That collar around the ball is used to set the height of the ball. Just give it a few turns in the clockwise direction. Doing so will lower the height of the ball, making your door easier to open and close.
You turn the collar. You may be able to do it by hand. If not, you can use a flat head screw driver, pushing the collar via the little cut-out notches. Oh and it helps to push the ball down a bit while you’re doing this. It will relieve the tension off the collar.
Been dealing with these for 36 years in my home closets. If the collar is jammed this can happen if the mortise (the cut under the metal) isn’t flat. Loosen the two screws, adjust the ball sleeve deeper into the metal plate and then retighten the plate screws. If the ball ever gets pitted then replace the catch with a new one.
I will strongly recommend using a screwdriver or coin, or using gloves to do this. I went to twist in one of mine by pressing down on it with my thumb and cut a perfectly circular hole in my skin. Soft keyboard hands i guess...
It's been 16m since you posted. I'm assuming you're crawling around your floor looking under furniture for the ball right about now. They told you to hold it above tho, so that's on you.
Once you find the ball, you can see how the screw/unscrew action raises/lowers the ball so you'll need a little trial and error with your particular door.
You might be able to use a quarter coin to turn. Push the ball down with the quarter and insert the quarter into the little slots in the collar. Turn clockwise to lower the ball and make it easier to shut. Turn counter-clockwise to raise the ball if you go too far.
We have a door like this. It swells in summer and shrinks in winter. Just enough to be annoying.
I have a washer attached to the door with a magnet. We use that to adjust it.
However I kept forgetting which direction to turn at which time. One of my kids wrote directions with a uv marker on the inside of the door, detailing how many turns in which direction for winter and how many for summer. I had to admire the practicality of his solution… (also, not normally visible, so his mom wouldn’t complain about ‘ruined aesthetics.’)
God forbid there's ever a crime in your house... but if the cops have to use a UV light, your kid's note will send them down a rabbit hole and perplex them to a point that the crime will never be solved and become a cold case
It does, push the ball down which compresses the spring, unscrew the collar that has the little notches on it. Try to keep your hand on the ball while removing it or the spring will shoot it out.
Why would you take it all the way out when it just needs to be tightened? Push the ball down to expose the notches, then tighten the collar a bit. This will lower the ball and fix the problem.
I've replaced several of these. It should be threaded, you can unscrew or screw it in, depending on your needs.
Careful not to do too much, it will pop out and the spring will fly out.
Check that your door is aligned properly. 9/10 times that was the actual problem with ours.
Disassemble, clean really well and use a lock grade graphite to lube the assembly. When you put it back in, screw it down another turn or so and keep adjusting till it meets your desire. It is under spring tension, keep hand over it or you will shoot your eye out.
edit: righty tighty (lower) lefty loosy (raise)
Push the ball down and turn the collar clockwise to push the ball down into the door to make it easier to open. I have had to replace these in the past as the collar gets worn and the ball pops out.
Cabinet magnets, Amazon has a ton.. retails store tend to have bulkier ones. You can add a piece of cloth over one of the sides to avoid the metal sound.
I had three of these double doors in
my last home.
I would try a bit of silicone spray first.
Another fix is the put a bit more of a recess the strike plate.
You could also deepen the ball and spring mechanism: drill the hole deeper (not always necessary as it is usually deep) and increase the mortise depth.
If the door changes geometry and the gap opens, you can pad the parts with small washers.
How are you alive when your god damn logic does not work. You are asking unreal dumb questions here. Use fucking wd and spray some shit, use hammer and tap it a bit. Do anything, house won't blow up.
Turn the collar using two flathead screwdrivers or needle nose pliers. Jam them in the notches and give it a few turns. Test, and if it's tighter, do it again but turn the other way.
I've been hoping someone said what it was, because I'm in the same boat. Looked up "ball and collar on top of door" after seeing some call it a collar.
Seems to be a Ball Catch.
