TFF-19DV-E General Electric Refrigerator - Instructions

First, I was glad I read other posts on this repair as I would have only purchased one of the replacement cams when I needed two! I removed the top door hinge with a screw driver (cover) and small socket set for the door hinge. I then removed the door and removed the bottom hinge (socket set). The bottom hinge had a small rivit that held the bottom cam in place. I used a hack saw to cut off the rivit and replace the cam and secured it with a small machine bolt and nut. I then laid the door on its side and removed the top am from a bracket attached to the bottom of the door. I relaced the cam (second one) and reinserted the screws. I reattached the bottom hinge and then placed the door on the bottom hinge pin. I then held the door in place while inserting the top hinge pin bracket into place and retightening the top screws. I replace the cover with a screw drive which was the ahrdest part in trying to find the hole the small screw gets inserted into. DONE!

Placed blocks under the refrigerator door to take weight off the lower hinge pin. Removed the hinge by removing two screws into the refrigerator and two screws into the bottom of the door itself. This allows the hinge to be removed so the old nylon "closer" pieces can be removed (the one attached to the refrigerator has a rivet holding it in place so that has to be drilled out and replaced with a 3/16 inch bolt and nut). After re-attaching the nylon "closer" to the refrigerator side of the hinge and placing all the shims back in place, I re-attached the hinge to the door first, then the half hinge to the refrigerator. Had to line up the holes, tighten the screws and presto, the door closes like it was new again.

The freezer door side is more difficult as there are wires and a water line to work around.

BUY TWO CAMS! Just like the others, both of the cams were shot. My husband & I did this ourselves & have NEVER attempted appliance repair before.
We propped the door up high enough to access the bottom hinge piece on the fridge & removed using socket. Removed the cover from the top hinge. Slid door down off the top hinge in able to get to the cam on bottom of door. Replaced this cam 1st in order to get door back on while worked to get the old cam off hinge. As others posted, this is rivited on. Used grinder to grind off rivit & hammer & punch to punch out. Attached new cam with bolt & nut found in our tin of leftovers. Inserted hinge into door & reattached to fridge. DONE! Not hard at all & didn't even argue the whole time.

This was a 15 year old great working GE regrigerator. Refrigerator was not cooling properly, though the freezer worked great. Using flashlight, examined cam riser which was clearly broken. YOU MUST ORDER TWO GASKETS AS BOTH WILL BE WORN. After removing all food from the door, taped plastic sheet over the open space to keep food somewhat cool Removed top hinge cover and screws on top of door and lifted door out of bottom bracket placing it flat on kitchen island. Unscrewed hinge elements including old broken cam and shims form the bottom of the door and fit in the new cam. Unfortunately one of the shims was broken, so I used a thin plastic black washer from the hardware store which was big enough to fit over the pin on the bottom of the refrigerator itself. Screwed all the parts back together. Be VERY careful to note how you removed them in the first place...mabe take a digital foto or two. This was kind of tricky to remember. Then used a hammer and chisel to break off the rivit holding the bottom hinge elements on the refrigerator. Sawing with jigsaw didn't work that well. The rivit came right off. Then used a flat head screw, lock washer and nut instead of a reivit and attached the new second cam riser. You are now done with the new parts. Simply reattached the door and it closed like new. Had a simultaneoius problem with a faulty defrost heater in the freezer which also had to be replaced and which was really easy to do. About an hour max. This was the real cause of the refrigerator not cooling properly. But that's another story.

It seems my refrigerator was old enough [1987] that the spacing on the holes for the bracket were different than the part that is currently sold. The holes on the new bracket were 30 mm apart on center, but on the old bracket they were 20 mm apart on center.

Clamped the old and new brackets together in a vise to use the old bracket for spacing and drilled a new hole through the 4mm of steel.

After which it was a snap installing the new hinge assembly.

Please note that I did this repair 2 times before and it was very easy, it took me longer to get the stuff out of the refrigerator door.

But this time the existing upper and lower cams broke, and the lower part of the door was making contact with the screw that holds the lower cam to the lower support bracket damaging the head of the screw.

Now I could not use a screw driver and I had to use a wrench and a vise grip to hold the round screw head (not easy), and then replace the screw and nut.

I had to insert 2 flat washers under the lower support, to separate the door an additional 1/32 from the ref. base to accomodate the fact that the door gasket had lost its regular shape in the lower part of the door (I discover this when I dismounted the door).

Then I removed the damaged cams, replace them with the new ones and now it is working ok.

Manny

I learned from previous descriptions. Most important is there are two cams so order two. Second is that the door can be blocked from the bottom so the door doesn't have to be unloaded if you are careful. Remove the vent cover. Raise the door as high as possible while closed then block it from dropping down. I used wooden blocks. Remove the lower hinge and bracket on the bottom of the door. Put everythng back and you're back in business. A kit with both cams, spacers, and screws with diagram would have been nice to have.

removed the door hinge assembly & replaced it with the new assembly.

Removed 2 screws holding top hinge. Removed door. Removed 2 screws that holds the door stop and cam riser replaced cam riser, provided, replaced stop and screws. Removed 2 screws holding lower hinge replaced with hinge, provided, replaced screws. Put door in place and replaced top hinge and srews. Job done

After recieving the part overnight (Very unexpected speedy delivery!) I propped the freezer side door up with a 4x4 and 2x4 and the old part came right off and the new part went right on with no hassels, Done in less than 15 min!!!!
The new part even came with step by step easy to follow directions.

I removed the top hinge, lifted the door off the bottom hinge, rmoved and replaced the bottom hinge assembly, and reinstalled the door. I then aligned the door and reinstalled the upper hinge. The fridge works just like new!

Watched the video very good. Thank You

Supported the door on the bottom them removed the 3 screws holding hinge to door. Installed new hinge assembly. Had a litle trouble installng screw in bottom of door due to alignment issues with cam & metal piece. It finally went in when I loosened 2nd screw in bottom of door.

Part was easy to find on website. Part was delivered quickly. Reapir was easy, just replaced old hinge with new hinge.

Not really sure of the age of this fridge, as we bought the house 2.5 yrs ago.

I'm one who if it can go wrong, it will, so not realizing how stable the door was from just having the top hinge and the magentic gasket, I declined to prop the door up on blocks the way some guys say the did, and instead removed the top hinge and lifted the whole door off the bottom hinge. I traced the outline of all parts with a felt pen before removing them, figuring I'd need witness marks to help with realignment after the install.
Nut driver might've been an easier choice than the socket set, but the only ones I have a brittle and I've broken the 5/16"...
All parts came out/off easily. The new bottom hinge and the old top hinge (both on the fridge side) practically aligned itself right on my marks, and the new cam (door side) just needed to be held while the screws were tightened. I used the extensioni rod off the ratchet to drive the screws most of the way (making a nutdriver out of it).
Parts were exactly as advertised, although there was a note in the package that stressed the need to replace both parts at the same time due to material differences in the original and replacement parts. Since the cam is sold separately without the hinge, it would be good for the website to reflect that before the purchase is made. Also, even though it was only the cam on the hinge and not the whole hinge that needed to be replaced, I could've bought hte two cams separately and drilled out the rivet as another person had done, but for the $5 difference in cost, why bother?
Door now closes itself as designed, albeit slower than the freezer side, but the Wife says it always did that.
Also interesting that when first assembled, the door DIDN'T close itself at first... not sure it it needed to wear a litle, or if it just needed the added weight of having items back in the door shelves.
Love the great website... just typed in the model number and the parts I needed, complete with drawings to make sure, were right there. Great UI.