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Condenser Door Rubber Hinge Replacement
I’m guessing that not a lot of you have any rubber hinges on your bay doors. I just have one on my OTR condenser door, which is the first bay door on the driver’s side. My hinge failed completely last week while the door was propped open. I was very fortunate to have had the condenser swung out on it hinges to work behind it. The bay door fell a foot or so, landed on top of the condenser, and was held there by the metal hinge arm with a locking pin on the right side. No damage.
I ordered a new rubber hinge from Prevost ($14 for 70″, almost double what I needed). I was able to remove the half of the hinge from the top of the bay door without too much trouble. Remove two set screws, lubricate liberally, and pull from one end with pliers. I can’t do the same for the half of the hinge that stayed on the bus because the stainless side body panels block access to the ends of the groove into which the rubber hinge slides. Unless I’m missing something, I have to drill out a few side panel rivets, pull the panel, pull the old rubber hinge, slide the new rubber hinge in, and then reattach both the door and the side panel. Am I missing an easier way to reinsert the hinge on the bus side?
1984 96" with 8V92TA
(remodeled Liberty Coach)
Greenwood, MO -
4 Replies
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I may be talking to an empty room, but I’m posting an update in case someone with some expertise missed this the first time around. And maybe this will help another owner of a classic in the future.
I drilled out those four rivets today. I also had to unscrew the rub rail to finish releasing that thin section of stainless between the doors. I really didn’t gain anything by doing it, as there is still solid frame structure where the rubber would need to pull from the side of the hinge. To try to pull the rubber out in the other direction, I would need to drill out at least ten rivets to release the triangular piece of stainless steel to the left of the door. I’m guessing that I would run into structural steel there too.
It seems that the solution may be to drill out the row of rivets above the door, freeing up the metal track of the hinge assembly. I didn’t count them, but I’m thinking that’s about 15 rivets. It seems extreme for a new piece of rubber, but I don’t see an alternative. I looked at the drawings in CatView, but they don’t show that level of detail. I think I’ll call Prevost tomorrow to see if anyone can clue me in before drilling more rivets. I can’t be the first one to have this hinge fail.
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If I were to guess that rubber hinge was a service issue to coach operators who exercised it far more frequently than conversion owners would. Given the difficulty in removing and replacing it my guess is that was sufficient justification to having the current type of door opening using parallel arms.
What about a replacement with a stainless steel piano hinge?
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I’ve read about those on the Bus Grease Monkey forum, but it looks like the source for compatible hinges (at least for GM buses) has passed away. It’s still in the back of my mind though.
Upon closer inspection, I think the rubber will compress enough to squeeze between the end of the channel and that structural member. I decided to get a little aggressive in removal last night. My concern was losing the end of the rubber closest to the edge and then having nothing to grab onto. I used a linoleum knife to try to get some lubricant up into the track. I then tapped a punch at a shallow angle into the end of the rubber to try to get it started. After pushing and digging a few inches of the rubber out of the track, I realized I forgot to back out the set screws that hold the rubber in place. Whoops. If I can coax the rest out today, I think I can get the new piece into the well-lubricated channel.
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Well, I got it done. Pulling the old rubber out was hopeless, so I used a drill to pulverize it within the channel. I then scraped it out and used a brass brush in the drill to clean the channel. I also had to dress the channel a bit with a file where the drill bit chewed on it, but none of that is visible from the outside. You can see the old rubber on the ground in the photo. There was just enough room to get the new piece of rubber fed into the bus-side channel from the right. I then slid the door onto the rubber hinge, also from the right. Four new set screws to lock the rubber in place and then a half hour to find the old hinge nut and bolt, only to decide to replace them with new. I was pleased to see that my folding table from Costco was just the right height to feed the door onto the hinge.
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