Seneca entrance door

whporwil · 10-21-2018, 09:27 AM

Greetings

Wondering if any of you have ever removed your entrance door and it's associated frame. I have a couple of reasons to do this. One will let me move a new appliance into my rig and second I'm thinking of removing one of the striker plates for the door and see if it closes better.

Thanks

SloPoke · 10-21-2018, 12:02 PM

Never have considered it... Now what appliance is bigger than the door???

Robbbyr · 10-21-2018, 12:20 PM

I recently removed just the door itself, not the frame though. Easy to do that, just 3 screws in each hinge.

I had my door off so I could install a newer Seneca's frameless window in place of my original small, frosted, frame-type window. I also "shimmed" the hinges upon reinstallation with pieces of aluminum stock to close up the gap I had on the latch side. It worked great.

McGintys924 · 10-21-2018, 02:46 PM

According to Jayco, the washer dryer is installed by removing the rear window; I have no idea what that would entail, but on a TS, it’s the fire escape window.

whporwil · 10-21-2018, 04:55 PM

The reason for removing the door frame is one to gain access to the striker plate. Second is for a new fridge. With the frame on i measure 24.125 inches wide, of course the fridge is 24.250 wide with the doors off. Going through the door would be a two man job compared to going through the dinette window that's 10 feet off the ground.

2017 37rb

Robbbyr · 10-21-2018, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McGintys924

According to Jayco, the washer dryer is installed by removing the rear window; I have no idea what that would entail, but on a TS, it’s the fire escape window.

On my 2014 TS I took my Splendide in through the entry door without removing it. It is one heavy sucker, but between my brother and I we got it up the steps.

Robbbyr · 10-21-2018, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whporwil

The reason for removing the door frame is one to gain access to the striker plate. Second is for a new fridge. With the frame on i measure 24.125 inches wide, of course the fridge is 24.250 wide with the doors off. Going through the door would be a two man job compared to going through the dinette window that's 10 feet off the ground.

2017 37rb

I had a friend who removed one of the two striker plates without removing the door frame, he used his Dremel tool to carefully slice the outer striker plate in half. Then the pieces came out and he put spacer washers to allow his door to close without binding.

I do wonder why the manufacturers stack two striker plates on top of each other, and whether removing one plate compromises safety. In my case my latch was too far away from striker, shimming the hinges fixed my issue.

SloPoke · 10-21-2018, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whporwil

The reason for removing the door frame is one to gain access to the striker plate. Second is for a new fridge. With the frame on i measure 24.125 inches wide, of course the fridge is 24.250 wide with the doors off. Going through the door would be a two man job compared to going through the dinette window that's 10 feet off the ground.

2017 37rb

ah-ha... now it starts to make sense. You are replacing the Norcold with a residential fridge? am I right?

How are you getting the Norcold out first? I read somewhere here on JOF that they had to take the dining room slide window out and put the fridge on it's back on a forklift thru the window.

RVermont · 10-22-2018, 12:39 AM

I adjusted the striker plate by screwing in the screws on the frame, not the two holding the striker plate but there are a couple that go into the frame. Tightening or loosing these moved the striker plate in and out. One thing I have to on a frequent basis is tighten the hinge screws these seem to back out and then the latch starts to jam up. I just retighten and it operates correctly. I just tried adding lock tite and hopefully that will fix that issue.

tjbroussard · 10-23-2018, 04:00 AM

Curious as to what refrigerator you are going to install. I have considered the same.

Mark S · 10-23-2018, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SloPoke

ah-ha... now it starts to make sense. You are replacing the Norcold with a residential fridge? am I right?

How are you getting the Norcold out first? I read somewhere here on JOF that they had to take the dining room slide window out and put the fridge on it's back on a forklift thru the window.

My refrigerator was leaking from th factory so it was replaced. They removed the dining room window and using a fork lift and four guys they removed and replaced. I was not happy about this but it worked out well with no leaks or ratttles.

whporwil · 10-23-2018, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark S

My refrigerator was leaking from th factory so it was replaced. They removed the dining room window and using a fork lift and four guys they removed and replaced. I was not happy about this but it worked out well with no leaks or ratttles.

