TREK

im sure this has been asked before and yes i did do a search. is it necessary to remove the door from the car to replace the lower hinge pin and bushings. car is a 91z.

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

No, but you could remove the fender & make it alot easier on yourself.

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

Yes. If you're replacing just the lower oin and bushings you need to un-bolt the upper hinge to pull the door far enough away to remove the lower bushings and install new ones.

Lon

TREK

thanks for the reply guys. i finally had a chance to sit down at home and do a search on it. and came up with the same answer as i got here. i guess ill take a good look at it and just do it one way or the other.

hotrod87camaro

its harder than it looks, getting the door lined back up and the bolts started is a pain in the @$$. i fixed mine a couple weeks ago. i don't think it was really worth the trouble but i'm glad its fixed. there was a detailed article about how to do it in Chevy High Performance about a month or so ago, thats what made me decide to do it. the article helped quite a bit, without it i probably wouldn't have know how to get to most of the bolts.

Jacobs454

Hey hotrod87camaro, what issue was that article in? I need to do that on both sides of the car, there creaking like crazy!

Jacobs454

One more thing, is it necessary to replace the upper one too, or is the lower one the only one that gets worn out? Where's the best place to buy the parts necessary to to the repair? Thanks!

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

You'll need to diagnose the condition of your upper and lower hinges to kniw the answer. It is a two man job to inspect it. Inspect the upper and lower hinge pins and bushings for movement while someone lifts and releases the door. If the upper hinge pins are moving in their bushings then yes, they too will need to be replaced. I sell the parts and tools you'll need to repair your door hinges.

The article was in the March 2006 issue of Chevy High Performance. I was present for part of the photo shoot. Andy needed to borrow my MAC Tools door alignment tool. FYI, the EZ-Store door alignment tool I sell is much nicer and a lot less expensive.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

Jacobs454

SWEEET! I'LL CHECK OUT YOUR SITE. THANKS A BUNCH.

TREK

i took a look at mine today finally. is the upper bushing on the lower hinge installed on the car half of the hinge or on the door half of the hinge?
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anybody know where they sell CHEVY HIGH PERFORMANCE magazine?

jcurrieirocz

when i did mine it was a pita but not too bad....
youll need a combo of wrenches and small socket sets....

what i did was take off the kick loosen the bolts there and the ones on the upper hinge also...
to do the final adjust it wasnt hard if you...

loosen all the bottom bolts up and all the top ones except one bolt on the top now have it kinda loose kinda not...now use this one bolt to adjust the front to back spaceing of the door...but lifting it easy so it can still piviot (when you test shut it)....if you can get the back to frt spaces fine like that with the door closed from inside (getting in thru the other door of cource) tighten up the lower hinge bolts from the inside...this will set the angle of the door fine as its shut right!...now slowly open the door (carefull not to move the semi tight top bolt) and tighten the rest of the top bolts with a wrench. this worked for both sides with me and didnt take that long and they shut like a new car now.

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

The bushing(s) go on the hinge thats mounted to the body.The pin goes in thru the top from the door side of the hinge.CHP..try 7-11 or any grocery store.

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

This has to be one of the easiest jobs I have had to tackle on my car. I know most say the uppers go bad but in most situations replacing the lower pin and bushings solves the problem (it did on my 85.) Remove the kick panel, remove the spring, place a jack under the door and lift it slightly, remove the fender well plastic, remove the pin retainer, remove the pin, remove the 3 bolts holding the lower hinge, one you will have to get from under the fender well ( no need to remove the fender) to get the hinge out I had to push on the door slightly but it comes out. After the hinge is out pop the bushings out, replace them, replace the hinge, install the pin, install the 3 bolts, install the compressed spring, install the kick panel and install the fender well plastic. Took me about 1/2 an hour, I might have missed a step or 2 so PM me if you need any help.

TREK

looks like i may be able to get away with replacing the lower bushing and the pin. what did you guy use to remove and reinstall the the spring its in the way of the pin.

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

Put a cloth over it and pry it up with a screw driver.

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

Well dont gasp! I used one of my hammers.Using the claw end(one of them anyway.I cut a small V-shaped notch on the flat end of one of the claws.I used that to hold the end of the spring from slipping off while trying to re-install the spring.

