Imperial USA TC4300 Series Parallel Arm Drop Plate

A drop plate lowers the closer body below the top of the frame when there isn't enough flat mounting surface on the frame face or head to land the closer directly. On a parallel arm install, the arm mounts to the soffit or a bracket on the pull side of the stop, and the plate gives you the vertical drop and screw pattern to get the closer shoe where it needs to sit. The Imperial USA DP-4300-18PA is the parallel arm drop plate for the TC4300 Series closer, and it is steel.

It is made for the TC4300 Series closer. Drop plates are drilled to a specific closer body's screw pattern, so a plate from one series generally won't line up on another maker's closer. If you're mounting a different closer, get the drop plate listed for that closer's series.

No. The plate is non-handed and reversible, so one part covers both left- and right-hand openings. That matters for property managers and MRO stock rooms, since you can carry a single part number for every TC4300 parallel arm door in the building instead of splitting stock by handing.

Two: AL aluminum and DU duranodic. Pick the one matching your closer body so the plate doesn't stand out under the frame. Aluminum reads as the light satin finish common on storefront and interior frames; duranodic is the dark bronze tone typically paired with bronze anodized aluminum entrances.

They solve different problems. The drop plate is what you need when the closer body has nowhere to land, typically a narrow top rail or a frame head with insufficient flat face. A parallel arm bracket (soffit or shoe bracket) is about where the arm attaches, not the closer body. On a lot of aluminum storefront jobs you end up needing both. If your closer body already sits flat on the frame and only the arm side is short, the drop plate won't help you.

It's a separate accessory. Closers ship with the standard arm and mounting screws for regular or top jamb application; drop plates are ordered as an add-on when the frame condition requires one. If you're specifying a batch of TC4300 closers for openings with narrow top rails, add one DP-4300-18PA per door and match the finish to the closer.

It's a commercial-duty part, and it's steel rather than cast aluminum, which is what you want on a plate carrying a closer body through repeated cycles on an entrance or corridor door.