Basement door hinge failure on 2022 4081

[Rustymayes]

The more I get to know this rig and really see what I bought for .5 Million dollars US, the more disappointed I am. Many things are coming up that I would expect in a mass produced lower to mid range brand but the mighty Newmar? I thought I was buying a well engineered coach from the chassis to the furnishings. Clearly these are made from off the shelf parts everyone else buys from China and assembled by overworked and under paid assembly line workers. Here is another example of piss poor execution.
The basement door hinges are sturdy, I will say that but the other day I opened one of the right-side doors and Bang!, when it opened to the stop the door fell three inches! It turns out the door is held vertically in place on the hinge by a couple of very small, Too Fricking small, snap rings. There are two aluminum bushings that serve as hinge bearings which is a good plan indeed. The issue is that the weight of the door is supported by two little 5/8 inch ID X 1/16 inch thick outside snap rings, The snap rings popped out of their respective groves so the door just dropped and was caught by a cotter pin at the bottom end of the hinge bracket rod. See attached Pic.

I had to buy a snap ring plier set that was small enough to work, lift the door back into place and re install the cheesy little snap rings on Friday before the trip we took up to Alexander Valley wine country for the weekend. I thought maybe only either the top or bottom snap ring may have been engaged during assembly and rigging so it finally failed.
I made certain both were as secure as designed. This morning when I opened the door to load up to go home, BANG! The door dropped again!! Luckily I added my pliers to my tool kit that I carry in the coach.
I will be calling Newmar to see if there is an improved hinge retaining mechanism. If not, I will machine new hinge bushings that will have a sheer and jam nut in place of the crappy snap ring. I will post my fix and who knows? I may produce them and sell as an after market fix.
I noticed also that another one of my fender skirts was flopping around when I got home. The shitty cheap self tapping screws that the assemblers used backed out and fell off. I will now be replacing all of that hardware with proper nuts and bolts with locking nuts.
Again, I expect this from a $150,000 coach but not a half and million dollar machine.
Rusty Mayes

 

[AbdRahim]

Soory to hear of your experience, I did not expect this of an almost $200,000 machine either. Unfortunately, $50,000 - 1.5 million. They all seem to have problems. Hope you get this resolved quickly.

 

[team bradfield]

@Rustymayes , keep us posted on repair solutions. My 4081 also had the fender skirts flopping in the breeze, 1st one with only 1200 miles on it.

 

[NWIP]

@GlampDaddy had a friend with the same problem on his baggage door and fixed using a hose clamp on the bushing holding it up. @ARD had this problem and we did the same fix for her.

@GlampDaddy may be able to provide a picture.

 

[Joe Hogan]

I guess you can’t expect Prevost quality on a “cheap “ Newmar

 

[DennisT]

Guess I should be thankful they put the piano hinges on the Superstar baggage doors.

 

[Rich W.]

Guess I should be thankful they put the piano hinges on the Superstar baggage doors.

I think these are doors that drop a few inches when you open them to clear something - don’t recall exactly why - bottom edge of a slide maybe? So the trusty and solid steel piano hinge secured by 20 or so rivets on each side wouldn't suffice.

 

[GlampDaddy]

@GlampDaddy had a friend with the same problem on his baggage door and fixed using a hose clamp on the bushing holding it up. @ARD had this problem and we did the same fix for her.

@GlampDaddy may be able to provide a picture.

Here's the pix:

 

[Joe Hogan]

I think these are doors that drop a few inches when you open them to clear something - don’t recall exactly why - bottom edge of a slide maybe? So the trusty and solid steel piano hinge secured by 20 or so rivets on each side wouldn't suffice.

Here is a picture of the basement door open, and drooped. It drops to clear the bottom edge of the Slide

 

[team bradfield]

I have only 1 door that drops down, like @Joe Goodxrvn shows, the water bay, all others open level, the curb side slides are higher than the driver side, most of the driver side access doors are narrow and don't swing far enough out to hit the slide

 

[Rustymayes]

Ok. I came up with a permanent and elegant solution to the snap ring hinge issue. I found some Oil Lite flanged bushings at McMaster Carr. The machined flanges will carry the load of the door and the bronze bushing will last forever and a day. Unfortunately, the closest I could find were 5/8 OD which is .016 bigger than the boss in the hinge. I had to chuck them up in my lathe and turn them down to fit. I also had to add a couple of 3/8 flat washers to shim the door the perfect resting position. The door is at least 50 percent
more stable with the tighter tolerances.

3/8 washer on each end of the plastic spacer to shim the door.

My set up to turn the bushings down. A 3/8 bolt long enough chuck up. This could be done in a drill press and a use a file to shave down the bronze if you are careful.

This fix will end up costing me less than ten bucks a door. I could machine a snap ring groove in them to use for the doors that drop down. The only one that does that on my coach is the wet bay door.

 

[Rustymayes]

@Rustymayes , keep us posted on repair solutions. My 4081 also had the fender skirts flopping in the breeze, 1st one with only 1200 miles on it.

I will be tackling that in the morning. I bought a bunch of 1/4 X 1 1/4 inch bolts with self locking nuts and washers. I will drill out the screw holes and use the bolts with washers as spacers to custom fit and secure each skirt flange. I am tired of checking and retightening the self tapping screws that Newmar used. Ill post the install.

 

[lostinfla]

Be glad you didn't have to buy those bushings from Newmar. I bought one a while ago to repair the same problem, and it was very pricey.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Am I looking at a needle bearing on the left of that picture?

 

[Joe Hogan]

The machined flanges will carry the load of the door and the bronze bushing will last forever and a day. Unfortunately, the closest I could find were 5/8 OD which is .016 bigger than the boss in the hinge. I had to chuck them up in my lathe and turn them down to fit. I also had to add a couple of 3/8 flat washers to shim the door the perfect resting position. The door is at least 50 percent
more stable with the tighter tolerances.

You might set up a production line. You’d do a brisk business!

 

[lostinfla]

Am I looking at a needle bearing on the left of that picture?

No, as I recall it's a grooved nylon insert (with gold plating from the price)

 

[Kevin D Pem]

No, as I recall it's a grooved nylon insert (with gold plating from the price)

Funny, it looked like the nylon was a needle retainer?

Anyhow, my assessment is the hinge is not properly machined for the bushing. That bushing should be a wring fit in the hole of the hinge. Putting all that aside it's not a bad engineering problem, rather sloppy machining, and quality control. That means the failure is material failure and may be under warranty!

Just saying!!!

 

[Kevin D Pem]

Funny, it looked like the nylon was a needle retainer?

Anyhow, my assessment is the hinge is not properly machined for the bushing. That bushing should be a wring fit in the hole of the hinge. Putting all that aside it's not a bad engineering problem, rather sloppy machining, and quality control. That means the failure is material failure and may be under warranty!

Just saying!!!

Oh!!! By the way, I personally think the design of the hinge is a superior design, it is a shame no one caught the manufacturing problem.

 

[JJT-NC]

@GlampDaddy I'm adding hose clamps to my toolbox, alongside the WD40, duct tape, and reusable zip ties!

 

[team bradfield]

@GlampDaddy I'm adding hose clamps to my toolbox, alongside the WD40, duct tape, and reusable zip ties!

I just added them to mine also!