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

One more tip I learned the hard way, before you install the new pin remove the pin retainer and install it after the pin is in place. I hammered down the pin with the retainer on and broke the bushing.

TREK

does the spring need to be removed or can i just slide it out of the way then slide it back after the pin is in.

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

The spring has to be removed because it is compressed. You either need a spring compression tool or take it somewhere to have it compressed to re-install it.

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

The spring is under tension & will shoot out if you leave it in place.Plus its partly in the way.

RedLava

iTrader: (4)

My driver side door was sagging really bad so I replaced the pin and bushings, but the door still sags. Where and what would I need to get to help fix this problem.

TREK

someone suggested to have a buddy lift the door whille you inspect the upper and lower hinges and see if there is any play in any of the components.

Xophertony

you need to replace the upper pins if the lower one did not fix the problem. they are the hard ones. you will need a dremel tool or equivalent to get the job done.

TREK

thanks for the advise duke. ill let you guys know how it turns out.

RS1992

Are the 91-92 camaro's different? I was looking at mine last night and didnt notice lower pins, just uppers. Actually it had 2 upper pins, one of them had a roller on it.

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

They're the same, don't try and make the mistake I made also by swapping hinges from one car to yours, they won't work without modifications.

RS1992

I just need the pin and bushing kit. I have called 2 GM dealers and they are telling me that there only serviced with the hinge. I wonder if the 90's chevy truck pins were the same?

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

The pins and bushings can be bought at auto zone or pep boys, they are in the red HELP section and the number is 38407.

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

You can also get the lower hinge pin and bushings at Top-Down Solutions along with the GM door spring tool. The lower hinge repair kit is TDS 201080, $6.75. Just click the TDS banner ad at the top of this page.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

RS1992

Ok, O'reilly's sent me 38402 for some reason. My friend at work has the 38407 in his tool box for his 88 chevy pickup. Are you positive on that number?

TREK

anybody know where i can pickup a GM door spring tool locally. just checked around with the mechanics at my job and nobody i asked has one. what can you expect from toyota techs and i would hate to wait a week or so through mail order.

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

I live in a rural area and I went to the local garage and they didn't have a spring compressor, so being the person I am I improvised. I have an old 8 inch c-clamp and I used a uni bit to drill out 2 holes on each end where it clamps. The actual clamp ends are the same size as the spring so I made sure to drill a space just big enough to fit a piece of bailing wire through. It works like a charm but took me 4 tries before I got it right, the bailing wire has to be tightened the same on both sides or it slips. This worked for me and you never know, they say necessity is the mother of invention.
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I am positive,
The computer has it backwards, I just replaced my passenger side today and that is what I bought at Pep Boys for $4.99.

jamon8

iTrader: (3)

I read through all of this and Iron duke is the best source. I on the other hand did not have to remove inner fender.

remove the spring.
remove the pin- if it is worn out it should come out easy
jack the door up with a 2x4 under it all the way!
remove kick panel remove 2 15mm bolts
remove third bolt with a ratchet wrench.
take the hinge half out and install new bushings(mine needed one oversized bushing so make sure that you get at least one and return if unnessesary)
put hinge back in w/ bolts
let door down untill pin clears first bushing.
because of the clip in the pin you will have to tap on it with a small hammer
align pin with second bushing and push the rest of the way.
My buddy is a painter and said he could get the pin in with a pry bar and got frustrated quickly. some kind of tool is nessesary

Klortho

You can get the spring compressor from Lon at Top-Down Solutions. That's about the only way to really get the spring back in without destroying the paint, or your fingers/hands if it comes shooting back out at you.

TRSCobra

I compressed the spring in a vice until there was just enough room to slip some zip ties through. Three strong zip ties did the trick, you just have to loosen the vice really slowly. Once the spring was in place, I cut the one tie, and the rest snapped. Took all of 5 minutes.

82 Iron Duke

iTrader: (21)

Yeah I have been tying the spring only in two places with bailing wire and I can't get the second wire cut Zip ties break on me right away so I may have to come up with another solution.

TRSCobra

Depends on the quality of the ties you use. I must have got some good ones. really thick white ones.

TREK

just did mine this past weekend. do yourself a favor and buy the spring tool. after a secound try the spring went right in. took me about 30 minutes to do. thanks to all for the good advise.