I have a 94 34 foot Regency with beautiful cherry cabinets that we love. But----the joint where the two sections of eyelevel cabinets above the microwave and the sink meet, rub together when on rough roads and make an awful sticky noise that literally drives us nuts. It's much louder than you can imagine and I have run out of ideas to fix the problem. It is so loud that we can hear it in the background of video tapes that we made while on the road. I have tried bolting the two together to no avail and I tried to separate the two in order to insert something between them with no luck. The only thing that seems to help is to wedge a 2X4 between the sink and the uppper cabinet for support(a desperate temp fix). I have noticed that humidity effects the level of noise. The higher the humidity - the louder the noise. There are no other obvious signs of problems. Everything seems tight with no sagging. This is the only joint that makes the noise. All the others are fine.

Has anyone else out there experienced similar problems or is it just me? Any ideas on a repair?

Perhaps it's not the cabinets rubbing together, but looseness in the cabinet mounting. This is suggested by the fact that a 2x4 brace stops the noise. Try tightening the fastenings, or adding more.

I have a similar issue with my expandable dinette where it mounts to the wall. I've snugged up the mounting bolts twice, but the maddening squeek returns returns in a few miles.

I hesitate to glue everything up, the assembly is designed for removal. Next step will be silicone lube on the faying surfaces, & epoxy on the fastenings. --- Unless someone else here has a better idea.

quote:

Originally posted by olroy:
Perhaps it's not the cabinets rubbing together, but looseness in the cabinet mounting. This is suggested by the fact that a 2x4 brace stops the noise. Try tightening the fastenings, or adding more.

I have a similar issue with my expandable dinette where it mounts to the wall. I've snugged up the mounting bolts twice, but the maddening squeek returns returns in a few miles.

I hesitate to glue everything up, the assembly is designed for removal. Next step will be silicone lube on the faying surfaces, & epoxy on the fastenings. --- Unless someone else here has a better idea.

I attached my drop down table to the vertical channels with Molly Bolts.

Frank,

I too had a cabinet squeak, but only when subjected to a twisting motion, i.e.: going over a speed-bump at an angle, etc. In my case, they were adjacent cabinets of different depths (side-stile of shallow cabinet abutted the sidewall of the deeper set). Here's what I did:

1. Mark the inside edge of the shallow cabinet stile adjacent to the offending joint into thirds (approx)- these are your drilling ref. locations.

2. On the stile edge center line, drill a pilot hole through the stile (plumb & square!) and into the interior wall of the deeper cabinet - countersink the hole at the stile so you can flush-out the screw head. (Pilot hole size should be very close to screw size so you don't stress the hardwood stile with expansion pressure of screws)

3. On interior sidewall of deeper cabinet, where pilot holes came through, glue a small piece (2"x2"+/-) of 3/4" plywood over holes. Glue is nonstructural, so anything will work to hold it in-place until screwed. This provides meat & bearing surface for the screw.

4. Using right length screw, install through the stile and into the plywood - countersink screw to make head unnoticeable. In my case, screws were a tad too long and penetrated through the plywood, but a Dremel cut-off made short work of fixing it. Because I had to hold drill slightly off-center of the work, square-head screws made it easier.......

Two screws should be able to hold the tension loads necessary to "suck-up" the offending gap and eliminate rubbing movement without adding too much stiffness to cause other problems.

If cabinets are the same depth, it's the same procedure but you'll be drilling through the side stiles of both cabinet, so screw length sizing is more important to avoid run-out on the other side.

And....like Olroy recommended, double check all other mounting hardware for loose/missing pieces.......

Worked for me...maybe it'll work for you.....

Thanks for the advice guys but I think I have most of your suggestions covered with the (2) 3/8 bolts that I installed between the cabinets and squeezed the two cabinet sections together to no avial. All the other fasteners are tight.
The silicone lub that olroy mentioned might be worth a try but I remember from experience in other applications that lube on wood can be tricky especially if its painted. When I was a kid, we had a drop down attic ladder with a dado groove that required a special wax/lub to stop the chatter when dropped down. Would silicone lube mean WD-40 or maybe a spray on white lube?

Thanks for your help.

WD40 could stain the wood or soften the finish. You could experiment by placing cloth between the faying surfaces. My favorite wood lube is the wax stick sold for drawer slides.

I wouldn't use silicone or WD-40. Plain old wax or waxed paper would be preferred.

I like both of your ideas but have no idea how to separate the cabinets enough to apply the wax paper or wax stick. Even when I wedge the 2x4 between the sink and the cabinet, no opening is created at the joint. The only thing I have not tried is to completely remove the section over the sink --- but that would be a major task.
Thanks for your suggestions.

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Strong:
I like both of your ideas but have no idea how to separate the cabinets enough to apply the wax paper or wax stick.

Rusty's idea of wax paper is probably your best possibility, with the room you have. Get a new wood shingle or shim and drive it gently between the cabinets. It might open up enough room for a sheet of wax paper. It might also tell you something as you drive.

Do they even sell wax paper any more? Seems like years since i last saw it....guess i will look for it next time i go to the store. My mom used to wrap our sandwichs for school in it, and we used it to slick up the playground slide. Also used it for the runners on our sleds in the winter.

Yes you can still buy Wax Paper. The only brand that has stood the test of time is "CUT RITE" a Reynolds product.............

"THE TOY" 88 33' Regal SE Coach #3448