Door Hinge Replacement - Remove Fender or Not?

[FrankC]

Hello.

Searched the forum, but could not find a definitive answer on this question.

I started taking care of deferred maintenance on my 1971 Cheyenne SWB. I have stripped my doors out to replace vent window rubber, felts, door relay's. etc.

The original hinges will need to be rebuilt or replaced. I have not pulled the doors yet to replace them, as it looked pretty tight where the hinges went into the sill on the cab.

I can mark the door side of the hinge (or drill a 3/16 hole for alignment). However, with the fenders on - it looks difficult (but doable) to remove the hinge from the sill, let alone align the door.

I think I could loosen the two upper bolts on the fender by the cowl and the lower bolt to give me enough room. But I thought this would be fine for taking it off - but what about aligning the door?

My question - should the fender or the front clip come off to do this properly? Or can I just take my time and mark what I can, remove the door and rehang/adjust with the fender on?

Thanks and apologies if this has been answered before.

[makman1297]

If you are rebuilding the hinges you should be able to do it on the truck, just remove your door. I rebuilt the ones on my 77 with the hinges attached to the truck, just pulled the door, it was actually pretty easy.

[sameyrasmea72]

Originally Posted by makman1297

If you are rebuilding the hinges you should be able to do it on the truck, just remove your door. I rebuilt the ones on my 77 with the hinges attached to the truck, just pulled the door, it was actually pretty easy.

That's a very good idea!!!!!

[DavTay]

Originally Posted by makman1297

If you are rebuilding the hinges you should be able to do it on the truck, just remove your door. I rebuilt the ones on my 77 with the hinges attached to the truck, just pulled the door, it was actually pretty easy.

Do you have a source for the hinge pins and bushings? Part #?

Thanks

[makman1297]

LMC sells them, you should be able to get them at the help section of your local auto parts store.

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cb/full.aspx?Page=17

38-6560 DOOR HINGE PIN KIT 2 REQ 9.95 $19.90

[DavTay]

Originally Posted by makman1297

LMC sells them, you should be able to get them at the help section of your local auto parts store.

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cb/full.aspx?Page=17

38-6560 DOOR HINGE PIN KIT 2 REQ 9.95 $19.90

I used the ones from the Help section on my sons Ranger, worked great.

Like a new door to him.

[FrankC]

Thanks guys for the reply on rebuilding the existing hinges.

However, I will be replacing the hinges with new repro ones. So it sounds as though I can remove the door, then the hinge on the sill w/o a problem.

Correct?

[Shane]

if you're changing out the entire hinge then I would suggest removing the fender because you're gonna need access to the bolts to be able to adjust the hinge once the door is reinstalled.

if you are just replacing pins & bushings, then no you shouldn't need to remove the fender.

[Frank71]

I have a body man who lives next door who has the proper wrenches for this job. When I replaced my hinges he came over and it took only a few minutes to adjust the hinge/door. The box wrench he has more bends than I could count, but it sure did the job.

[68gmsee]

Originally Posted by Shane

if you're changing out the entire hinge then I would suggest removing the fender because you're gonna need access to the bolts to be able to adjust the hinge once the door is reinstalled.

if you are just replacing pins & bushings, then no you shouldn't need to remove the fender.

If you do remove the hinge use the "body man's" trick of drilling a small hole into the hinge before removing it to align it back up. Saw a pic of someone doing it once. Not sure where the site is that shows the how to.