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DeRocha's Door Hinge Pin Replacement w/pics

What a great post! OMG, I can't believe I don't have to replace the entire hinge. And with the details on holding the door in place I feel totally confident I can do this myself. Thank you, thank you, thank you DeRocha And to jtison for the torque spec.
 



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Thanks for doing a write up on this! my '91's front doors are getting near impossible to close one handed, so i think it's about time to do this. I was actually just looking at the door pins today wondering how i'd replace them. lol
 






ugh... its such a ***** to do but i got it done. wtf who at ford decided to put a one piece pin in with no clip. f-in bs design. all in all it wasent that bad concidering ive never done it b4...good write up too
 






alright, i was looking at the Explorers and I made a pretty cool discovery. Ford used the same hinge for the front as they did for the back. Now usually, the rear hinges aren't as worn down as the fronts. My solution? I'm going to take the rear hinges off my parts rig and put them on the front of my daily driver!
 






alright, i was looking at the Explorers and I made a pretty cool discovery. Ford used the same hinge for the front as they did for the back. Now usually, the rear hinges aren't as worn down as the fronts. My solution? I'm going to take the rear hinges off my parts rig and put them on the front of my daily driver!

The whole reason behind the door hinge replacement was to avoid having to replace the entire hinge.. Replacing the Upper hinge is labor intensive. You need to remove 1/2 the dash board to access the upper hinge mount.. If it were me and I was going to undertake all that work of removing the dash then I would spend the $25 on a new hinge instead of installing a lesser worn used hinge..
 






Thanks for the write up. Replaced the upper and lower pins last week and then had to reset the door and the latch. But it closes and opens like brand new. THANKS!!!
 






Hey jg09...I tried that to find out that the bolt holes are spaced apart differently. What I did learn is that the hinges are the same left to right so I got some with no play from the local salvage yard, painted them to match and installed them quite easily. I don't know about having to take out the dash because I just used a Craftsman 3/8 rachet and deep socket to get the top hinge inner nut with no real difficulty although a second elbow would have helped!! On the passenger side I think I just open the glove box and pulled in the stops and let it fall down. Worked for me.
 






Does anyone know if this same pin and bushing set (part 38410) will work on '02? I looked online and a couple places said no.
 






Thanks so much for this post! Your instructions were great and made the job run quickly. I did do something a little differently, I pulled the "E" clip off of the bushing so I did not have to grind the top of the pin off. Also my 4 liter 93 Ranger has over 600,000 miles on the same engine with the heads never been off.
Thanks again.
 












Wanted to thank you for your awesome write up on this door hinge pin repair. I got tired of breaking door pulls and finally got around to replacing the pins. Now the door closes like a dream. The key to making this job easy is using a good quality penetrating oil.
 






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what size drill-bit to use for the oversized bushings?(HELP-pin/bushing kit) going to do both lower and upper hinges. any info. thanks.
 






what size drill-bit to use for the oversized bushings?(HELP-pin/bushing kit) going to do both lower and upper hinges. any info. thanks.

They used different hinges and pins in later models. I'm not sure this audience will know the answer since this thread and forum is geared for 1st generation Explorers (91-94). Asking in the (1995-2001 forum) should broaden your audience.
 






I have no Dremel and no air hammer....any alternatives?
 






Great Info

I have no Dremel and no air hammer....any alternatives?

hi just replaced my door pins and the bushings.. i did not use a dremal.. i used a drill.. with a sanding wheel.. that worked just fine... as far as the air hammer i do have one and used it.. it worked like a champ.. maybe if you find some kind of rod to place in the area where you need to drive the pin out that might work.. also if you raise and lower the door just right to take the pressure off the pin it will come out much easier too.. this write up was perfect.. took mw i would say right around 45 minutes to do the job... it was actually much easier then i anticipated... great job with the pics and info...THX!!!!!
 






I did this... it was no picnic... thanks so much for your guide.

