aronhk_md
02-09-2011, 11:18 AM
ok, maybe this topic has been addressed before...if so I couldnt find anything good on it, just a person here or there that says it can be done. I just did it, so I'll share my method. It is the half of the door hinge attached to the BODY that has the bushings that need replacing, so thats what we are trying to remove. By keeping the door closed and latched we can attempt to keep alignment of the door. If its not perfect, it will still be as close as you can get and only need minor adjustment after. Adjusting these doors can be HELL otherwise, and the usual method I have seen recommended is removing the door but marking where the hinges were to try getting them back to the original spot. Ugggghhh!!! The two reasons I didnt want to remove the door were 1) the weight of the damn thing, and I usually work alone. 2) realigning the door, even if NOT working alone is a BEAR.
If your door alignment has been messed with before this can STILL work, as long as your door is aligned when it is SHUT.....in other words your striker hasnt been fooled with or is badly damaged.
NOTE: FENDER MUST BE REMOVED TO ATTEMPT MY METHOD. YOU MUST USE EYE PROTECTION WHEN CUTTING THE PIN, OR AROUND THE SPRING WHEN ITS UNDER TENSION. ESPECIALLY AT THE VERY END WHEN PRYING THE SPRING TO ONE SIDE SLIGHTLY TO INSERT THE NEW PIN. WEAR GLOVES AT THIS POINT TOO......THE POTENTIAL TO HURT YOURSELF IS THERE.
The idea here is to remove the top hinge, repair it, re-install and then do the same for the bottom hinge. Never removing the door.
Ok, started out with a piece of 2x4, a 4 inch or so long carriage bolt (any type of bolt could be used), a nut and a washer. There is a spring on the top door hinge only, and this is the problem child......how to remove it without hurting oneself or the car? First cut a slot in the head of your bolt. Make sure it is deep enough to fit over the spring arm on the hinge. I used a 4.5" angle grinder with a metal cutting blade for this. If you clamped it down you could probably use a sawzall or even a hacksaw if you had to.
Next drill a hole in the edge (side) of your 2x4 piece. The hole you drill will be just large enough to slip your bolt into. Make it deep. put the nut on the bolt and thread it most of the way up, then put the washer. Washer will sit between the nut and your wood.
Now place this assembly between the door spring and the metal former brace thats part of your firewall. Adjust the nut outward by hand until the slot you cut in the head of your bolt rests firmly against the arm holding the spring. I placed it as far toward the body as I reasonably could so it wouldnt potentially slip off the end of the arm. Now, using a wrench you can open up the space by spinning the nut counter clockwise until the bolt head visibly moves the spring arm in....compressing the spring. Do this until you can reach back and rotate the guide roller (which normally rolls up and down the spring arm. If this will turn by hand you have removed the spring tension from it. If it doesnt rotate by hand try compressing the spring a bit more with your device.
Now that spring tension has been removed, cut your hinge pin with a dremel. If you have nice paint I'd recommend putting several layers of tape and maybe even cardboard along your door edge to protect it. Sometimes the dremel blade grabs and jolts the dremel against the door. IGNORE how I cut the pin in the pics. After that first cut I ended up cutting the pin twice more.....first up as close to the top as I could get, and then at the bottom as close as I could get. Reason? When I tried to drive out the pin from each end after cutting in the middle it hit the spring underneath, and the door skin on the top. Top has to be driven upwards and bottom driven down with a screwdriver or punch, so if they are short they will clear these obstacles. Later to re-install a pin we'll need to pry the spring sideways a bit.
Once the pin is removed, MARK your hinge half attached to the body for position. You can see I used tape. Some say to use paint. These pieces have lots of adjustment, so you want to mark it or you wont get it back where its supposed to go. If your car has never been adjusted HOPEFULLY your alignment will be perfect when it goes back together. Either way, it should be close.
Now that that portion of the hinge is removed, it can be taken to your work area and the bushings popped out and new ones put in. If the hole where the bushing goes is in ANY way elongated or not truly round at that point......use an OVERSIZE bushing, drill the hole to the correct TIGHT oversize for the bushing, and then tap the bushings into place. The door hinge pin kits from NAPA have both a regular bushing and an oversize for each end of the pin. If the hole was in ANY way elongated and you don’t re-drill it your new bushing will fail quickly.
With one half of the hinge removed you CAN now ease the tension off your spring with your device, remove it, and remove the other half of the hinge IF YOU NEED TO. If you don’t, just leave it there…its one less thing to get mis-aligned putting back. Remember to mark its position as well so it can go back exactly as it came out if you do.
The hard part is that during re-assembly the spring is going to have to be CAREFULLY pried to the outside to slip the pin back into the holes from the bottom as you put your assembly back together. If you had an idea to skip the pin in from the top it isn’t going to happen…..door skin is in the way, and really its SUPPOSED to be inserted from the bottom. At this point you don’t want to have your body hinge half attached to your body yet…..just leave it free floating to help you get the pin back in. Remember to grease your pin, unless you are one of those that believes it will then collect dirt and make your bushing fail. I personally believe the only way it will collect sand and dirt that way is if your favorite firebird/trans am also doubles as your dune buggy or sand rail, so I would grease it.
Also don’t forget to insert the pin cap if your kit came with one, or using a chisel deform the end of the pin so it cant slip back out.
The bottom hinge is easy by comparison....no spring. If you choose to you can remove the whole thig as one piece after marking its position. To do so you need an offset wrench to get the one bolt on the door side. Otherwise just remove the pin first and take out the body side only if you want and re-bushing it.