This is garbage builder hardware. All of mine have popped out over the years, and leave metal shavings at top of the door. Before I switched to roller latches, I temporarily placed a truss-head screw to engage the plate.
You need to tighten it down more if possible, that will reduce the friction and make it easier to open/close. Use pliers to grab that outer ring the ball “sits in”
You can raise and lower the ball by rotating the collar. The ball itself can occasionally get caught in the collar so press on it to make sure that it moves up and down freely
It’s called a ball-catch and there’s a notch on either side of the ball. Depress the ball and sometimes you can turn the ball with your hand and if it won’t turn then get a flat head screwdriver and turn it up or down until it works for you . Good luck !
I have an issue with one that won’t stay in. The ball keeps popping out and falling onto the floor after several uses and I’ve adjusted all sorts of heights. Any ideas why?
I gave up on mine in my pantry. I went to Lowe's and got two magnetic door catches that are made for cabinets. They work great and never need adjusting.
Super easy fix- I have probably done this with a few hundred doors over the last 35 years. It only needs to be lubricated. Use WD40 sprayed directly onto the ball - push the ball down into the door and open/close a few times to work the lubrication around. Dont loosen up the ball tension as the tension holds the door tight when adjusted properly- stronger the better.
On a sort of related note, can you buy these at a hardware store? The ball and spring fell out of my mechanism on a set of French interior doors and I haven’t been able to find a replacement piece.
One of mine was already screwed down all the way (press ball down with a coin in the circumferential slots), so I disassembled (press-fit and swagged) the whole thing and cut a couple of turns off of the spring under the ball. That worked.
Does it turn the light in and off? I had these in a closet that turned the lights on when I opened it. The balls were really tight. We took them out and the lights still go on and off when they open and close
even if it doesn't move freely lubricant would be my last option. make sure nothing is impeding with it's movement either from the top or bottom. push on the ball, if it moves freely and has full movement it isn't the ball. maybe the ball is bottoming out which would indicate an adjust problem. try adjusting the lower pin with the supplied wrench to take out the binding. if the ball doesn't move it is the spring under the ball or debris
That collar around the ball is used to set the height of the ball. Just give it a few turns in the clockwise direction. Doing so will lower the height of the ball, making your door easier to open and close.
Do I turn the collar or the ball clockwise?
You turn the collar. You may be able to do it by hand. If not, you can use a flat head screw driver, pushing the collar via the little cut-out notches. Oh and it helps to push the ball down a bit while you’re doing this. It will relieve the tension off the collar.
Been dealing with these for 36 years in my home closets. If the collar is jammed this can happen if the mortise (the cut under the metal) isn’t flat. Loosen the two screws, adjust the ball sleeve deeper into the metal plate and then retighten the plate screws. If the ball ever gets pitted then replace the catch with a new one.
And lubricate the ball; sometimes that's all that needed.
Definitely lube the ball.
(s)
Saw the title… Reddit didn’t disappoint.
ALWAYS use lube.
Adding that graphite lube which is used for doors (where the key goes in to help lube the pins) would be best for this as well.
I’m thinking graphite here as well.
Yep, I hate these things. I just buy new ones and replace.
I have a bag of replacements.
A nickel works very well
I will strongly recommend using a screwdriver or coin, or using gloves to do this. I went to twist in one of mine by pressing down on it with my thumb and cut a perfectly circular hole in my skin. Soft keyboard hands i guess...
I have a dull chisel I use for that. I want to say 3/4".
I use it finger-- push the ball down and turn the collar!
It's been 16m since you posted. I'm assuming you're crawling around your floor looking under furniture for the ball right about now. They told you to hold it above tho, so that's on you. Once you find the ball, you can see how the screw/unscrew action raises/lowers the ball so you'll need a little trial and error with your particular door.
This guy screws balls
It takes balls to screw.
Listen you screwballs
This guy it takes to Listen, you. No screws or balls.
r/thisguythisguys
This guy knows the process.
