Friction Hinges

[Stu]

Those of you that have added the friction hinges to the door, how far does your door open?
More than 90 degrees?
Have you had any issues with people or dogs bumping into it and causing damage?

[Ron in BC]

I was extremely skeptical about friction hinges. One of the best mods that I've done. One advantage of the friction hinge over the factory install is that the door can open almost 180* and be parked out of the way when desired.

I can't see how it could be more vulnerable than a door that's held rigidly at 90* and projects out into a high traffic area.

No problems at all.

Ron

[Ops]

I installed the Lippert friction hinge last year for two reasons. The gas strut pushed our door open when my wife had gone into the trailer, directly into the hot grill I was preparing dinner on.

I'd been cooking out of the rain under the awning and had my back turned at the time. It took but a moment to warm up the fibreglass skin of the door to leave a warmed over impression. A little warping of the skin, no burn marks, but certainly a motivation to prevent it happening again.

Secondly, and as Ron said previously, the door was constantly impeding traffic flow, more so when it rained.

Easy to install by anyone reasonably handy, takes a bit of time, you don't have to remove the door, and about an hour from start to careful finish. Opens and stays in place anywhere between 1 and 180 degrees rather than the 90 degrees with that gas strut.

I highly recommend it.

[Carmel Clown]

Originally Posted by Ops

I installed the Lippert friction hinge last year for two reasons. The gas strut pushed our door open when my wife had gone into the trailer, directly into the hot grill I was preparing dinner on.

I'd been cooking out of the rain under the awning and had my back turned at the time. It took but a moment to warm up the fibreglass skin of the door to leave a warmed over impression. A little warping of the skin, no burn marks, but certainly a motivation to prevent it happening again.

Secondly, and as Ron said previously, the door was constantly impeding traffic flow, more so when it rained.

Easy to install by anyone reasonably handy, takes a bit of time, you don't have to remove the door, and about an hour from start to careful finish. Opens and stays in place anywhere between 1 and 180 degrees rather than the 90 degrees with that gas strut.

I highly recommend it.

How does it stand up to wind? Did you install some kind of guard on the trailer to keep the door from damaging it?

[RF Paul]

Am interested in this thread. My previous Escape had the friction hinges. My new 5.0 has the gas strut, which aside from not opening as far as I’d like, also seems to interfere with the brushes at the bottom of the door, making them less effective at keeping bugs out.

Does someone have a link to the Lippert friction hinges that they could please post?

Thanks!

[Ops]

Carmel Clown:
Lippert states it will restrain the door up to 25mph (45kph for us northern folks), which from my experience I can't say it doesn't. The couple of times we've had what might be those wind speeds, we've pulled the awning in and been in the trailer with the door closed. Around here, that type of weather usually has rain, or is cold enough to make it a closed door day.

As for having a guard - no, nothing installed since there certainly hasn't been any time that suggests it's needed in our experience.

RF Paul:
Here's the Canadian Amazon link that I purchased through. Just quote the part number and you should be able to find it on your side of the fence.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[RF Paul]

RF Paul:
Here's the Canadian Amazon link that I purchased through. Just quote the part number and you should be able to find it on your side of the fence.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08...?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/QUOTE]

Thank you!

[WillyB]

I installed the Friction Hinges this summer. It was a simple install and they work great. In windy conditions the door does not move (20 mph so far).

My only complaint would be that you have to "open" and "close" the door each time with a bit of force. I have heard they will ease up a bit with use.

Would not go back to the piston.

[Carmel Clown]

When you switched from the piston did you remove the door sill brush? Can it be removed and replaced with something that will keep bugs and critters out?

[SageRpod]

Time for my PSA on these hinges. They need regular maintenance including cleaning and lubing. I've seen plenty of door frames ruined by improperly maintained friction hinges so I was thrilled our 5.0 did not come with them. This ends this public service announcement. If this had been an actual emergency, I would have hired Donna D.

[JohnK]

Originally Posted by Carmel Clown

When you switched from the piston did you remove the door sill brush? Can it be removed and replaced with something that will keep bugs and critters out?

Carmel Clown, attached is an image of a slat I used to block off the sweep at the bottom of the door. I did not bother removing the sweep. This I did in conjunction with installing friction hinges, all of which was a part a project I dubbed "blocking off the snake entrance" which I described in a thread by the same title.

John

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by SageRpod

Time for my PSA on these hinges. They need regular maintenance including cleaning and lubing. I've seen plenty of door frames ruined by improperly maintained friction hinges so I was thrilled our 5.0 did not come with them. This ends this public service announcement. If this had been an actual emergency, I would have hired Donna D.

I also know of a couple of doors/frames that were ruined by not keeping the hinges cleaned/lubed.

We have a 110° door, and love it. But in a >40 mph wind it ripped the hydraulic cylinder off when we opened it unprepared for that wind. I'm going to install one hinge to see if it will work with the 110° door.

Food for thought,

Perry

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by Carmel Clown

When you switched from the piston did you remove the door sill brush? Can it be removed and replaced with something that will keep bugs and critters out?

I removed the piston and left the sill brush in place. I did spend a little time straightening it back out.

[dunnet]

I installed the Friction Hinges and they seem to work well, I didn't see any maintenance instructions, what is specifically recommended, cleaning/lubricating?

[RF Paul]

This might be a dumb question, but how many hinges do I buy? It looks like they come in packs of two, but I see three sets of hinges on my door.

[dunnet]

Originally Posted by RF Paul

This might be a dumb question, but how many hinges do I buy? It looks like they come in packs of two, but I see three sets of hinges on my door.

I just added the Friction Hinges and left the original hinges, there were two videos, one showing installing the hinges and one replacing the existing hinges.

https://support.lci1.com/videos/fric...-rv-entry-door

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5WMZ30zr5Y

[Ops]

The two hinge package requires the addition of the pair.

You do not remove the old ones, you are going to add the 'friction hinges' to the door and frame.
It's easy...take your time...follow the instructions...and it'll work out fine.

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by dunnet

I installed the Friction Hinges and they seem to work well, I didn't see any maintenance instructions, what is specifically recommended, cleaning/lubricating?

Friction hinges will be affected by dust, dirt and debris. From my experience here in the desert southwest, I would clean my hinges when I noticed there was more effort needed to open and close the door. I would liberally spray the hinges with WD40 to flush out dust and dirt. Wipe clean and then apply a light lubricant. I used a dry lube to lessen the attraction of dirt and dust.

[kathytony1985]

We love the friction hinges. The door opens fully. The wind hasn't caused a problem yet with it. We do have the windows that open out, so when our awning is out and the front passenger window is open we place a small table between the door and side of the trailer so the door doesn't "accidently" slam into the window and break it.

[Mike G]

I don't know the construction of the Escapes' flat doors, but I put friction hinges on the flat door of my Lil Hauley. It worked... until the screws holding one of the hinges to the door pulled out. The door material was very thin metal with a foam core, just not enough to hold the screws when the hinge is so aggressively friction-y. I took that hinge off and lubed the other one, and was reasonably satisfied with the result. I just didn't want the darn thing swinging hard in the wind and slamming one way or the other (or slamming me).