As a side note……I will be removing some material from my inner door skin….swiss-cheesing as the racers do to lighten their cars. These doors are HEAVY, and its one reason the bushings failed on them after only a few years. Lighten it up a bit and the bushings will last longer. Guess I’ll see how much is feasible to remove.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/02/CIMG1600-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/02/CIMG1601-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/02/CIMG1602-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/02/CIMG1603-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/02/CIMG1604-1.jpg[/size]
If your door alignment has been messed with before this can STILL work, as long as your door is aligned when it is SHUT.....in other words your striker hasnt been fooled with or is badly damaged.
NOTE: FENDER MUST BE REMOVED TO ATTEMPT MY METHOD. YOU MUST USE EYE PROTECTION WHEN CUTTING THE PIN, OR AROUND THE SPRING WHEN ITS UNDER TENSION. ESPECIALLY AT THE VERY END WHEN PRYING THE SPRING TO ONE SIDE SLIGHTLY TO INSERT THE NEW PIN. WEAR GLOVES AT THIS POINT TOO......THE POTENTIAL TO HURT YOURSELF IS THERE.
The idea here is to remove the top hinge, repair it, re-install and then do the same for the bottom hinge. Never removing the door.
Ok, started out with a piece of 2x4, a 4 inch or so long carriage bolt (any type of bolt could be used), a nut and a washer. There is a spring on the top door hinge only, and this is the problem child......how to remove it without hurting oneself or the car? First cut a slot in the head of your bolt. Make sure it is deep enough to fit over the spring arm on the hinge. I used a 4.5" angle grinder with a metal cutting blade for this. If you clamped it down you could probably use a sawzall or even a hacksaw if you had to.
Next drill a hole in the edge (side) of your 2x4 piece. The hole you drill will be just large enough to slip your bolt into. Make it deep. put the nut on the bolt and thread it most of the way up, then put the washer. Washer will sit between the nut and your wood.
Now place this assembly between the door spring and the metal former brace thats part of your firewall. Adjust the nut outward by hand until the slot you cut in the head of your bolt rests firmly against the arm holding the spring. I placed it as far toward the body as I reasonably could so it wouldnt potentially slip off the end of the arm. Now, using a wrench you can open up the space by spinning the nut counter clockwise until the bolt head visibly moves the spring arm in....compressing the spring. Do this until you can reach back and rotate the guide roller (which normally rolls up and down the spring arm. If this will turn by hand you have removed the spring tension from it. If it doesnt rotate by hand try compressing the spring a bit more with your device.
Now that spring tension has been removed, cut your hinge pin with a dremel. If you have nice paint I'd recommend putting several layers of tape and maybe even cardboard along your door edge to protect it. Sometimes the dremel blade grabs and jolts the dremel against the door. IGNORE how I cut the pin in the pics. After that first cut I ended up cutting the pin twice more.....first up as close to the top as I could get, and then at the bottom as close as I could get. Reason? When I tried to drive out the pin from each end after cutting in the middle it hit the spring underneath, and the door skin on the top. Top has to be driven upwards and bottom driven down with a screwdriver or punch, so if they are short they will clear these obstacles. Later to re-install a pin we'll need to pry the spring sideways a bit.
Once the pin is removed, MARK your hinge half attached to the body for position. You can see I used tape. Some say to use paint. These pieces have lots of adjustment, so you want to mark it or you wont get it back where its supposed to go. If your car has never been adjusted HOPEFULLY your alignment will be perfect when it goes back together. Either way, it should be close.
Now that that portion of the hinge is removed, it can be taken to your work area and the bushings popped out and new ones put in. If the hole where the bushing goes is in ANY way elongated or not truly round at that point......use an OVERSIZE bushing, drill the hole to the correct TIGHT oversize for the bushing, and then tap the bushings into place. The door hinge pin kits from NAPA have both a regular bushing and an oversize for each end of the pin. If the hole was in ANY way elongated and you don’t re-drill it your new bushing will fail quickly.
With one half of the hinge removed you CAN now ease the tension off your spring with your device, remove it, and remove the other half of the hinge IF YOU NEED TO. If you don’t, just leave it there…its one less thing to get mis-aligned putting back. Remember to mark its position as well so it can go back exactly as it came out if you do.
The hard part is that during re-assembly the spring is going to have to be CAREFULLY pried to the outside to slip the pin back into the holes from the bottom as you put your assembly back together. If you had an idea to skip the pin in from the top it isn’t going to happen…..door skin is in the way, and really its SUPPOSED to be inserted from the bottom. At this point you don’t want to have your body hinge half attached to your body yet…..just leave it free floating to help you get the pin back in. Remember to grease your pin, unless you are one of those that believes it will then collect dirt and make your bushing fail. I personally believe the only way it will collect sand and dirt that way is if your favorite firebird/trans am also doubles as your dune buggy or sand rail, so I would grease it.
Also don’t forget to insert the pin cap if your kit came with one, or using a chisel deform the end of the pin so it cant slip back out.
The bottom hinge is easy by comparison....no spring. If you choose to you can remove the whole thig as one piece after marking its position. To do so you need an offset wrench to get the one bolt on the door side. Otherwise just remove the pin first and take out the body side only if you want and re-bushing it.
As a side note……I will be removing some material from my inner door skin….swiss-cheesing as the racers do to lighten their cars. These doors are HEAVY, and its one reason the bushings failed on them after only a few years. Lighten it up a bit and the bushings will last longer. Guess I’ll see how much is feasible to remove.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/02/CIMG1600-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/02/CIMG1601-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/02/CIMG1602-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/02/CIMG1603-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2011/02/CIMG1604-1.jpg[/size]