Living room cabinets

[jandm]

In our 2012 Bighorn 3685RL only two of the lift-up cabinet doors have piston rod door assists.Is this the norm. with Bighorn or am I missing ten??

 

[murry135]

Our 2012 Big Horn 3185 has the piston assist on every lift up cabinet door even in the bathroom. Check with your dealer.

 

[MTPockets]

My lift - up doors have none ...........

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

While ours is not a 2012, we only have one lift up door. It is over the dining table adjacent to the light. If it were a swing door, the light would prevent full door swing. It does have an assist. All of the others are swing doors. If you think your's should have assists, try calling Heartland with your VIN. They should be able to tell you what it's supposed to have. My guess is they did away with the lifts to resolve the issue of the hinges being pulled out due to the resistance or force of the lift against the hinge. Again, this is a guess.

 

[murry135]

I agree with Ray LeT. I have experience the piston separating from the panel. Your setup might be the better of the two. I am thinking of removing all mine if one more pulls out. The panels are not the heavy were as you can't do without the support of the piston.

 

[MTPockets]

Here is what I found:

Lift-up Cabinet doors. Heartland customer service called back and was very helpful. Apparently, my unit was built during a short (a few weeks) period when these lifts were not being installed. They have since gone back to installing them on new units and will cover mine under warranty for all 12 doors.

The issue of added stress on the hinges was answered too. If the piston is installed so the door is open 90 degrees or more, there is more stress than if the piston is mounted and the door is allowed to swing open less than 90 degrees. When there is a hinge problem, they fix it using an epoxy to reinstall the hinge, and with the epoxy it is stronger, there is no more problem.

FYI

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

MTPockets, Thanks for the update. That's good news.

 

[macjj]

I missed this thread and addressed the same thing in "improvements". Part numbers and pictures.


My rig came from the factory without pistons (7 doors), so I had the dealer install them. Thought this could be an issue, also hard to stow and retrieve things.

Did not oinstall above the stove - too small. However noted that one was installed without a catch. Glad I noticed, I could have lost all my wine

 

[soilmovers]

In our 2012 Bighorn 3685RL only two of the lift-up cabinet doors have piston rod door assists.Is this the norm. with Bighorn or am I missing ten??

Our 2012 3685 has no gas struts on the 12 doors in our living room. I see MTPockets found some helpful information. I will call Heartland.

 

[soilmovers]

Here is what I found:

Lift-up Cabinet doors. Heartland customer service called back and was very helpful. Apparently, my unit was built during a short (a few weeks) period when these lifts were not being installed. They have since gone back to installing them on new units and will cover mine under warranty for all 12 doors.

The issue of added stress on the hinges was answered too. If the piston is installed so the door is open 90 degrees or more, there is more stress than if the piston is mounted and the door is allowed to swing open less than 90 degrees. When there is a hinge problem, they fix it using an epoxy to reinstall the hinge, and with the epoxy it is stronger, there is no more problem.

FYI

Heartland says $1.85 each. Cheap enough.