Samsung DA81-01345B Refrigerator French Door Spring OEM Part

I thought fixing this door would be too difficult/expensive, so I just spent a week manually closing the flap myself each time I closed the frig. Then I googled the model number of the frig just for fun. The first result was AppliancePartsPros.com, I clicked ONE SINGLE TIME and I arrived at this site, with the exact part I needed listed at the top, and a repair tutorial video that played beautifully with one more click. In the span of two total clicks, I saw how to fix the frig, and I saw that the price was absolutely minuscule! The video was something else - a confident, knowledgeable man introduced the site and the replacement part with his feet firmly planted shoulder-length apart - like a super hero. He wore gloves like Batman, and in the span of 60 seconds he had brought a disobedient door flap to justice. Like a 'phoenix from the ashes' rose a like-new Samsung refrigerator door that closed just as good as the day it was built. I called my wife into the room. We both work in marketing, and I suggested we quit our jobs and see if AppliancePartsPros.com is hiring - I've never had a more amazing customer service experience, and I hadn't even placed an order yet! She pointed out that they obviously don't need our help. I placed the order - I added the suggested parts to my cart and checked out, $16 total, including next day shipping??? The parts arrived the very next day. The repair (thanks to that hero's video) took 2 minutes. My frig is as good as the day it left the land of Samsung 7 years ago. My children held hands and danced in a circle around me, "Fixit Daddy Fixed it!" they sang. I don't know who to thank. Your SEO people? Your web design people? The curly-haired video hero who made the repair seem so easy? I don't know. But you have a customer for life. Now to fix the microwave.

Other reviews I have seen are just plain wrong when they say this repair can be done in 15 seconds ! It's not at all difficult but before the spring can be installed you need to remove 3 " caps" that are located under the 3 hinges for the door seal strip. The top and bottom caps can just be pried off with a thin blade screwdriver but the center one is the trouble maker. It is actually attached with a hidden screw and the cap will break if you pry on it. The center seal strip has a painted metal cover the runs it's entire length. Using a thin blade screwdriver or a stiff putty knife you can unclip it by starting on one end and working your way to the other on one side and then do the other side. Once it has been removed you will find a screw just under the center hinge . The screw will probably be cover with a foil backed insulation. Remove that screw and the center cap under the hinge will come off. Then all you have to do is slide the strip up on it's hinges so that you can insert both the top and bottom spring ends. Be sure to insert the leg of the spring with the little crook in it to the sealing strip. Slide the strip down and make sure everything functions correctly and then re-attach the center hinge cap before snapping the sealing strip cover back in place. Re-install the upper and lower hinge caps and you are done. Once you know about the hidden screw and how to access it, the work goes quickly . The other posts I read that said the spring could be replaced in 15 seconds evidently didn't count any of the time necessary for the preparation before inserting the spring or the time putting everything back together. Still was a pretty easy job that anybody willing to tackle it should be able to do. It took me nearly an hour to complete because I had to glue the center cap back together after breaking it. I didn't know about the hidden screw and had pried the center cap off. That's when I found the screw. If you know about the screw when you start, you should be able to do the job in less than 30 minutes.

I looked up the parts I needed and ordered 2 new parts, a spring and a teflon sleeve in the door from AppliancePartsPros.com, The parts came in 3 days with normal shipping (Very nice!). It took all of about 30 seconds to snap everything in place. Door works like new, and this quick repair was much less expensive than I expected!

First the web site made it very easy to select the correct parts; the parts arrived ahead of schedule and were appropriately packaged. After checking the web for various methods to install, I decided to use a needle nose plier to insert the spring, there was enough flexibility in the spring that, after a few tries, I was able to slip it into the pin and retainer. Removing the 2 screws in the door and lifting the flap probably would have been easier in the long run. One note: the right angle side of the spring goes down and the offset side of the spring goes up.

Was able to match broken parts from parts manual. After they arrived installation was simple once I was able to see how they fit on the door from a photo I was able to find on the internet. It would have been very helpful if this had been included with the shipment.