BK owners- how worn is your door latch wedge?

Didn't notice mine to be aluminum ..I'll have to look.
Seems fine so far...but I do notice that it does close a little easier then when it was new.

We just installed our king and I noticed that the door was so tight it was notching the latch. I loosened it and it is better now.

B-K
Magnet says mine is steel.
no grove yet, 1-1/4 yr old, 8 months of 24/7
**
hot-p
Mine was tight when new, after a few months of use it got a little loose. I think the gasket got seated in. Had to tighten a little.

I used a $10 bill so mine was OK :lol:

Strange they'd make some aluminum.
Got mine 1st of Dec 09, not sure the year it was made. Had the SS cat.
Glass door was separate, originally it came with a solid metal door, but I swapped for glass (no extra $$). I had to go to warehouse to get it.

I noticed the same thing early this season when the stove was burning like crap (relatively speaking of course). It had worn enough that I had to remove the nut on the catch to get it in far enough pass the dollar bill test.

Just for comparison purposes...mine was manufactured in May, 2010.

I was noticing the same groove, on this wedge, a couple of months ago. When I first saw the groove forming, I thought it was probably aluminum. But, I just used a magnet on it, and the magnet sticks.

After I noticed the groove forming, I started closing the door differently. I now push the door as far closed as I can before turning the handle down to latch it. This seems to have minimize the formation of the groove, but it has not eliminated it.

bogydave said:

B-K
Magnet says mine is steel.
no grove yet, 1-1/4 yr old, 8 months of 24/7
**
hot-p
Mine was tight when new, after a few months of use it got a little loose. I think the gasket got seated in. Had to tighten a little.

I used a $10 bill so mine was OK :lol:

Strange they'd make some aluminum.
Got mine 1st of Dec 09, not sure the year it was made. Had the SS cat.
Glass door was separate, originally it came with a solid metal door, but I swapped for glass (no extra $$). I had to go to warehouse to get it.

Click to expand...

Now that I think about it I had to do the same thing.
I checked mine and it does have the grove..wider at the top.
Magnet does not stick..so I guess it's aluminum.
I'm not to happy about it
First paint came off around the cat area and I hardly ever run my stove hot..and now this.
Stove does work great though.

Mine wear too. My King from 03 has the original wedge. It wore more at the beginning because there wasn't' much surface area, now it has a lot more surface area to rub against and the wear is very minimal. Once in a while a smear some anti-seize on it. I do the same as fdegree and push on the door as I twist the handle and it hardly rubs at all. My Princess shows a little wear.

I've thought of modifying the latch to be like the Osburns with a roller, they are very smooth. I think it was Osburn, maybe wrong. But instead of the wedge like BK has they have a roller. Works great in the showroom, wonder how it holds up in the real world.

The L-shaped door catch can have a bit of a sharp edge when new, which can scratch and groove the latch wedge. I don't recall any failures off the top of my head. I've contemplated dressing the contact surface of the L with a mill file on ours, but haven't gotten around to it.

Beetle-Kill said:

My L-catch is pretty smooth, just checked it after a cleaning. I was fighting the nuts on the catch, so I left the adjustment for another day (snowing pretty good outside right now). I did get a fine powder residue off the L-catch, so I wonder what the cam is actually made of. It will be replaced this summer, don't need it to go south and crack on a fresh reload.

Click to expand...

Lose any paint on the top of the stove?

The nut on the inside of my stoves are welded. Just break the jam nut loose on the outside of the stove and adjust away. I took the L piece out of the stove and put anti-seize on the threads. Makes adjusting down the road a lot easier.

I remember reading on here about someone who broke their wedge.

HotCoals said:

Beetle-Kill said:

My L-catch is pretty smooth, just checked it after a cleaning. I was fighting the nuts on the catch, so I left the adjustment for another day (snowing pretty good outside right now). I did get a fine powder residue off the L-catch, so I wonder what the cam is actually made of. It will be replaced this summer, don't need it to go south and crack on a fresh reload.

Click to expand...

Lose any paint on the top of the stove?

Click to expand...

Not in 2 seasons. I could see it happening if not for the fans keeping air moving over it.
Cat area on top gets hot.

bogydave said:

HotCoals said:

Beetle-Kill said:

My L-catch is pretty smooth, just checked it after a cleaning. I was fighting the nuts on the catch, so I left the adjustment for another day (snowing pretty good outside right now). I did get a fine powder residue off the L-catch, so I wonder what the cam is actually made of. It will be replaced this summer, don't need it to go south and crack on a fresh reload.

Click to expand...

Lose any paint on the top of the stove?

Click to expand...

Not in 2 seasons. I could see it happening if not for the fans keeping air moving over it.
Cat area on top gets hot.

Click to expand...

Yeah..hottest part of the stove most of the time.
I don't hardly run the blowers and keep the gauge below the limit.
Some BK's the fans are optional so it would seem to me I shouldn't have to use them all the time just to keep my paint.

I just looked at mine and its not worn at all, maybe your is made of something mines not?

Beetle-Kill said:

Only paint loss for me is on the lock-nut for the "L-catch". Welded nut on the inside, glad I didn't try to force it. :lol: It was a hot cleaning, move the coals and scoop. Move the coals to the other side, and scoop. I was NOT gonna stick my head in there to see why the nut wouldn't break free. thanks, now I know.

Click to expand...

If a full turn is too tight. it looks like to me you can take it out & give it a little bend to tighten it a scouch.
Yea, learned the nut was welded, it didn't budge. Stuck my head in there, LOL, cold stove.

Mine is steel, not aluminum, and has very little wear even after all these years.
The paint was gone in a matter of weeks, but the latch itself is good yet.

Mine is aluminum. Groove from wear but figured it was normal. Door closes fine still.

I noticed it groving alittle the first month then it stopped, hasn't gottin any worse, so i'll keep my fingers crossed. JD

Mine was grooving at first too, so I filed down the fairly sharp edge of the latch. The groove doesn't seem to have increased since I did that.