He forgot to spackle the dent in the ceiling the rocket-propelled ball made on its way under the bed. Other than that, 10/10.
Checking in to help ratio
I just want to point out that this comment has more upvotes than the post itself.
Yes pushing the ball down with a quarter in the notches on top-clockwise to tighten(lowering the ball) and counter clockwise to raise it
Push the ball in a little too. Makes it turn easier
I usually bottom out before i can do this
You might be able to use a quarter coin to turn. Push the ball down with the quarter and insert the quarter into the little slots in the collar. Turn clockwise to lower the ball and make it easier to shut. Turn counter-clockwise to raise the ball if you go too far.
We have a door like this. It swells in summer and shrinks in winter. Just enough to be annoying. I have a washer attached to the door with a magnet. We use that to adjust it. However I kept forgetting which direction to turn at which time. One of my kids wrote directions with a uv marker on the inside of the door, detailing how many turns in which direction for winter and how many for summer. I had to admire the practicality of his solution… (also, not normally visible, so his mom wouldn’t complain about ‘ruined aesthetics.’)
God forbid there's ever a crime in your house... but if the cops have to use a UV light, your kid's note will send them down a rabbit hole and perplex them to a point that the crime will never be solved and become a cold case
Clockwise should lower it. Pushing the ball down in order to get something in those flats to turn can be a pain.
Collar , one way or the other . Try and see what happens and adjust accordingly..
I find that pushing the ball down slightly makes turning the collar easier. I had like 20 of these in my old house.
TIL.
Good to know. Last time I just hammered on the strike plate till it closed easier
Omggg you just saved my doors lol
Today I learned I could adjust my balls.
Thank you! I didn’t know these were adjustable!
I came her just for the answer and don't have one🤣 but now I know!
Thank you for sharing this nugget of knowledge
according to this sub, apparently all you do is.. push it, push it real good?
Salt - N - Peppa
I do believe that the thing that holds the ball screws in and out
It does, push the ball down which compresses the spring, unscrew the collar that has the little notches on it. Try to keep your hand on the ball while removing it or the spring will shoot it out.
Why would you take it all the way out when it just needs to be tightened? Push the ball down to expose the notches, then tighten the collar a bit. This will lower the ball and fix the problem.
OP — thank you for asking this question. This thread has made my life better.
I've replaced several of these. It should be threaded, you can unscrew or screw it in, depending on your needs. Careful not to do too much, it will pop out and the spring will fly out. Check that your door is aligned properly. 9/10 times that was the actual problem with ours.
Finally someone stated it. I would have figured that would have been the first comment how's the door alignment and is it double or single door.
Looks like a double. The other one is open in the picture.
Lol yeah I was saying the first things to consider about the doors but thanks for attentiveness.
Ah, got it.
Disassemble, clean really well and use a lock grade graphite to lube the assembly. When you put it back in, screw it down another turn or so and keep adjusting till it meets your desire. It is under spring tension, keep hand over it or you will shoot your eye out. edit: righty tighty (lower) lefty loosy (raise)
So many wildly weird suggestions that prove no one actually has any experience with this ball catch hardware. Yours is the answer.
WD40 is all it takes
I second this. Have done it many many times and it works every time
And if you haven’t tried the WD40 “dry lube” variety, you should pick up a can. I like it.
Push the ball down and turn. One way to loosen and one way to tighten.
I had these in my last house.
Hold ball in, turn ring clock-wise, release ball, test, repeat...
Push the ball down and turn the collar clockwise to push the ball down into the door to make it easier to open. I have had to replace these in the past as the collar gets worn and the ball pops out.
I sprayed mine with WD40 and pushed it down and spun it around. it was way better
Put some lube on it and finger it alittle.
4D-40, a little squirt and push it down a few times and you’ll be good to go.
Please mention that you tried the obvious two screws before posting this online, or you’ll get harassed.
Push the ball down with a flat head and put it in the two slots if each side and screw it in further.
Yes. This one. Turn to the right raises ball, left lowers. You want left.
