Guys I need your help,

I would like to replace my door lower hinge pin and bushings. Someone told me that I have to remove the door and in order to do that I have also to remove the front fender and bumber!! Is that correct? I believe that it must be a better way to replace the pin and bushing. Please reply to me as soon as possible.

 

its been awhile since i changed mine. somebody might have a better method?

i used a hydraulic jack with a block of wood on it, to support the door in the open position. a crowbar, various handtools and some patience was all it took. i didnt take the fender off, IIRC.

 

Is it the lower bushings that usually go bad and not the top? My driver door has a little wiggle to it and I'm not sure if its the upper or lower thats causing it.

Thanks

 

You can replace the pin fine with the door in place, just need someone or something to support it while you work.
There's a special tool to knock out the pins so you don't remove the door.
Top-downsolutions.com has the tool, pin and instructions.
One problem- ground effects interfere with the tool. You might be able to work around it, but on the car I did, I had to pull the side gfx and bend the corner of the gfx support out of the way.

 

Thank you guys for your hepl

 

In my case was the lower hinge pin

 

The lower goes first usually , but the upper usually follows if left alone as it has to take the strain. It's easy to observe the problem if you have someone lift the door for you.

 

OK, thanks will do.

 

If you are replacing just the lower pin and bushings you'll need to pop out the lower pin, then unbolt body side of the upper hinge pin. The bolts and nut that attach the upper hinge to the body can ve removed without unbolting the fender, but you will need to remove the kick panel. Support the bottom with a floor jack with a blcok of wood or towel on the saddle. Have someone hold the door steady while you retract the door just enough to pop out th eold bushings. Install the new bushings, then push the door back into place and re-bolt the upper hinge. Now install the lower pin. If it turns out you need to replace both the upper and lower pin and bushings, the procedure is similar, but instead of unbolting the upper hinge you grind off the swaged heads of the upper hinge pins and drive them out. The retract the door as mentioned before. There is a bit more work to prep the area to grind off the upper hinge pins, but I'll keep the description short since the upper hinge pin and bushings was not the OP's question. As was previously mentioned I have a lot of tools on my web site that will help make the job easier. I especially recommend a GM door spring tool.

Lon

 

Thank you very much!

 

The bumper? That's the first I've ever heard of that for this procedure. The two tools that Lon has for sale on his site will make the job immensely easier. Other than that all you will need is a mini-sledge and a dremmel. To hold the door up, I used a cherry picker and nylon straps at the door's center of gravity. It is easier to do if you remove the weatherstripping to give you better access to the hinge area.

 

Thanks!

 

The bumper is removed when you remove the fenders to access the hinges..

 

...and why per se would you need to remove the fender. This ordeal is easily done with door and fenders still on the car.

 

Seems like to me you could pretty easily unbolt both sets of hinges from the body and set the door on a workstand and do the whole job... NO?

Trying to figure out where removing the fenders would come into play here too...

 

In my case (1982 Pontiac Trans am) we had to remove the front fender and bumber because the heads of the upper hinge bolts were not accessible from the kick panel.

 

I agree, I was just referring to the original post.

 

Why not? Are 82s different?

 

I spoke with my mechanic and he told me that he removed the door without taking off the fender and bumber but it was very difficult and time
consuming.

 

Only takes about 2-3 hours per side if you don't hit any major roadblocks. That's with the doors on. Not sure how long it takes when taking the doors off.

 

You can make it less difficult and more time consuming by removing the fender and bumper.

 

I need to replace these as well, advance only had the upper pin and bushings...but the upper hinge doesn't have a pin in it only the lower hinge has the pin and bushings on it from what i saw....so i went and looked on my car and the kit at advance looks just like the pin and bushings that are on the lower hinge, so i went ahead and bought it....did i end up getting the wrong thing?

 

None of the auto parts stores sell the upper hinge kit for our car. You got the lower hinge pin & bushings.

Lon

 

yea, i went out and looked and found out i needed the roller bushing. i know its the one that typically gets bent. well...looks like I'm off to the parts store to return these. hopefully they have the one i actually need this time

 

I would not be surprised it you come away empty from the parts store. The dealer will stock it. I sell it on my web site also.

http://www.top-downsolutions.com/Bod...and-roller-kit

I hope you have a GM door spring tool. I recommend it to safely remove and install the door spring.

Lon

 

to replace these bushings you need to remove the spring? I'm surprised to find that rock auto doesn't have them. oh well, looks like I'm buying them from you in the next day or two. you have a lot of good stuff on there!

 

Yes you have to remove the spring to replace either the detent pin & roller or the lower hinge pin & bushings. You need to remove the lower pin, then unbolt the a-pillar half of the lower hinge. You'll do the repair in a bench vise.

To replace the lower pin & bushings you need to remove the door spring. Drive out the old lower pin. Unbolt the upper hinge from the a-pillar, then retract the door while supporting it far enough to remove the old lower bushings. Install the new lower bushings, bolt the upper hinges back to a-pillar, then install the lower pin. Once that is done install the door spring using GM door spring tool.

If you are replacing the upper hinges & bushings at the same time as the lower ones you don't need to unbolt the upper hinge from the a-pillar. There are still some extra steps to the upper hinge pin & bushing repair, but it is all covered in the instructions that come with a upper hinge repair kit.

