3638400481 Kenmore Refrigerator - Instructions

Removed door off hinge , remove bottom hinge, drill out rivet, lift off old cam & replace with new cam ,add new 1/4' BOLT(NOT SUPPLIED) to location where rivet was, reinstall bottom hinge & door ,check alignment, works perfect.

Thanks

The repair went well could have completed the job in 20 minutes if I had a selection of small nuts and bolts to replace the rivet that had to be drilled out. Also buy 2 of the door closing cams Part # PS297995 one goes on the bottom hinge of the refrigerator door the other on the bottom of the refrigerator.

1. Put all perishable food into ice chest. Empty door shelves.
2. Remove top hinge cover with Philips screwdriver.
3. Supporting door, remove top hinge attached by two hex screws.
4. Lift door off bottom hinge.
5. On bottom of door, unscrew the hex screw holding the broken plastic cam.
6. Loosen the second hex screw enough to free the broken cam.
7. Replace the cam and tighten the hex screws making sure the opening of the cam lines up with the hole under the door.
8. Snap off plastic grill at the bottom of the refrigerator.
9. Remove bottom of the two hex screws holding the bottom hinge tot eh refrigerator body.
10. Loosen the second screw enought to rotate the hinge upsidedown. Tighten the screw again.
11. Now the rivet bottom is exposed so as to facilitate drilling it out to remove the broken cam.
12. Loosen the hex screw again and turn it back rightside up. Reinstall the bottom screw and tighten both of them.
13. Using an appropriate size bolt, lockwasher and nut, install other new cam.
14. Reinstall door reversing steps 1 to 4.
15. Don't forget to return the food to the 'fridge, by the way!

After reading the stories here, I purchased one door closing cam. After getting into the problem area, I realized I needed 2 cam, so I put the door back together and ordered another cam. If you have this problem, buy 2 cams.

The old cam had broken and was on the floor. I ordered one new cam. I should have been told to order at least two, I did not know they worked in pairs. So I had to re-order, I ordersed four, I was able to see that the other (freezer door has cracked cams) door will soon need replacement of the cams. I had trouble installing the new part because the rivit also needed to ba replaced. I did a "Rube Goldgerg" to get the new part to sit properly. I drilled the hole open a little and forced the part into place. All is well. Thank you very much!

Please note that I did this repair 2 times before and it was very easy, it took me longer to get the stuff out of the refrigerator door.

But this time the existing upper and lower cams broke, and the lower part of the door was making contact with the screw that holds the lower cam to the lower support bracket damaging the head of the screw.

Now I could not use a screw driver and I had to use a wrench and a vise grip to hold the round screw head (not easy), and then replace the screw and nut.

I had to insert 2 flat washers under the lower support, to separate the door an additional 1/32 from the ref. base to accomodate the fact that the door gasket had lost its regular shape in the lower part of the door (I discover this when I dismounted the door).

Then I removed the damaged cams, replace them with the new ones and now it is working ok.

Manny

I learned from previous descriptions. Most important is there are two cams so order two. Second is that the door can be blocked from the bottom so the door doesn't have to be unloaded if you are careful. Remove the vent cover. Raise the door as high as possible while closed then block it from dropping down. I used wooden blocks. Remove the lower hinge and bracket on the bottom of the door. Put everythng back and you're back in business. A kit with both cams, spacers, and screws with diagram would have been nice to have.

Easy

Watched the video very good. Thank You

There was what seemed to be a half chewed up washer under the refig. door. The door wasn't closing all the way. DING!! Something was wrong!!

I looked up your schematic for the refrig door and decided what piece might have broken. It was a good guess and the part showed up a few days later.

I wedged up the refrig door to take the tension off the lower bracket. Then, just took off the bracket and replaced the broken door closing cam.

I used a block of wood to hold up the door. Then unbolted the lower hinge from the fridge. That is when I found out that it was fine and it was the upper half of the hinge that was broken (worn).
So I unbolted the upper hinge (mounted on the bottom of door) It uses the same part. So I installed the part on the upper half of the hinge.

I wish somebody would have told me that you need 2 of these for each hinge. The bottom one was in good shape, lucky for me.

Thanks to the stories on PartSelect my wife and I knew what to expect. The biggest hassle was sawing off the rivet that's on the hinge on the refrigerator (my wife volunteered for that job). When we got everything back together the door worked a lot better, but still wouldn't close without a little push. In frustration and running out of time, we put the stuff back inside the refrigerator door and that did the trick! The weight was enough to allow the door to close on its own.

Followed previous poster's steps. Replacement of door closing cams took 35 minutes. Make sure you buy 2 cams for each door.

The old plastic door closer cam on bottom of the the door had broken. What was left of it was held on by a hex head screw. There was also a fiber spacer under the cam that was broken. I made a new one out of a piece of aluminum, but cardboard probably would have worked.

Forgot to mention you have to take the door off first--loosen the two screws on the top hinge and lift the door out of the bottom hinge.

I found the self-closing sometimes won't work well until there is some weight in the door.

I Supported the door with wood blocks. Then used a socket wrench to remove both parts of the lower hinge. I had purchased 2 of these plastic closers as recommended. One of them must be cut off with a Dremel Tool or small grinder. A small bolt and nut replaces the rivet that was cut off. Reinstall it just as it was removed. Job complete.
Parts were delivered on time, web site instructions were excellent. I highly recommend PartSelect.com