47-55.1 Door hinge bolt question

[8man]

At the back of the hinge, there is an oblong hole that roughly lines up with a hole in the back of the A-pillar. A friend says that there should be a bolt in that hole.

Was there a bolt from the factory? I don't know how you would get one in given the kick panel covers it and you can't get to it.

If there wasn't a bolt, does anybody know what it was for?

Thanks

[8man]

No idea what the hole if for?

[mick53]

If you can post a picture I can look at mine.

[8man]

Looking inside the rider's upper hinge at the back you can see the oblong (up and down) hole. The hinge is open for this picture.
IMG_0511 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

Same hinge seen through the heater air inlet, and at the back you can see the hole.
IMG_0510 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

I had the hinge closed so you don't see light through the hole like you do when the hinge is open.

Thanks.

[paulspickupparts]

I have taken a lot of the 47-53 hinges over the years and just the three bolts on the face an no bolt on the back . Don't really have a good answer why . Maybe one engineer that designed the hinges did not communicate with engineer that designed the cab .

The 55-59 hinges also have a hole for the bolt on the top hinges and there is always a bolt found .

The 55-59 lowers have a welded nut on the hinge itself and the bolt comes in from the rear.

[joedoh]

I did a gmc that someone had tried taking the doors and hinges from in the past, they got the drivers door but they left the drivers hinges because they were bolted in. the hinges were unbolted except the 4th bolt

[dsraven]

putting a bolt back there stiffens the whole thing so why not? less issue with paint rub when door sags or the hinges "wear in". also less tension on the hinge pillar. some guys have had trouble "keeping" their initial door adjustment and found installing/using the extra bolt was what fixed the problem.

[8man]

Thanks everyone.

I'm going to think about it some more and see which way I go and I'll post up here.

[mick53]

Mine has the same hole. I didn't buy the truck new but I haven't taken the doors of in 40 years.

[layinrocker65]

Could have something to do with the factory assembly process or it was designed to have a bolt and then GM realized they can save $.02 for every truck that doesn’t use that bolt.