Door Hinge

[walterd140]

OK. I have seen all the threads on replacing the pin in the door hinge. Now I get my shot at it. Seems the upper & lower driver door hinge bushings are shot. My question is which is easier.... remove the door from the hinge or remove the hinge from the body? Seems there are 2 bolts from the hinge to the door, 1 bolt from the hinge to the body. Mind you I already figured to get the hinge replacement (HELP PN 38410) & have to drill out the old hinge first. I only have a drill (dremill tool is not avalible), so.......

Walter

PS... supposed to be a balmy 20 this weekend, so I would like to get it done quickly as well

 

[JStrider]

i didnt do either... and it made it a good bit harder to get the tools in position and really reduced the amount of space I had to work

but i didnt have to mess around with disconnecting the wires or realligning the hinge to the body...

 

[Darrman]

You do not want to remove the door completly, just do one hinge at a time with a jack for support. Remove the top or bottom bolt at the door, depending on how the hinge pin is seated, and that will give you the access you need to grind em off with a dremel, which is what I did to do three of my hinges. The first time is tricky, but the next one will be easy. Oh, and you will need a long punch or screwdriver and a mini sledge will help.
I misread the part about the dremel, you using a drill is going to be tough, if possible.

 

[Tony H]

Like everyone stated. Throw a rag on a Floor jack and place it up under the middle of the door.

I did the top Hinge by rocking taking the Bolts out of the Door side. Loosen the Bottom hinge bolts so the door will slightly Rock away from the car. Then you can drill down on the Head of the Pin.

The bottom: Kinda the same but I took the hinge out of the car completely.
There was one bolt that was a real pain even with a 'U' joint socket.

But with the whole hinge in a Vise it was easy to do the Pin and Bushing swap.

My top one was real bad. Maybe do that one ( easiest to do ) and you can live with the lose bottom until Spring. You will want a large Torx socket to adjust the Striker and make that door close super nice after messing with the hinges.


P.S. There are two bolts from the Hinge to the Body. One faces out and the other faces in the car. behind the Kick panel. The top hinge is impossible to get to without pulling the Dash apart. The bottom is easier.

The Bushings: The Bushing should be pushed in from the top on the top part of the hinge and pushed up from the bottom on the bottom part of the Hinge. In other words, the Head of the Bushing should sit between the two Hinge Halves.

 

[JStrider]

one thing i did that i forgot to mention earlier... after thinning the tops of the pins a bit
you can get a chisel under the top and carefully shear off the top of the pin...

least i did that cuz my dremel was gimping out on me.... and i didnt want to go to the store for new brushes

 

[walterd140]

Thanks for the input. I did not know about the hidden bolt from the hinge to the body. Though it was just an alignment pin.
So it sounds like I am removing hinge from door. I will do as suggested & just do the top for now (working on the truck when it's 20 degrees outside is not fun).
You know... I do have a saws-all that I could use to cut the pin in the middle..... hmmmmm.

Thanks Again & I hope I have the courage to attempt it this weekend. If not then next week & I will post an update.
Walter

 

[walterd140]

Got this done yesterday with a few issues, so I thought I'd give a heads up to anyone who has to try this in the future.

Tools: Drill, 3/8" drill bit, hammer, screwdriver, visegrips, jack & wooden block (later went to a cooler), beer
Weather: New England 35 Degrees F, 20 - 25 MPH wind so it feels like 10 - 20

1st thing I found was balancing the door on the jack was tricky at best. I did the top first by drilling out the top of it with a 3/8". Took the top doorside bolts all the way out, loosened the bottoms. This jack balance trick is iffy at best, so I get the Colman cooler & balance the door on it. It was slightly lower then where the door normally is, so it allowed enough room to get into the top pin. Once the top of the pin was drilled out I noticed I did NOT have a punch. Fine, so I use the new pin to pop the old out. Everything is going too smooth I think. Take the doorside hinge outed the top one first & stare at the brass bushings. Used the screwdriver & hammer to tap them out, then visegrips to start the new ones. I squeezed the grips enough to start them, not crush them all the way in. Trick is to start them so they are even. Finished up the new ones with the hammer & tapped in flush.

