hinge pin troubles

Anyone ever have the hinge pin work its way loose on the bathroom wall that slides into place? We were setting up last weekend and I couldn’t get the wall to slide into place. I finally realized that the pin from the piano hinge had worked its way out about 4 inches thus preventing me from sliding the wall to TM wall. Once I realized the problem I was able to unscrew the hinge/slider unit and tap the hinge pin back into place. My worry going forward is this may happen again. Any suggestions on this?
Bruce
2006 / 2619

[wbmiller3]

We had all kinds of problems with the bathroom door - hinge pins, hinges pulling out of the wall, etc. Finally I took it out and hung a curtain. We've used that for years.

In theory, the best way to prevent a piano hinge from coming apart is to widen the pin at the ends. Since the end of this pin is against the wall this will be difficult.

I have never tried it, but if you put a piece of metal block behind the pin and strike the end in the hallway toward the block you may be able to deform the pin enough so it cannot slip out.

Another thought would be to put a bead of epoxy where the pin exits the last hinge at the wall side, but that would probably break loose again.

I have this problem on my pontoon boat where the doors use piano hinges, and the pins are always slipping down. Much less of an issue than on the TM, where if the pin slips far enough the wall could deform.

[commodor47]

A little dab of clear, 100% silicon judiciously placed at the end of the hinge may be enough to hold the pin in place.

Dick

[Keith Wire]

Hi all,

It has been a while since I looked at the piano hinge but I think it is very similar to what we sell. On those there is a detent in the middle of the hinge to keep the pin from sliding out.

Take a look at this picture (not a very good picture as I used my phone ). Just to the right of my thumb you can see where the manufacturer punched the hinge.



Bruce I'd check your hinge, maybe they forgot to "punch" yours, or maybe it wasn't hard enough. But If you take it off I think you can do the job yourself with a good center punch and a hammer...

Keith

Thanks everyone for the advise. Keith, looks like the center punch idea may be the ticket. I've got the trailer open airing out so I'll check this out on the weekend. I'm sure the pin was working its way out for some time now, but being new to the TM world I never noticed it. It will be an observation from here on in.

Bruce