How to Troubleshoot & Replace Samsung AP4442008 / DA97-06158A Refrigerator Lower Door Hinge Assembly

Samsung support said "not customer serviceable part, must call for service". Wanted to just replace the plastic cam (attached to hinge), but not sure of the part #. Bought the entire hinge assembly and upper cam riser also (attached to the bottom of the door). Replaced both with the help of Youtube videos. Repair took approximately 15 minutes and I probably saved $100-$150! 

It was quite straightforward... Once I figured out the parts via Appliance Parts website and saw the parts diagram, I ordered it from them. It was delivered pretty quickly. First emptied out the freezer section. Then disconnected the electric supply. Closed the water connection. Removed the bottom cover and uncoupled the two water lines. Then removed the bolts from the freezer door from the top and disconnected the two electric connectors. Lifted the door of the bottom hinge and placed it on cushions on the carpet. Removed the cracked cam riser and replaced the Assy Hinge that had the second cam riser. Put back the door and reconnected all items. That was it... Took me about 45 mins to get it all done. 

Spent an hour researching parts needed. The diagrams on applicancepartspros.com helped a lot. I had a broken cam-hinge riser upp-L on the floor, that came from the bottom of the freezer door. Also noticed that the mating part was broken (assy hinge low-L). Read instructions from the user manual from refrigerator on removing the water supply lines and removing the freezer door. To remove water supply lines, push tip of coupler in opposite direction from pulling out the line (took me 20 minutes just to figure that out). Removed hinge bolts on top of freezer door with 10mm socket and ratchet. Removed front leg cover, upper hinge cover, ground wire, and old cam-hinge riser, with Phillips screw driver. On re-assembly, one screw was stripped on the upper hinge cover, and one of the bolts was stripped from the upper hinge (so be very careful when you remove and re-insert them). Shut off the power to refrigerator and turned off the water supply in the basement, before doing the work. 

Ordered the pieces from here. Downloaded the user manual. I never work on appliances but I couldn't justify the $200 a service tech would have charged to fix a $35 part. Followed the manual and removed the door. Replaced the broken plastic pieces. BE VERY CAREFUL not to strip the screws. I did and that's another story. Very easy to fix. You will need a second person to help guide the door back onto the frame. 

I watched a video to get the basic idea of things, got my tools and owners manual and got to work. The hardest thing was disconnecting the water lines. Lucky for me factory instructions were taped to the lines! The one thing I did that others may benefit from is emptying all the food into a cooler. Also buy both parts! The upper cam discentergrated as soon as I removed the door. Hope this helps! I was pleased how easy and smooth the repair went. 

Replaced the cam and hinge. It was very easy after watching the Appliancepartspros youtube video 

The repair was straight forward allowing for time spent to empty and store freezer contents in three coolers; but when I reassembled everything neither the ice dispenser nor water dispenser functioned. That seemed to indicate that the appliance thought the door was open. I re-checked the electrical connectors and made sure I didn't kink the water lines; eventually I realized there is no "push button" on either the freezer or refrigerator doors and stumbled on the fact that a small electrical device I removed (but did not replace correctly) was in fact a door position sensor. When I reinserted the device into the hinge cover housing, freezer became fully functional. 

I was able to find the part for the repair on AllpiancePartsPros.com for a quarter of what the repair place was going to charge. I then went to the web and found a tutorial on how to fix it. I rush delivered the part to my house and within a couple days, the part was at my house and I saved over $100.00 doing the repair myself. 

After watching the video of the man replacing the lower hinge I was confident I could do it just as easily. He showed exactly how to do it. I completed the repair very quickly like I had done it before. The video was worth 10 pages of instructions. Thank you 

Ordered the part from ApplianceParts Pros and followed the video. Very helpful!