Door Hinge Bolt Holes Stripped!
 

Hi, my lower door hinge bolt holes in the lower A pillar have stripped out. Has this happened to you? How do you fix it. It needs to be a quick repair!Thanks.

Re: Door Hinge Bolt Holes Stripped!
 

retap with a slightly larger bolt size would be my first thought. metric prehaps?

Re: Door Hinge Bolt Holes Stripped!
 

You could also use a heli-coil.They are a device that looks almost like a spring.The ho;e ps drilled to a larger size then the heli-coil is screwed in with loctite on it.There is a small wire across the bottom of the heli-coil called a tang.After the heli-coil is screwed in the tang is broken off and the bolt will then thread into the hole like normal.

Re: Door Hinge Bolt Holes Stripped!
 

roj2323, I went and tried to retap the whole first and figured if that didn't work I would go to a different size. So I went and tryed to run a 3/8- fine thread tap thru it. The tabe felt like it was rethreading wich I thought great. Until I backed the tap out. The hole had removed the groves off the tapp! So I said fine. I went and grabbed a 3/8-16 bolt and stuck it in the hole. It was a little tight at first but with a little persuasian I got that to thread in the hole. Did the same thing in the other holes and it worked.:) After going thru all this it brings the question of why did gm use fine threaded bolts? Every time I dill with fine threadded bolts that have to be lossened and tightened repeatedly they stripp out. Why didn't gm use the coarse thread so it would have a less chance of stripping. Sorry for the long reply but I just had to vent some. Thanks guys for all the help. Hope this thread helps others to. thanks. Aaron

Re: Door Hinge Bolt Holes Stripped!
 

Fine threaded bolts have more surface area for friction holding. This way they don't tend to back out. That's why fine threads are used on flywheel, damper, rods, etc.

Re: Door Hinge Bolt Holes Stripped!
 

I second that!:agree:

Re: Door Hinge Bolt Holes Stripped!
 

Roger the two above posts.

Fine pitch threads are actually stronger than course pitch threads also due to the surface area.