We just bought our first RV (98 Concourse XL) and on the drive home at night I lost the Dometic Exterior Fridge Panel. Apparently it was not connected in well...probably my fault, as I was confused by the locking caps, and it was dark.
So, easy enough, I bought a replacement and it arrived looking very similar to the other one. It has two pieces: a frame and a panel. It took some brute force, applied while squeezing the inside (back) of these black, plastic faster "caps" (while using pliers) to pull the panel out of the frame. I've never seen anything like this type of fastener and it seems like I would not be able to remove the panel from the front once it is installed (with the new frame). I'd imagine the old one I lost on the highway had broken or severely worn fasteners because I (too) easily removed it.
a) Does any know what I am describing, and
b) What am I missing? There must be an easier way to remove that panel from its frame.
We just bought our first RV (98 Concourse XL) and on the drive home at night I lost the Dometic Exterior Fridge Panel. Apparently it was not connected in well...probably my fault, as I was confused by the locking caps, and it was dark.
We lost our panel on our first weekend trip, also due to locking inexperience. If your panel is like ours, then you rotate the black outside clip 90 degrees in one direction to unlock and 90 degrees back in the other direction to lock. They can be rotated by hand, but they also have a slot for a screwdriver. Make sure the panel is completely inserted when locking the clips. We now pull on it to make sure it is locked as one of our pre-drive checks.
Yep, what Clay describes sounds like the one on my '99 too. And in fact I bought a new one at one point and it was just the same (so they hadn't changed by 2015 anyway). If you want to see how the clip works in another location, the same type is used on the "brown box" electrical panel front (I think it's slightly smaller though). If the clips are broken, you can get just clips as they are fairly common on RV's.
Ah, many thanks! Those tiny black clips were hard to distinguish that they had 2 parts. It looked like it was only a single-piece square clip that could not turn...at least not the back of it. Once I used the screw driver, instead of my fingers or pliers, I turned only the front part of that pesky clip. Glad I didn't go ahead and just break them off while trying.
The locks are made with a large slot so that you can use spare change in your pocket (like a nickel or quarter) to easily turn them. Or a thick pocket knife combo bottle opener / screwdriver.
i.e. they were designed for an earlier era of common stuff found in men's pockets.
