Door closer arm snapped on me mid-adjustment yesterday

I was tweaking the sweep speed on a LCN 4040 at a school in Columbus, just a quarter turn on the valve, and the whole arm assembly just gave way. Sounded like a gunshot, scared the janitor half to death. Had to run back to the shop for a replacement arm kit, cost me 45 minutes. Anybody had that happen with these older closer models? Think it was just metal fatigue or maybe I overtorqued something?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor_hayes2525d ago

bad batch" sums it up pretty well honestly. I had a 4040 snap on me at a fire station, same thing, mid adjustment and the arm just let go. Sounded like a shotgun blast and i had to explain to the FD chief why i needed to order parts and come back the next day. That supplier photo thing is exactly what i did too and got the same reaction so yeah it's not us.

jamie_smith2mo ago

Read a while back that LCN had a bad run of those arm kits around 2018 where the metal was slightly brittle from the factory. Could have been a hairline crack already forming before you touched that valve. If it was older than 5 years, I'd chalk it up to fatigue rather than anything you did wrong.

the_rowan2mo ago

Man 2018 was exactly when I had a 4040 series arm snap on me on a fairly standard door. Sent a photo to my supplier and he just sighed and said "yep, that's the bad batch." I felt so much better knowing it wasn't my install that caused it lol.