For those less fortunate among us who do not have an air hammer (or any air tools for that matter), getting the old hinges out was the trick. I messed my door up pretty bad holding it, and rubbing it against the frame while I pecked at this for literally hours. I ended up using a second vehicle with a nice power inverter installed, with an extension cord to dremel my way through the hinges in the center (cut out about a 1/2" section, had to do it in short bursts not to overheat the power inverter). Once I did that, I was able to use a hammer and punch from the top to finally free them up. Keep in mind my door was sagging so bad by the time I did this that I literally couldn't shut it. I avoided the job, because I knew I didn't have the proper facilities (can't stand working on something of this nature without a garage, makes me worry that it will start raining or I'll have to put it on pause until the next day etc)

Also, another trick was putting the door back on correctly. Where the bolts go into the door can be shifted around, adjusting the way the door closes. It must have taken me 20 adjustments to the bolts to get it "just right", even then it still didn't close right. Either the weatherstripping has hardened too much and isn't flexible enough, or the vehicle was in an accident and the left front fender was replaced and they didn't position it all that well.

My jack comes no where near tall enough to actually lift the door. For this reason, I used a jackstand which worked OK.

Having said that, I do appreciate your efforts in writing this guide up
 






Just completed this on my explorer...

Tools I used:

Jack (As pictured)
Rope (Tie off as pictured)
13mm ratchet
Dremel
Allen Wrench
Screw Driver (Just a 6 in 1 ryobi)
Anti Seize Lube
Hammer

My followup notes to assist the next person (Use Derocha's notes and use these as add on tips if needed):

1. Lube it up :p:
2. Score the top of the upper pin head fitting as flat and as good as you can possibly get it then chizzel up the edges with a screwdriver and hammer
3. Take a hammer and screwdriver and beat the ever living **** out of the middle of the pin on the top side where you scored it at (Eventually it will go through); it will fill so good when you know it went through:rolleyes:
4. Once you have it half way take a lose allen wrench (The ones that are in the shape of an L) that fits in the hole and finish tapping it through.
5. Put in the new pin & Line the hinges back up to (This should be really easy if you outlined it as described in Derocha's example.
 






Plastic striker bushing

I did the hinge pin replacement last weekend with my brothers help. Thanks to all who have contributed to those threads.

While the door closed without my having to lift it up, I didn't like the sound it made. Read a thread where the plastic striker bushing was mentioned. Noticed I didn't have one on the drivers door but all other doors had one. I didn't want to spend the $5.00 it was mentioned "Help" wants for one so I looked around and found that a 13/16" long piece of 1/2" diameter PEX, that I had left over from a plumbing job, works great. Don't know how long it will last but it's cheap enough.

Now I have to replace the interior door pull.
 






I finally replaced the hinge pins on my '91 Navajo... using common tools.

I lowered the window and supported the door with wood shims on two jackstands, and an 8' ladder to straddle to door with a set of tie-down straps to provide overhead support to each side in a V to the door handle, balancing the tension.

I started with the top hinge, using an electric drill with as basic metal grinding bit to eat through most of the top rivet until it was ready for a few taps with a hammer and chisel to remove.
Then, I used a nail set to punch out the pin. Then, I loosened the 13mm bolts to remove the hinge so I could punch out the bushings, again using a nail set and hammer. Replacement was simple and quick, and I was on to the lower hinge...

With the top finished, the bottom hinge was easier with better access, and when it was time to remove the 13mm bolts, after the initial torque, the ladder V support worked so well that the bolts were removeable by hand, and the door didn't move a millimeter... pin replacement was a breeze, and there was virtually no anti-seize, lube, or door adjustment necessary.

Thanks to DeRocha for the tips and inspiration to take this on, and hopefully my improvisation for a few alternate methods helps others as well.
 



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Sagging door repair tips.

Tip #1: be sure to install the bushings as described earlier. I installed them from the inside of the hinge and they fell out a year later. The job was much easier to do the 2nd time around. Tip #2: I got the parts from Amazon. They usually have everything I need for my Explorer (and everything else) with no sales tax, quick free shipping, and I don't have to drive to the auto parts store. :thumbsup:
 






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