Ok, so my doors are pretty messed up. They hang low and scrape on the grip on the GFX a fair bit. So I need to re-hang them I tried all the search terms I could think of, and got no help. Can anyone tell me how this is done?

 

TDS and some other sell a hinge repair kit. Try a search under hinge and repair in the interior/body section. Lot's of stuff.

 

Ok, thanks. Is that all it is? Bad hinges?

 

With the door open, lift up on the end. You'll be able to feel the play in the hinges.

 

I have replaced the door bushings twice on two cars. The doors are important because when closed they are part of the structural integrity of the car. Anyway, I purchased the kit from Hawks that has the pins with grease fittings. The problem is handling a heavy door by yourself. By the way, I had tried to get a shop to do this and got estimates that were all over the place.

First, you will have to grind the bottom of the pins where they go through on the outside, not inside of the top hinge. Its easy to figure out where. I used a dremel tool and wore out some grinding stones. There is a pin in the bottom hinge at the very bottom of the door and you can know that out easy. Its the two pins at the top of the door that are hard and they take all the weight.

I did not have a hoist to hold the door. Do not use a floor jack! I took a medium size aluminum ladder and straddled the door with it with door open. I put some thick towels where the door opens into the front fender to keep from scratching something when I got the door lose. I had purchased two of those strap come-alongs from Home Depot for 9 dollars each. They each can hold 300 pounds. I covered the door with more towels and used two straps to wrap around the door twice on each end and connected the straps the the ladder. I now have my hoist in place and I can carefully cinch up the load on the straps. They have a ratchet built in. By wrapping the straps around the door twice, the door will stay in position when it comes free from the car and not slide around.

After that, its a lot of grinding to get those two top pins out of the top hinge assemply. On my 91 TA, the bushings were mostly gone when I got the door lose. I did not disconnect any wiring or remove the door panel. I think I moved the rubber wheatherstrip temporarily at the top of the door. When I finally knocked the pins out, I bumped the ladder back a little at a time until the dor was free of the carr, with the wiring still connected. It looked weird.

You have to carefully clean the old hinge and you will have to use some fine sand paper to work the busing into the hinge. Don't force. They claim their is .001" to play with. Not much when working with a heavy door. Anyway, you will have to be patient putting the pins in the bushings. The ladder idea really helps because you can carefully bump the ladder back towards the car.

This is hard work, mainly to grind out the pins. Take your time and take breaks. The door is not going anywhere with the ladder holding it. When I finshed this, I was amazed how the rattle noises when down, just from that and the car felt more solid driving.

Good luck...

 

Yes I sell the hinge repair kits and many of the tools that help make the job go smoother. I use a special door hanging tool that is available from Home Depot. I have heard of using a engine hoist and nylon strap. I hadn't heard of using a ladder to help steady the door while you lift it with a floor jack. The only problem I see with that is sequence that you do the job. You have to remove the inner door trim to remove a hidden screw holding on the large traingular hunk of rubber door insulation at the top. That allows you more access to grind the head of the old rivet with a Dremel tool. So just remember to remove that door trim before you put the ladder and towels in place and you'll be fine. The ladder or nylon strap just allow you to do it as a solo job. You could have a friend steady the door for you on the floor jack as you do the job.

Good luck,

Lon

 

You are right about the moulding and the screw. On the first door I did, the panel was off the door because a new one was being made. On my 91 GTA, I removed the top screw and literally snap the moulding off the second screw because I am replacing the moulding and door panel shortly. I just did not want to remove it at that time. However, the old moulding has stayed in place with the one screw.

Regarding the floor jack, NEVER, unless you want to ruin a door. These doors are heavy and unwieldy.

The ladder idea was really great and stable and you have a portable A-Frame. Just about everyone has a ladder. If someone really wants some picks, I might recreate the setup.

Good luck.....

 

If you want I can rebuild the hinges for much cheaper and easier because we've all the tools. Let me know, I can send you pics of the process or I can just send you the upper bushings, etc because we have plenty lying around but thats maybe not the reason for the sagging.

 

By the way we just did it a couple days ago and we put the hinge half on, just sat the end of the door on a padded bottle jack, slipped the pin in while someone held up the other side. From there its pretty easy except for installing the spring. We made a scary spring compressor but it works very nicely is setting it in there.

 

Hm, well I looked at the doors today and they didnt move up or down much at all. Yet they still seem to sit low, so I dont know. I am a little confused. The car was in an accident once, but that was head on, and it was fixed. Far as I know, it wasnt bad enough to mess up the doors, so I am out of ideas.

 

heres ann odd question my doors are also scrapping the hell out of the gfx and sags pretty far what you i was to lift the door up and bend the hinges back to how they should be?????

 

If the play is in the hinges, you'll need to the hinge repair kit. If there is no play in the hinges the door may simply need to be aligned and a body shop can do this for you pretty cheaply. You can always take it by a body shop and get an estimate which should tell you what you need if you're unsure.

 

The door can bend their hinges just from the weight. It is a long heavy door, cantilevered that far out it can bend the higover time.

This can be solved easily with the EZ-Store door algnment tool I sell on my web site.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

Solved? Can you elaborate? As far as I saw, all that tool did was hold it at the right height when you were installing it. But I know very little about doors, never worked on 'em before...

 

No, that isn't how the tool works. It is used to bend the door hinges as needed to correct the sag that it developed with time due to gravity.

F-Body doors are long and very heavy. With time gravity will cause the door hinges to bend and sag. The door will then hang up on the door striker bolt as you open the door and rub on the ground effects.

Here's how the tool is used:

1. Insert the reversible latch pin for the car being repaired.

2. Connect the E-Z Store Door Aignment Tool to the door latch.

3. Place a 3/4" socket and your breaker bar onto the hex on the E-Z Store Tool (the breaker bar will be used for leverage so you can bend the hinge).

4. Secure the open end of the E-Z Store Tool against the latch pin or loop on the door frame.

5. Raise or lower the breaker to adjust the door and bend the hinge back to it's original position.

6. Remove the tool and test the alignment of the door latch to striker bolt. Repeat the steps above until you've achieved proper alignment.

You'll have the door alignment corrected in just a few minutes using the tool. It is important to first test the condition of your door hinge bushings, since that can also cause the door to sag. With the door open, grab hold of the bottom of the door and lift. If you have movement in the hinge it is time to repair the door hinges. Repair the door hinges first, then align the door using this tool if necessary. I hope this answers the question.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

 

Yup, that answers them. I tried lifting the door, and I got almost no play. I will also have to visually inspect the hinges. Hopefully all I will need is the alignment tool, as I cant afford the repair kit at this time. I guess I can get the tool and see if that helps. Thanks.

 

PM sent to 305q_ta86.