1952 O’Keefe & Merritt Gas Range with Grillevator Oven Door Spring.

[waternai]

With a sp-CLUNK the oven door spring on my 1952 O’Keefe & Merritt Gas Range with Grillevator ceased to function. The Grillevator door has two springs, so I’m now suspicious that the first spring on the regular oven door broke before I got the range. The door did seem slightly askew before, but I just figured it was a smidge wonky with age. I have had the stove open in various places, giving it a thorough cleaning and adjusting the valves and whatnot, but I don’t know the best way to access the oven door springs to replace them. Does anyone know the access point? What replacement springs would you recommend?
Thanks for your help, everybody!

 

[davey7]

Don't the oven doors lift off somehow?

I have a newer OKM but I've never attempted to take the doors off so I don't know how to do it.

All that said, I think that there are springs available for them - hopefully somebody else will chime in with the correct place to get them.

 

[waternai]

It wasn’t the spring

It turns out it was the cable. I know where it connects underneath, but I’m not sure how to reattach it to the door. Anyone have info on that? Also, there was only one spring on the oven door. Should there be two as there are on the Grillevator?

 

[waternai]

Lift off?

I’m not sure how the doors lift off or if they do, Davey, but I do see some screws where they can be disassembled. I’m not sure if that is where the cable should attach, though.

 

[stan]

I’ll bet

John L will know
Let’s see if he stops by.

 

[combo52]

Fixing oven door springs etc.

While I have only worked on a few of these ranges I don’t recall doing anything with the oven door springs and the steel cables, you’re just going to have to take it apart see what’s broken and try to find parts or possibly you could have those cables made if Is Possible to show them the other one which may still be good.

 

There used to be a group out in California called the old Road home that specialized in helping people get gas ranges fixed there were a few other companies and groups as well.

 

While I work on lots of modern gas ranges I haven’t done an awful lot with vintage ones I’m much more interested in vintage electric ranges.

 

John L

 

[waternai]

I’ll just have to wing it!

Thanks for the referral, John, and thank you again, everyone, for taking the time to reply. I was able to find out the length of the cable from eye to eye—10.5”. I’ll get one made and also replace the missing spring from the same door. I’m still not sure where it attaches, but perhaps things will be more apparent when I take the inner door panel off. I’ll see what the shops say when I inquire about a replacement spring. When I do see how to attach it, I’ll post some photos in case anyone in the future also needs to put a new cable in.

 

[luxflairguy]

If you are in the LA area, try this link!https://www.antiquestoveheaven.com/
The website has door springs pictured/listed! Greg

 

[waternai]

Half-Success!

Thanks for the referral, Greg. I will have a look at their site.
I wanted to let everyone know that I was able to replace one of the cables. I’ll make a separate post outlining what I did in case anyone else has the same issue.

 

[waternai]

Link to Post on Replacing the Cable

In case anyone is interested or if anyone finds this in the future and wonders how I replaced the cable, here is a link to the post outlining step-by-step the method I used to replace the cable. Sometimes it is hard to tell what is what, but I included many photos for reference with the flashlight highlighting relevant parts. I’m not a stove expert, of course, but I’m happy to share any tips I learned along the way as I was replacing this cable assembly.

Replacing Oven Door Cable and Spring on 1952 O’Keefe & Merritt

DISASSEMBLY: There are two springs that hold the oven door shut. This is how I replaced the cable and reconnected the spring on the right side behind the panel. I couldn’t get the screws out to connect the cable to the wire hook on the left side, but as far as I know, it connects the same way...

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