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How To Rebuild Door Hinges
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Left unchecked, minor inconveniences will usually become major problems in a short amount of time. Such is the case with door hinges. Imagine how many times we open and close our car doors. Because they swing so easily, we tend to forget just how heavy a door is. Loaded with glass and regulators, car doors can approach 100 pounds, and that entire load is carried by two pins in the hinges. Even the best of them will wear out, and when they do, the door is misaligned at best—or won't close at all. Such was the case with this 1999 Suburban we use from time to time as a tow vehicle. The driver-side door hinges were so badly worn, the door would no longer close. We actually toured a few local junkyards looking for replacement hinge parts, but ultimately decided to replace the bushings and pins with new parts from our local Chevrolet dealership. The owner of this Suburban got quotes from body shops that ranged between $250 and $500 to repair the hinges. We rebuilt both front hinges in an afternoon and spent next to nothing on parts. It's nice to come out money ahead.Get more news about Door Hinge Hl017,you can vist our website!
In this close-up of the top of the door, it's clear how much the door is sagging. The top edge of the door should be flush with the roof and the side should be square with the leading edge of the back door. The owner of this suburban was able to rock the back of the door up and down through about a 20-degree arc.
The work is straightforward: remove the retaining clips from the hinge pins and drive them out of the hinge with a punch. Access is limited, however, so it's good to have a variety punches to use in differing lengths. Several autobody supply companies sell a dedicated punch for this type of work. Search Google for a Steck door-hinge tool to see what it looks like and where to buy it. We were able to get by with just an assortment of regular punches. We had to cut one of the pins in half to remove it because someone had put a really sloppy weld at the top in place of the retaining clip.
Of course, you will need to support the door somehow. We used this Door and Bumper Dolly available from Auto Body Toolmart (PN 1415, $234). It fully supports the door, so we were able to remove both the upper and lower hinge pins at once. The dolly's crank raises and lowers the door in small increments and the base tilts, which allows for the right amount of wiggling to get all the openings in the hinges aligned when reinstalling the pins.
Using the Door and Bumper Dolly was much safer and more convenient than trying to support the door with floor jacks, which have no provisions to hold the door upright. Even with the dolly, it's very helpful to have a helper (with hands, not paws) wrestle the door back into position. Another option would be to lift the door with a strap on an engine hoist.
With the hinge pins removed, use a punch to drive the old bushings out. Comparing the two, you can see how the old bushings were worn to an egg-shaped opening, which allows the doors to sag.