Mark I'd like to hear how you found out your fridge was leaking. I recently removed my dinette only to discover the back corner was wet. The screws I took out were also rusted from that area. I never saw any kind of water leak outside.

I ordered a fridge from Lowe's. I'm not real happy because it's a Sansun but what my wife wanted. The reviews were what I wasn't happy with, however they were all a couple years old and I'm hopping things have changed. The model is rf18hfenbsg it's 17.5, cubic foot, french door. Were getting black stainless because of the stove and micro wave. Delivery is a month away. The width measures perfect but will have to do a little cutting for the height. This will work in the rb it doesn't have the furnace under it.

Mark S · 10-23-2018, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whporwil

Mark I'd like to hear how you found out your fridge was leaking. I recently removed my dinette only to discover the back corner was wet. The screws I took out were also rusted from that area. I never saw any kind of water leak outside.

I ordered a fridge from Lowe's. I'm not real happy because it's a Sansun but what my wife wanted. The reviews were what I wasn't happy with, however they were all a couple years old and I'm hopping things have changed. The model is rf18hfenbsg it's 17.5, cubic foot, french door. Were getting black stainless because of the stove and micro wave. Delivery is a month away. The width measures perfect but will have to do a little cutting for the height. This will work in the rb it doesn't have the furnace under it.

One of the cleaning people discovered a gas leak just prior to the PDI. Good luck with you conversion.

BrentJ · 10-23-2018, 06:49 PM

A bit off topic but I had to pull the washer from our Seneca (due to my inferior winterization the prior year). Had to replace the pump. It’s ready to go back in. It fit through the exterior door barely but the real struggle was getting it past the lavatory / shower area. Was short a couple inches so had to lift it above the lavatory to clear. Not a fun job. I cannot believe how heavy that small front load washer is!

jrwldr · 11-03-2018, 03:02 PM

Oue Seneca door always looked like it wasn't latched tight. We checked and there really wasn't any way to change it. Good luck!

Robbbyr · 11-03-2018, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrwldr

Oue Seneca door always looked like it wasn't latched tight. We checked and there really wasn't any way to change it. Good luck!

My Seneca's door had what I felt was an excessive gap at the latch. The primary latch was only extending into the striker plate just barely enough to "catch". You could likely stick a screwdriver in there and move the latch.

When I removed my door to install the frameless window, I also decided to shim the hinges with aluminum stock to reduce the latch-side gap. It worked out perfectly and the latch now seems more secure. If that is your issue, it might help!

rgolding · 11-03-2018, 08:26 PM

RobR,

Do you know the thickness of the shims? As much as an 1/8 inch, or less?

Robbbyr · 11-03-2018, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgolding

RobR,

Do you know the thickness of the shims? As much as an 1/8 inch, or less?

The shims I installed were 1/8", yes.

whporwil · 11-04-2018, 11:25 AM

Had a tec out this week to replace an A/C unit that has never worked, no frenon. I asked them about removing the door frame and they were against it because it easy to install out of square creating new problems.

Thanks for all your comments. I'm in a campground and don't have access to any kind of a fork lift.

whporwil · 11-12-2018, 01:02 PM

OK guys yesterday was the day. We now have a residental fridge in our Seneca. first I did remove the door from the frame then after removing the screws from the frame I took a putty knife and ran it between the frame and the side or the coach. With one person pushing from the inside the frame pop right out. The frame and sill plate on the bottom are all one peice. I ended up with about 26 inches of width. I layed a couple ob 2x4's on the steps and just slid the old one down and pushed the new one in. It took about 4 hours of prep to do 15 imnutes work. I did it this way because I didn't have access to a fork lift and it only take two people to get this done. In my case one is 68 and the other is 73 and with the door off there really isn't much weight. One thing we found out is it's easer to mount the door to the frame before you put the frame back up.

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