Door hinge rebuild

[8man]

I found the 4th hinge and now I'm starting the rebuild. I have them all apart, what a chore! I had to weld two of the little washers back into the base part of the bracket, their welds broke loos while taking the hinges apart. I had to use heat and PB and a BFH to get them apart. That brings me to my question.

I may have spread the base part of the hinge when driving the pin out.

So my question is how tight should the base fit to the arm? should it be tight, a little loose, or dose it even matter?

Thanks.

[mick53]

I wouldn't want any slop in them. There are some nice videos on youtube on these rebuilds.

[b-mac]

If your pins stay solid, it shouldn't matter. But inevitably, they will wear out. At the point where you have slop in the pins, that distance between the two parts of the hinge could matter some, but not much.
Still, it might be worth it to get them in a vice and get them pretty close to tight, without causing friction between the two surfaces.

BTW, my hinges were a b**** too. Wish I had just bought some. As straight as I tried to drill the hole (went with the larger aftermarket pins) I think I got it a little off. Thus, I've had to do a ton of trimming/wollering out the holes on the hinges, to get the doors to close correctly.

I also did a lot of moving my cab without the doors on...not recommended.

[8man]

Thanks guys.

I couldn't stand it so I did put them in a vice. They are not tight, but very little daylight shows when they are put together.

I have the pins, and need to drill the hinges so the pins fit. I watched the hinge rebuild done for The Filling Station, but he doesn't show the actual work, so I am guessing here.

I am thinking that I can use my vise on my drill press to hold the hinges while I drill the holes. Hopefully that will work.

[mr48chev]

Brothers You tube video that makes it look easier than you figure on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSvdCLdCGpY

[8man]

Thanks. It's funny, I just watched that one.

I wish someone would show drilling the pin hole in the AD hinge.

[OrrieG]

this is for AD trucks but TF is the same process.

https://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/d...ges/index.html

[8man]

Orrie, I was making it much more difficult to drill out the hinge pin hole. I think I can drill that. Also, thanks for the intro to Stovebolt. I hadn't been there before.

[cmayna]

Did mine 7-8 years ago. Not really that difficult, but having a drill press really makes life much easier.

[boulis54]

I’ve done a few other vehicle hinges along with doing mine to my 54. I’ve found usually if you start out small and keep going up in size with the drill bits that when you come to the edge of pin you can stop and then use a punch and hammer to knock out rest of pin. Which will keep the original locate. Mine were very rusted and seized up. Take your time and good luck

[MARTINSR]

Here is a "Basics of Basics" on the subject. https://www.hotrodders.com/forum/bas...es-125350.html

Brian

[8man]

Thanks Brian. I have that one printed off and wish I had seen it sooner. I had to figure out the hacksaw trick on my own. Luckily I had a spare hinge because I broke one trying to beat the pin out.

I hope to prime and drill the parts this weekend.

[65blackfleetside]

I rebuild my upper (No easy task getting it apart) . Bought the kit from filling station reassembled hinge but the top of the door needs to be pulled out 1/4" away from cab.
I have tried slotting the holes in door and the vertical hinge adjustment. I think this hinge was tweaked inward many years ago.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to bend an AD hinge?
I have a large pipe wrench but my vice is not anchored strong enough to pull that hard on.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by 65blackfleetside

I rebuild my upper (No easy task getting it apart) . Bought the kit from filling station reassembled hinge but the top of the door needs to be pulled out 1/4" away from cab.
I have tried slotting the holes in door and the vertical hinge adjustment. I think this hinge was tweaked inward many years ago.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to bend an AD hinge?
I have a large pipe wrench but my vice is not anchored strong enough to pull that hard on.

Can you post some photos of exactly how the door is fitting, far and near photos. A LOT Of time the top being out if often because the bottom is IN. Is it out at the front of the door or the rear of the door?

Brian

[NorCalGal]

Originally Posted by 65blackfleetside

I rebuild my upper (No easy task getting it apart) . Bought the kit from filling station reassembled hinge but the top of the door needs to be pulled out 1/4" away from cab.
I have tried slotting the holes in door and the vertical hinge adjustment. I think this hinge was tweaked inward many years ago.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to bend an AD hinge?
I have a large pipe wrench but my vice is not anchored strong enough to pull that hard on.

I know how, but the where is hard to tell without seeing it. I heated mine up with a torch til it glowed where I needed it to bend then used 2 large crescent wrenches to bend.

[65blackfleetside]

NorCAl Gal-Here are some picts of the problem. The upper door frame hits on the windshield pillar before the rest of the door can close. I am thinking top hinge it needs to be bent out? What do you all think?

[NorCalGal]

Looks like the lower cowl was replaced and positioned to far back causing it to hit the lower front edge of the door. If you flatten just the upper hinge and take some of the bend out it's going to suck the door in towards the steering wheel and drop the back of the door down causing more problems. Do you have room to slide the door towards the back of the cab without hitting the latch, it would fix the problem with the upper door frame hitting but would leave you with a larger gap at the front edge of the door which you could adjust by using some small filler rod and weld to the front edge of the door until you have a 3/16 or so gap even top to bottom.
Does this make any sense?

[65blackfleetside]

"Looks like the lower cowl was replaced and positioned to far back causing it to hit the lower front edge of the door. If you flatten just the upper hinge and take some of the bend out it's going to suck the door in towards the steering wheel and drop the back of the door down causing more problems. Do you have room to slide the door towards the back of the cab without hitting the latch, it would fix the problem with the upper door frame hitting but would leave you with a larger gap at the front edge of the door which you could adjust by using some small filler rod and weld to the front edge of the door until you have a 3/16 or so gap even top to bottom.
Does this make any sense?"

Unfortunately the door is slid back as far as it can go. If door goes back any further it hits the rear door jam. I even used my drimmel to elongate the door holes. I also tried adjusting the other set of hinge bolts. No Luck. I feel like the bottom is out the opposite way as in facing too far out which makes me think this hinge is torqued?

I saw where someone else bent the curved part of the hinge out an 1/8" of an inch with a large pipe wrench with hinge off and in a large vice- My vice is the weak part in that equation. I attempted this but vice is mounted to wood surface so If I pull any harder on it vice will come loose.

I guess I could put some heat on it?- but I don't want to mess up my newly rebuild hinge.

[MARTINSR]

Post a photo showing the rear door gap to the back of the cab too.

Brian

[vintovka]

Ditto on poor fit as shown above. I rebuilt my hinges on both side but the drivers is terrible. It was a replacement and from a 53 (instead of a 54). Going to pull door soon and bend hinges. Tired of seeing daylight at top and hearing wind noise all the time. Will try to post results.