Janey, I have had to replace two of the cabinet latches with southco latches. The striker had broken on one and the catch on the other. The catch was perfect fit for existing screw holes in cabinet but the striker holes on the door did not align, probably due to the beefier construction. I used a Dremel to elongate the screw holes on the striker to use the existing holes in cabinet door. If the catch not popping outward when opening cabinet is your problem, adjusting the striker to get a more secure "bite" of the catch may solve your problem. In my instance the plastic itself had broken.
Larry
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I installed a Southco latch on each of the two drawers I installed under the drivers side bed. Unfortunately one of them broke after a couple of trips. It may have been a fluke or the way I installed them.
I replaced them with these latches https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0095TAXYK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They have worked well and provide a positive latch to prevent inadvertent opening of heavy drawers while traveling. Since they are quarter turn it is easy to visually verify latching . I have not used them yet for doors.
fandj,
I think the Southco latches are meant for simple cabinet doors, not heavy drawers. Heavy drawers can bounce up and down, likely stressing the Southco latch in strange ways. Your solution to that is great 2o2
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We have replaced many of our cabinet latches wth these magnetic catches from lowes. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Richelieu-Black-Cabinet-Catch/3623420
We would never use these on drawers but for the smaller doors they have performed great with over 6,000 miles on road conditions that included some very rough gravel roads. You can actually get different strengths and different colors depending on the manufacturer.