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I know this is a long shot but I figured if anyone knew it would be this site. I took the door mechanisms out of my 56 Barn doors. They cleaned up pretty well but I noticed they had no spring pressure to return them to the closed position. It's a pretty simple mechanism but it was spot welded together. After drilling out the spot welds I found the springs were all broken. Now for the Sixty Four dollar question. Does anyone know the specs on these springs? I can probably get an accurate diameter but length and pressure are elusive. The reason I'm asking is it's kinda hard to experiment since you need to spot weld the assembly back together to test spring pressure & lenght.
Abe the springs were crushed. They looked like rings stacked on top of the latch. I should have taken a picture.
In order to really test it, it needs to be reassembled back in the door and that would prevent the use of clamps. If you thought the springs were close you could probably spot weld it once or twice but I'm thinking it's gonna take a few assembles and disassembles to fine tune it if I can't get the correct spring lenght and pressure per inch.
I would think 4 flat-head screws in the spot-weld holes would hold it together well enough for testing, yet allow the assembly to be mounted.
Almost all hardware stores have spring assortments you can paw thru. I'd look for one that is compressed 1/4 of its free length when the latch is closed, but doesn't bind up when the latch is opened. Will take some experimenting for sure!
Yeah Ross I thought of that after I sent it to Abe. I actually took another one apart and tried to make sure I didn't lose any coils. I've got a pretty decent hardware store close buy but either someone took their spring assortment or they no longer have one.
About 2" give or take Looks like 10 coils Not sure how to measure the wire gauge? About 1/2" OD
Ross our Hardware store, true value I believe, (sells bolts by the pound) Is my go to place for that kinda stuff. I had my dog in the truck and it was close to 90° so I didn't roam around looking. I probably should go back without the dog.
Try Mcmaster-Carr online. I found the glove box spring I needed from them. I had to buy a pack of six, but they do have a good selection of hardware & reasonable prices.
You will need to know the length, diameter & wire size.
Ross our Hardware store, true value I believe, (sells bolts by the pound) Is my go to place for that kinda stuff. I had my dog in the truck and it was close to 90° so I didn't roam around looking. I probably should go back without the dog.
Wear sunglasses , and put a leash on the dog and bump into a few things if anyone says anything..
Home Depot and some of the farm stores allow dogs here. I don't think my dog would have an accident inside a store but I have doggie poop bags when she's with me.
