Replace Broken Drawer Catch

This drawer now shuts properly.

Getting it to do so involved a little bit of detective work.

Let’s take a look, shall we? Just in case a fellow Newmar RVer needs to replace a broken plastic catch.

Here is a picture of the broken plastic catch after I removed it from the cabinet. When it broke, it remained in the locked position which prevented the drawer from closing. You can see how the catch is closed in the casing towards the left side of the part.

I tried to return it to the unlocked position but it was a temporary fix. As long as I did not need to open the drawer, the temporary fix worked flawlessly. Of little value, arguably, as a drawer should be opened from time to time.

We have about ten new plastic catches in the coach now. It seems to be a common enough problem, these broken plastic catches. I’ve replaced two of them over the past few months. One of them this evening.

The part costs about $1.50 so there really isn’t a good reason not to keep a few in stock on board the coach.

To replace the plastic latch requires removal of the drawer to allow for ready access to the old catch and to make it easier to install the new catch.

It is not all that obvious how to remove the drawer. It took a bit of research to find out how to do so.

Let me give you the trade secret. There is a plastic lever where the drawer slide stop engages. You can see it here:

That little tab that sticks out on the right hand side? That is the lever. You will see it when you open the drawer fully. Flipping it up, or sometimes flipping it down, disengages the drawer slide stop allowing you to easily and completely remove the drawer from the drawer slide.

I thought you had to pull out the drawer and then lift it up off the drawer rails. That will not end well on a Newmar drawer. At least not with our coach.

Once the drawer is removed, it is very easy to replace the catch. Two screws hold it in place. As long as you have the same part, it is a very quick repair.

When completed, you will once again have a happy drawer. As you can see in the picture below, the new plastic latch is in the unlocked position, waiting to clasp the drawer when the drawer is closed.