Lon

 

Do the methods that are described here on this thread apply to most 3rd gen cars? I have an 88 GTA and the drivers side door sags abit, and I need to slam the door to get it to close all the way.
Great info..

 

Only applies to the 1982-92 ones.

Lon

 

TOOLS: Small grinder, 8mm box end wrench (battery), 1/2 in socket/wrench (hinge bracket), brass hammer, metal punch, floor jack, long flat bladed screw driver.

Open your door to the second or third position. Watch the top and bottom hinge while someone else lifts up on the edge of the door. Look for which hinge has play.

You'll probably see most of your movement in the lower pin / bushing.
If you want to do it, I suggest the following.

Support the door near the hinge side with a jack/block of wood wrapped in a towel so you don't scrape your paint.

Then support it at the latch side with a ratchet strap supported by a engine hoist/stand/rafter etc. Just take the slack out so you take tension off of the lower pin.

First, disconnect your battery, you'll drain it... remove your door jam spring. Just pry up on it with a long screw driver.

Use a brass tamp or small brass hammer and tap out the lower pin from the bottom up. Do not pry it until it starts moving. The bottom pin should pop right out pretty easily.

Next move to the upper pin. There are three bolts put through to the body. Mark the exact alignment of the hinge and remove those bolts.

Now you can pull the door out the few inches necessary to knock out the LOWER bushings without unwiring the door. The rubber boot will come out of the door, and give you space to play with. To reinstall bushings, you can use a bolt and washers to press the bushings in. If you don't care, use a brass hammer and tap them in gently.

Something to consider before installing the lower pin if you choose:

Even if the top isn't "that bad" I recommend grinding out the stock pins / bushings and installing a new kit. The stock bushings were junk, and had play in them from the factory. The top pins have to be ground out because they are not designed to be removed. A dorman kit includes bolt on pins/bushings for the top.

To remove the upper pins, use a small grinder. A dremmel 3000 with the cutting wheel is perfect. Grind the smaller side of the pins even with the hinge. Then use a punch and hammer to push out the pins. They should come out with ease. If not, check to see if you have ground down far enough to see the outline of the pin flush with the hinge.

You have now seperated the top hinge. Take this opportunity to grind the hinge area flush and paint them to avoid rust with some universal touch up paint. Now reattach it to the body using the three bolts you removed earlier. Make sure you line it up properly. Do not over tighten these bolts! They can stretch and break, or strip the body side threads.

Put the replacement bushings in, and line up your hinges. I would start your bottom pin, so that the bottom of the door is aligned properly. Then Put in one of the top pins at least half way, and then finish the bottom pin. Then put in your other top pin.

Push your wiring boot back in the door, and reinstall the door spring. (Just buy the tool, it's 12 dollars, and will save you from playing with a vice and coat hangers... believe me.)

 

Yes, you can replace the pin just fine, but the bushings are a different story. You may be able to get to them, but you'll be putting a lot of latteral stress on the top hinge.

Just my 2 cents. Not being a ***** or anything.

 

If you are replacing just the lower pin and bushings just unbolt the A-pillar half of the upper hinge. No twisting or stress on the upper hinge or pin that way.

If you are replacing upper AND lower pins and bushings unbolting the hinge isn't necessary since you'll be grinding off the heads of the upper pins and punching them out. That will allow you to retract the door to replace the bushings. Two small things I'll add to the instructions alreay given. I prefer to use the door spring tool to remove the detent spring rather than the large screwdriver. I just respect that spring and the energy it contains. Also when I do this job for customers I remove the trim and door panel so I can access the one small screw that holds the large upper piece of the door gasket. Removint this allows a lot more room to get to the head of the upper pin to grind it off. I also like to stuff some rags in the fender below the lower hinge. You'll be amazed how easily something such as a bushing or pin will land in there and cause a rattle if you leave it in. Also if you are using the upper hinge repair kit I sell you MUST resize the upper bushing holes in the hinge so the replacement bushings are a slip fit. Do not force them in. On my kit there is such a small clearance between the upper bushings and pins that they will bind if you try forcing them in. Once you re-size the upper holes for the bushings using the mesh abrasive supplied in the kit, then glue the new bushings in place with the gel loctite supplied in the kit. I modified a 90 degree pneumatic drill used in the aircraft industry to hold a Dremel sanding drum to resize these holes.

Lon

 

Lon, question for ya. I didn't have nearly enough room to work/grind unless I removed the hinge from the a pillar. What have you used in the past?

 

I use a Black and Decker RTX which is similar to a Dremel tool but has more power. I use a fiber-reinforced metal cutoff wheel. I stack up the blades (2 or 3) so they last longer. I start in the middle of the head of the pin and work my way to the edge as the blade wears out. After you temove that large chunk of rubber at the top of the weatherseal you'll have more room. I put masking tape on the paint behind the pin in case I slip.

Lon

 

Your rotary tool musy have a slimmer / shorter handle than a dremmel. Even with the weather stripping out of the way, I had to remove the hinge from the a pillar to get enough clearance to work. The DTX sounds like a good investment.

Thanks for the info,

-Alex

 

You can get a flexible shaft such as this.

Lon

 

Dremmel makes one too, so I'll pick up one. Great info, thanks a lot!

-Alex