Bolt the top back onto the door & open the first beer. Total time for top pin was less then 20 minutes.

So I'm thinking I'm home free. Door works ok, but has a big alignment problem. Seems to sag still, but now when closed. I check the play in the door & find the bottom one is too far gone to ignore it. Seeing how I had everything out already, I figure I might as well go after the bottom next.

Unbolt the bottom hinge from the door, loosen the top. Can't get the drill in from the top or bottom (need to drill out the bottom this time). Called my brother up & finished the 1st beer. He shows up to try to hold the door out of my way so I can get the drill in. Kind of get enough room to start drilling, but it's going at an angle. So in all it is not working too well. We decide to remove the door completely by removing the top door bolts. 30 seconds later the drill is through the bottom. Old bushings out & new ones in faster then the top due to the experience of the top ones.
Total time for bottom one: about 45 minutes, 1 beer.

So in closing, it is not too bad. Took longer to figure out the door / jack balance thing then to do the whole job.

Thanks all for the help, now on to the wife's Pontiac alternator
Walter

 

[ma96782]

Now, that you're finished and IF you had to do the other side:

Would you say that taking the door off, to begin with, MIGHT be easier?? Was putting it back together and getting the alignment difficult?? And, would you say that doing both (tops and bottom) hinges should be planned on from the start??

Aloha, Mark

 

[walterd140]

Yes Mark, you are correct.
1. Taking the door off completely from the start would have saved time. If you only have a drill, this is the only way you get enough clearance to reach the bottom pin. Although if I had a 12" long bit I might have been able to do with the space given to me with the bottom unbolted & top loosened.
2. Alignment was not too bad. I would recommend marking the hinge / door 1st (I relied on the paint / no paint mark on the door. With some peratrating oil sprayed in the area it was hard to see what was paint & what was oil). Maybe some masking tape or other non-permanent method. Could even scribe the hinge, but why expose metal when you don't have to?
3. If the top pin is gone, the bottom is not too far behind. So while everything is out you may as well consider doing both at 1 time.
4. An extra set of hands helps greatly in holding the door up while you spend time getting the old pins out. The wife laughed her head off watching me balance the door while trying to drill upside down (that was before I called my brother).

Walter

 

[phuct]

When I got door sag in my '94, I added 2 washers on the bottom bolt. This caused the door to be pushed back up to its original place and only cost me $0.15 If the door is sagging from the bottom bolt its worth it to try. So far its been about 9 months, no problems at all and shuts better than it ever did!

 

[walterd140]

I thought of that too Phuct, but I feel it fixes the situation, not solve the problem. I try not to do anything half-way. My old '77 F100 was done like this by it's previous owner & making repairs were a pain at best. Wire duct-taped instead of properly spliced.... Stop sign bolted to the rusted out cab floor instead of taking out the old & putting in new... that kind of stuff. I plan on keeping this little mule of mine for another 100,000 miles, & since I'm the wrench of the house it's only easier on me.
Walter

 

[ma96782]

Walterd 140,

Thanks...for your advice and wisdom on this door hinge process.

Aloha, Mark

 

[phuct]

I thought of that too Phuct, but I feel it fixes the situation, not solve the problem. I try not to do anything half-way. My old '77 F100 was done like this by it's previous owner & making repairs were a pain at best. Wire duct-taped instead of properly spliced.... Stop sign bolted to the rusted out cab floor instead of taking out the old & putting in new... that kind of stuff. I plan on keeping this little mule of mine for another 100,000 miles, & since I'm the wrench of the house it's only easier on me.
Walter

haha I hear ya.. but look at my custom title. that's why it says Poor Explorer.

 

[walterd140]

Got ya Phuct