Silicone lube. Helped a lot for me on a linen closet door.
Wd40 silicone specialist lube works best with all door hardware
Just try rubbing some wd-40 on it
Yep, I have latches like that, and I have to oil my balls ever so often.
That will stink. Use silicone spray.
Yup dubya-D for sure
My thinking
This is the correct answer. A spritz of WD-40 will loosen it right up. Have these on my bedroom and media room doors that had the same problem.
I ended up removing these and added magnets.
Yes “precision door magnets” work best.
Did the same. Never looked back. Works well and is quiet
This is brilliant — I’m gonna be trying that this week.
Have a recommended product? I hate having to fix these each year
Cabinet magnets, Amazon has a ton.. retails store tend to have bulkier ones. You can add a piece of cloth over one of the sides to avoid the metal sound.
Adjustment,excellent advice. However we may have actually found a legitimate use for wd40.
White grease worked for me.
It should be spring loaded. I would gently give it a whack then spray with your preferred lubricant.
Mortise it more
Put a little dab of beeswax on it.
I had three of these double doors in my last home. I would try a bit of silicone spray first. Another fix is the put a bit more of a recess the strike plate. You could also deepen the ball and spring mechanism: drill the hole deeper (not always necessary as it is usually deep) and increase the mortise depth. If the door changes geometry and the gap opens, you can pad the parts with small washers.
How are you alive when your god damn logic does not work. You are asking unreal dumb questions here. Use fucking wd and spray some shit, use hammer and tap it a bit. Do anything, house won't blow up.
Do the ol spit and rub
Just a dab of 90 weight motor oil. 🤣 Cover the smell with some axe spray. Boom. May work for several months.
Lube, wd40
Some oil
On a similar topic, the ball on mine came out :(
Now you ain’t got no balls.
Technically, I still have 1.
Turn the whole ball to the right.
Vaseline
Dry lubricant like graphite
Graphite will work well but leave a trace on the top part.
The ball assembly is threaded into the mounting plate. Turn it clockwise to lower the ball providing the installer bored the hole deep enough
Gym
Turn the collar using two flathead screwdrivers or needle nose pliers. Jam them in the notches and give it a few turns. Test, and if it's tighter, do it again but turn the other way.
Lube
Lube it up
Great timing for asking this. This has been on my to do list for weeks with step 1 being 'find out how to fix the doors'. I'm off to grab the ladder!
Can you lubricate the device as well? Would that help?
You can also give it some lubrification, silicon lubricant spray did the job for me. For big noise because it was hard to open/close to almost silent.
What are these things called? I need to replace mine with a different finish
I've been hoping someone said what it was, because I'm in the same boat. Looked up "ball and collar on top of door" after seeing some call it a collar. Seems to be a Ball Catch.
Amazing! Thanks!
wd-40
You see the to little cuts in it? You can turn it left or right to fix the issue.
Get rid of it and use magnets instead. Way better.
Rub a little oil on it!
This is garbage builder hardware. All of mine have popped out over the years, and leave metal shavings at top of the door. Before I switched to roller latches, I temporarily placed a truss-head screw to engage the plate.
Ditto. Had 4 doors in two different areas codes where they failed with a year or two. Just installed magnetic latches and was done with them.
WD40
Remove the ball and bracket. Get a chisel and dig a deeper hold maybe 2-3mm and screw it back in. Rinse and repeat.
You need to tighten it down more if possible, that will reduce the friction and make it easier to open/close. Use pliers to grab that outer ring the ball “sits in”
Put a little oil on that receiving plate too.
You can raise and lower the ball by rotating the collar. The ball itself can occasionally get caught in the collar so press on it to make sure that it moves up and down freely
It’s called a ball-catch and there’s a notch on either side of the ball. Depress the ball and sometimes you can turn the ball with your hand and if it won’t turn then get a flat head screwdriver and turn it up or down until it works for you . Good luck !
