my drivers side door sags pretty bad...i bought a pin for the bottom hinge, but i heard for the upper hinge you have to buy the whole assembly. now..i found a pin and bushing kit for the upper hinges at hawks third gen, but i wanted to make sure first before i order the kit....is it possible for the hinge itself that is held together by the pin to wear, or do only the pins and bushings wear, because it looks pretty bad and i didn't want to buy the pin and bushing kit only to find out i needed the whole assembly,
thank you

 

It is almost always the bottom hinge that goes first, it is much smaller in diameter. Also, the bushings on my car actually broke and there was very little left of it, and it was eating away at the metal of the hinge, so I had to go to the junkyard to get the inner half of the hinge, but still didn't need to fix the upper hinge, it was OK.

The hinge outer halfs are welded to the door. If you have wear on the outer half, I suggest you JB weld the new bushing into it and leave the door closed for a day, otherwise you replace the door or chisel off the hinge and weld on another one (hopefully aligned perfectly), neither is really an appealing prospect.

Good luck

Troy
So Cal

 

I've had to use the JB Weld trick to hold in a lower hinge bushings on a customers car that was severely worn. I also sell that upper hinge repair kit, so I'm very familiar with it. You can test if the upper hinge needs to be repaired by opening the door and having someone raise the bottom of the door while you look at the hinge for movement. On t-top and convertible cars the door is part of strength of the chassis (hence the wedge block and metal plate that is installed in the upper part of the door opening).

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

thanks fellahs

 

on my old 85 ... i drilled the oval holes back circle took the dimensions of my pin and the drill bit to a local machine shop had them make two bushings. greased assembled and it worked like new. it cost like 10 bucks is all too. just what i did tho


spelling* lol

 

Hey if i do that test (moving the door up and down) and the top hinge actually does move, what do i need to fix that and how hard is it to fix? Is it something myself and a friend can do?

 

My doors moved up and down at least 3". Put in the new pin and bushings, never messed with the upper hinge, and it works like a charm. If you replace the lower pin get the door spring compressor tool instead of the bayling wire method. It's a handtool shaped in a "V" fulcrumed in the middle, kind of like a nut cracker. You put the spring between the two ends and then turn the middle bolt which compresses the spring. Works the first time every time....Theres a tech on the process.

 

You'll need either the TDS p/n 200370 Upper Hinge Repair Kit or the TDS p/n 201370 Greasable Upper Hinge Repair Kit. Both kits include the lower hinge pins and bushings and a pair of CNC machined upper hinge pins & bushings. You need one kit per door. You'll also need a GM door spring tool. I sell it as TDS p/n 301120 . Yes you can do the repair yourself. Here are the steps you need to follow using the repair kit I sell:

1. Support the door somehow (floor jack, engine hoist and nylon strap, sober friends, etc).
2. Using a compact die grinder (i.e. Dremel tool) Grind off the small end of the upper hinge pins where the factory has swaged them on.
3. Remove the lower hinge spring and hinge pin.
4. Tap out the old upper hinge pins; pull the door "slightly" away from the car body. And remove the old upper hinge bushings (and lower if you want to replace them also.
5. Install the new upper bushings. Move the door carefully back into position and install the upper hinge pins.
6. Reinstall the lower hinge pin and spring.
You're done! With practice you can do the about an hour, but I tell most people to plan it taking about 2-3 hours.

Now compare that to the "official" GM solution to the worn out upper door hinge:

1. Completely remove the door from the vehicle, (this means un-wiring all the electrical to the PDL's & PW's).
2. Scribe the location of the upper hinge where it attaches to the door.
3. Guess at the location of the welds. Then drill them out from the outside of the door with a ½" drill. A slight amount of weld may still retain the hinge to the panel. If so, drive a chisel between the panel and the hinge to separate the hinge from the panel.
4. Once the hinge has been removed. Locate the replacement hinge on the door. Now drill 4 entirely different holes to BOLT the new hinge to the door with a threaded reinforcing plate inside the door (before you bolt the new hinge on you will notice that the area where the hinge attaches to the door now looks like Swiss cheese).
5. The original hinge is attached to the body with three bolts, but the replacement hinge has only two. You must use a piece of paper and a pencil to poke a hole through the paper to locate the hole and transfer it to the new hinge (I'm not making this stuff up! This is the procedure outlined in 10-5-20 Doors of the GM service manual).
6. Reinstall the door back onto the car. If you have done anything wrong during this elaborate procedure. You'll know it!

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

86 IrocZ

Check out these pic of my upper hinge on my right door.

I hear people talking about upper hinge pins?
Whats up with that?
THis upper hinge doesnt have pins.
Can anyone post pics of the
upper hinge pins?

 

This pic is the lower hinge which has 2 pins.

 

o man that looks bad looks like youll need a new door..




j/k

it looks normal and you posted the pics you requested. those are the upper pins.

 

Those are pins on the upper hinge?
They dont look like pins.
What do they call those shorty pins?
so we have 2 different type pins on the upper hinge and
lower hinge. long and short a
hhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

75 dollars for the kit
for the upper hinge pins

How doyou remove those shorty pins?
With a short pin remover?
serious could I just pry them apart with a screwdriver
or pry bar?

 

Eh, i wouldnt try to use a screw driver to pry them off, you might hurt something else with it. try a zip grinder pad to try to cutt it off with a power tool.

 

Did you miss steps two and four where I previously detailed how to remove the upper hinge pins? Once the swaged head of the hinge pin is ground off, I use a long punch to drive it out.

You can gain more clearance when grinding by removing the large triangular-shaped piece of door weatherstrip. Unfortunately there is one hidden screw on that piece that is behind the inner door panel. It is a toss-up if removing the door trim to get that weatherstrip out. I prefer to do it because it makes grinding the head of the pin easier. It just adds extra time to the job is all. I also tape off the inner door area surrounding the door hinges with masking tape in case I slip with the Dremel tool. Just an extra step I take to make sure I don't accidently damage the adjacent paint.

Lon

 

Ionsal has it right, you guys can also search for the tech on both upper and lower pin removal/replacement. Been done a million times

 

Just ordered 2 kits and a spring tool from TDS .... $170.. $100 shy of a weeks paycheck ;(

 

I was thinking it probably would be easier
to do the job on the upper hinges if I took
the door completley off.

Also for 150 dollars One should be able to get a mint door
with hinges at the boneyard.

 

150$ there 30 were i live

 

30 dollars for a mint door ?
maybe for a rusted out door.

150 for a good door is not a bad deal ..
consider what new hinges alone are worth.
It cost 75 dollars to purchase new pins for the upper
hinges very expensive.

If u like to hagle and shop around for days..probably
one could get a decent door for a 100.

Where do you live?

 

I live in ny. theres a place near were i live all doors are 30$ i got a nice one for my 85 no rust for 30$.. they just dont last long in the yard is all. Hell a few weeks back i saw a 4th gen firebird parted out in less than an hour. 30$ a door 40$ rear hatch 120$ a motor 60$ a tranny. They have sales on saturdays like once a month were anthing you can fit in a wheelbarrel is 50 bucks.You see guys lay hoods on them and stack them skyhigh.you have to pull the stuff but hey its cheap cheap cheap and hard to get stuff before its gone. me and my buddys always are checking there shop were they drain all the fluids so we can get stuff as soon as it hits the yard.

 

double post

 

http://www.donsauto.com/html/price-list.htm