door hinge help
door hinge help
Hello all. I have put the doors back on the car after they had been off for years. When I did that the front door is really hard to open and once open is super hard to close. I figure it needs the hinge part that holds the door open to be serviced/replaced. I cant figure how to get the hinge apart. How do I do that
Re: door hinge help
I would take the door back off and see which hinge is giving you trouble , maybe try lubing it up while the door is off ?
When you're faced with an unpleasant task that you really don't want to do, sometimes you just have to dig deep down inside and somehow find the patience to wait for someone else to do it for you.
Foundation member #61 of FB/EK Holden club of W.A.
Foundation member #61 of FB/EK Holden club of W.A.
Re: door hinge help
So I'm assuming that the door doesn't swing freely. Does it make all the classic "creaky door" sounds?
One thing that can cause the trouble is the hold-open springs: they often break, and the remaining bit of the spring gets in the way of the hinge tongue.
Before you remove the door hinges, mark the hinge bracket and tongue for their side and position, for example, driver's upper, and so on. It's a world of pain if you mix them up. There are two bolts at the front of the hinge, which you have to remove from inside the front guards; and two more bolts at the rear.
At the front of the hinge assembly is a pivot pin. It looks like a big nail. Swing the hinge tongue with your hand and watch what the pivot pin does. If the pivot pin turns with the hinge tongue, it'll take a little extra work.
Drive the pivot pin out with a hammer and pin punch. You can then remove the hinge tongue from the bracket, although you might need to lever the hold-open springs away to do it. The hinge tongue has two bronze bushes, one at the top, one at the bottom. They can be replaced. If the hold-open springs are broken, drill or grind out the rivets and remove the springs.
Rare Spares sell a front door hinge kit with the pin, bushes, hold-open springs and rivets.
Reassembly is the opposite of disassembly, but pack the hole where the pin goes through the tongue full of grease. Put a small socket under the hinge pin hole on the bracket, and drive the pin into position with a hammer. If the pin turned with the tongue before, it'll need a small weld to hold it in place.
Rob
One thing that can cause the trouble is the hold-open springs: they often break, and the remaining bit of the spring gets in the way of the hinge tongue.
Before you remove the door hinges, mark the hinge bracket and tongue for their side and position, for example, driver's upper, and so on. It's a world of pain if you mix them up. There are two bolts at the front of the hinge, which you have to remove from inside the front guards; and two more bolts at the rear.
At the front of the hinge assembly is a pivot pin. It looks like a big nail. Swing the hinge tongue with your hand and watch what the pivot pin does. If the pivot pin turns with the hinge tongue, it'll take a little extra work.
Drive the pivot pin out with a hammer and pin punch. You can then remove the hinge tongue from the bracket, although you might need to lever the hold-open springs away to do it. The hinge tongue has two bronze bushes, one at the top, one at the bottom. They can be replaced. If the hold-open springs are broken, drill or grind out the rivets and remove the springs.
Rare Spares sell a front door hinge kit with the pin, bushes, hold-open springs and rivets.
Reassembly is the opposite of disassembly, but pack the hole where the pin goes through the tongue full of grease. Put a small socket under the hinge pin hole on the bracket, and drive the pin into position with a hammer. If the pin turned with the tongue before, it'll need a small weld to hold it in place.
Rob
Re: door hinge help
thank you very much. I will do the last one as it is really difficult to open. I couldn't figure out how to separate them but the hammer and pin punch make sense now