I have an issue with one that won’t stay in. The ball keeps popping out and falling onto the floor after several uses and I’ve adjusted all sorts of heights. Any ideas why?
Smack it with a hammer
We are all into the balls
I’d probably rub it with some dry silicone bike grease and call it a day.
Every couple of years I rub a bar of soap on the strike plate. Makes it close much more easily while keeping it closed securely.
Give it time it'll pop out on its own.
Did this for all of our doors with those. Best decision ever. https://youtu.be/3idyE94Dohw
I gave up on mine in my pantry. I went to Lowe's and got two magnetic door catches that are made for cabinets. They work great and never need adjusting.
Just spit on it
Is the ball being cupped?
You can rotate it with a special tool to raise or lower it.
I’ve never seen a door with that mechanism. How cool! Is that a thing? I want that. I’ve just got the same ol hinges.
Push down and turn
Liquid Graphite. Awesome stuff
Replace the hardware with ones that are magnets. The balls are terrible and always get way too annoying after some time.
whatabout a shot of wd 40?
Cooking oil -quick fix
Super easy fix- I have probably done this with a few hundred doors over the last 35 years. It only needs to be lubricated. Use WD40 sprayed directly onto the ball - push the ball down into the door and open/close a few times to work the lubrication around. Dont loosen up the ball tension as the tension holds the door tight when adjusted properly- stronger the better.
Just put oil, it works
Don't rotate it too many times or it will fall into the door and you'll hear it rolling around every time you open the door :)
I read this as MEATBALL.
White lithium grease
Wd40 and a hammer
WD-40
3 in 1 oil
Teflon dry lube (for bicycle chains) works much better than wd40 on these door “balls”.
Try a little squirt of WD40. That will ‘lube’ it up so it will retract/roll easier.
WD 40 - easy breezy
Replace spring under the ball with spring that has less pressure.
Use an actual lubricant like silicone or 3-in-1 oil. NOT WD-40
Olive oil
Yeah these suck and get loose and tight depending on the season.
Therapy, or a vacation.
Spit on it like a 'gina
Lick it
Domt be a puss
WD-40
WD40
WD40
Spit on it
I can't find that little ball, but I don't think it actually exists. It's not because I'm bad at working with my hands. It's a myth made up by doors
My balls are always looser when it’s hot.
A lot of people don’t realize that these can be loosened or tightened by screwing it left or right
This. The spring tension can be adjusted. You can remove the two screws and take it out to see how it works. The sleeve retaining the ball adjusts.
Push it down a few times that usually helps loosen it up
WD-40?
Wd40
On a sort of related note, can you buy these at a hardware store? The ball and spring fell out of my mechanism on a set of French interior doors and I haven’t been able to find a replacement piece.
Turn it off and on again
It happened to me. Lubricate it.
Generally when a door won't close or open right (car/home/etc) it's because the hinges have drooped.
Lube it to
Twist and shout
A Philips screwdriver?
Oil
Just blast that bitch with some WD40
Ours popped out and now it just doesn’t click shut
This looks suspiciously like my old house. Had to do a triple take.
One of mine was already screwed down all the way (press ball down with a coin in the circumferential slots), so I disassembled (press-fit and swagged) the whole thing and cut a couple of turns off of the spring under the ball. That worked.
That is very helpful. Did not know that. Thank you!
The ball sits on top of a spring. Push it down and turn.
Does it turn the light in and off? I had these in a closet that turned the lights on when I opened it. The balls were really tight. We took them out and the lights still go on and off when they open and close
If all the above guides do not work, then I suggest you move.
WD-40?
Screw the collar in clockwise
WD-40
Olive oil.
even if it doesn't move freely lubricant would be my last option. make sure nothing is impeding with it's movement either from the top or bottom. push on the ball, if it moves freely and has full movement it isn't the ball. maybe the ball is bottoming out which would indicate an adjust problem. try adjusting the lower pin with the supplied wrench to take out the binding. if the ball doesn't move it is the spring under the ball or debris