Norton Door Controls - 1601BF x 690 1601BFX690 1600 Series, Dull Bronze (008377)

This is NOT a knockoff, it's a genuine Norton 1600 series closer and will fit very closely to an original 1600 closer. It has left and right pull ability and fits most installations where you previously had a medium duty closer. We had one in our restroom that had been in operation for over 25 years. The unit began to leak oil and close rather abruptly. It was dangerously fast with no sweep control and sounded like it was about to break the door. We bought this one to replace it. Since it is a light door, a 1 to 6 rating was plenty of spring to close the door. The controls work as expected to adjust the unit, I was able to lighten the spring some and still maintain a pretty firm door latch. The unit is able to be slowed down nicely for handicap access. I was also able to adjust how fast the approach was to the latch once the sweep was accomplished. I was able to get them to be about the same speed to each other so there wasn't that annoying fast close at the end of the sweep that most older people can't deal with. Now it's much safer to get in and out of the bathroom with the new closer. Total close time is about 6-7 seconds. Though a bit tough at first, the closer arm will go on the spindle at 90 degrees to the door. I couldn't get ours to go on at first, but once I mounted the closer arm to the frame, then the other end was able to be popped onto the spindle at 90 degrees with no problem. Maybe I was doing it wrong when I tried to do it the other way around. Oh, and this is about an inch longer than the original, and the original's spindle was right in the middle of the closer, this new one is offset. The door was left handed, so I kept the holes in the original position on the left and moved the holes on the right to the right about another inch. Everything fell into place with the new hardware going into the holes where the old had been, even on the metal door frame. It does come with the matching Parallel Arm Bracket that goes on wooden jambs. We didn't need that piece since ours used the Jamb Shoe that attached flush to a metal door jamb. The dark bronze finish looks good with our dark-finished oak doors. The original was aluminum colored and didn't look that good anyway. It obviously was suffering from surface corrosion (probably from toilet bowl cleaner fumes) and the same acid fumes probably is what caused the seals to go bad in the original closer. Other closers in the building are the same age but didn't look or fail like the original one had in the rest room. I hope the new closer lasts as long as the original Norton. They've always made good products and I wouldn't trust any other brand for long term use nor value for the money. You might be able to find cheaper brands, but will the cheaper ones last as long as a Norton? I didn't want to find out. Besides, four Jacksons for a good, reliable door closer is a bargain. You will need a 7/16" socket to tighten down the shoulder nuts on the spindle and arm. You will need a large phillips head screwdriver or a drill with a long shank #3 phillips is ideal. A drill with a 1/4" bit was adequate to get the wood screws started for the door. The I was able to re-use the holes for the jamb, however be aware the spacing on the Jamb Shoe is just a hair narrower than the older model. It could be that the holes originally drilled were a bit too far apart. But I managed to get the screws in after using the drill to ream out the shoe just a bit on one side. Overall, I'd consider this replacement pretty easy and not too fussy.

It works good.

Quality is obvious. Unit was easy to install on our heavy 8' doors. Adjustments were easy to make. Need to replace our hinges with ball bearing units as the door is a little heavy to push open now. Looking to add one to our back door now.

This item has been opened maybe even installed previously. There weren't any installation or set up instructions in the package. We needed to search the WEB and download a usable document.

Nice product. It works well for smaller light doors. I recommend it

Good closer