Replacing letter box plate springs

Money_Grabber13579

A few weeks ago, the outside plate on my letter box fell off. It looks like the springs have broken but I can’t immediately see what springs I’d need to replace them with. Hopefully the pictures below show what I mean, but it looks there is a spring (or part of the same spring?) either side of the slot which allows the spring to be tensioned (and prevent the pin from falling out) but I can’t see anything quite like that. Anybody know what I would need to fix this? The diameter of the pin/spring looks to be about 3mm or fractionally less.

I was thinking it might be easier just to replace the whole letterbox but it seems like it has been both screwed and riveted to the door! Perhaps it might still be easier to drill through the rivets though…

EDIT: The 1st and 2nd picture are of the inside plate, which remains in place, whilst the 3rd and 4th are of the outside plate which has fallen off.

FreeBear

Money_Grabber13579 said: I was thinking it might be easier just to replace the whole letterbox but it seems like it has been both screwed and riveted to the door! Perhaps it might still be easier to drill through the rivets though…

You may well find that screws go right through the door. So look under the flap inside for the screw heads. Undo one, and if it is 30-40mm long, it goes right through in to the outside flap.

Money_Grabber13579

FreeBear said:

Money_Grabber13579 said: I was thinking it might be easier just to replace the whole letterbox but it seems like it has been both screwed and riveted to the door! Perhaps it might still be easier to drill through the rivets though…

You may well find that screws go right through the door. So look under the flap inside for the screw heads. Undo one, and if it is 30-40mm long, it goes right through in to the outside flap.

Thanks, I had undone all of the screws but couldn’t get it off so had assumed it was riveted to the door, based on the rivets in each corner. Turns out it was just glued to the door…

So, replacement is probably the easiest option then… I have no idea what make/model I currently have but would like to replace it with similar. I’ve seen a couple in Screwfix but a common complaint seems to be that the brushes are so stiff that you can’t get post through. Any recommendations? 

More pictures below - the model I have is in four parts: inner and outer plate/flap and inner and outer sleeve, with brushes.

The hole in the door is 262mm x 44mm.

FreeBear

Sorry, no recommendations.

housebuyer143

In my experience, once the plate snaps off you just need to buy another. Measure the hole and take a good look on Amazon for one with the same measurements and then install. Should cost less than £10.

35har1old

housebuyer143 said:

In my experience, once the plate snaps off you just need to buy another. Measure the hole and take a good look on Amazon for one with the same measurements and then install. Should cost less than £10.

Some are hard to find a replacement  for

twopenny

I'd take it with me to building suppliers where they have them on display and see what current ones match up.
You can even ask questions.
Then order from Screwfix/Amazon et al if you prefer. Screwfix have some sort of policy that when you see an item, if it's not what you want you don't have to buy it. I've not seen that advertised but the guy in the shop told me

And future reference, yes you used to be able to  buy springs for letterboxes from hardware stores. I've replaced 2

Money_Grabber13579

Thanks all.  It seems the gap I have in my door is slightly longer than most (although maybe not enough to prevent a lot of them fitting).  However, I think I have now found a direct replacement - the link is below in case it helps anyone else.

https://jcphardware.co.uk/yale-postmaster-12-inch-aluminium-letter-box/

housebuyer143

35har1old said:

housebuyer143 said:

In my experience, once the plate snaps off you just need to buy another. Measure the hole and take a good look on Amazon for one with the same measurements and then install. Should cost less than £10.

Some are hard to find a replacement  for

Yes, but anything can be found with time. I replaced mine and had to scour through about 50 on Amazon before finding only one which would fit. Mine was not very long and it was hard to find. Glad you have located something 👍

Slinky

Our one broke and we struggled to find the right sized replacement. Dad fixed it with a bike spoke right through the flap from end to end, with a small nut on the end. It was a bit on the loose side as the springs had gone, but it did the job until we replaced the door.

Murmansk

I came across a letterbox flap which, rather than having a spring like yours has, had a spring mechanism consisting of a long plastic rod that went into the frame of the letterbox and was housed mainly in the flap where it was held tight and the spring effect was provided by the rod being twisted slightly every time the flap was opened. Much harder to replace that kind of "spring" I suspect so best to avoid when getting a new one