My fridge door would no longer latch shut in my 2003 Scamp 16'.  The latch looked OK, but the spring inside was broken.  New latches are available, but they cost $40 on Amazon.  I've seen them for $70 elsewhere.  I decided to see if I could fix mine.  

This is what a good spring looks like.  


I bought some .025" music wire, a.k.a. piano wire, at my local well stocked hardware store for a few dollars.  I took the latch off the fridge by removing two screws.  The latch is made from two pieces of plastic held together by a long steel pin.  I removed the steel pin by pushing it out from the bottom upward with a stiff wire of smaller diameter than the pin.  

Starting with a 5 inch length of the music wire I bent the wire into shape.  I used the steel pin as a form to wrap the wire around as I made the coils.  I trapped the wire and the pin between two small pieces of wood held together with vice grips as I made some of the bends at first.  I made a few springs.  Each one was easier to make than the last.  

Here are some other views of the spring:




When you re-assemble the handle, place the new spring into the lower piece as shown.  Then move the upper piece into its final position.  It should become obvious where the rest of the spring goes as you do this. 



Once the two pieces are together with the spring inside, replace the steel pin.  Make sure to hold the two pieces as they will be in the final assembly so the pin will go through the coils in the right way.  You’ll know if you got things right if the handle works as it did before the spring broke. 


 


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