Door bushing replacement question-

[teamgomez]

Next project is a sagging driver's door- have to lift it a touch to get it to close. Narrowed the problem to upper hinge- replaced pin but it looks like the upper bushing is shot. Got a new set- question is can I unpin the door, put it on a milk crate for somebody to hold while I tap out the old bushing and insert a new one?
Thanks!

[fintstone]

I doubt it. I had to remove the door. They are pressed in very tightly. You also must machine or ream out the inner bore of the new bushing for the pin to fit prior to installing it as they are intentionaly undersized. Then it is pressed in. I pressed my bushings in with a long bolt with washers on either side passed through the bushing and hinge. Slowly tightend till it was in.
It was a pain in the rear and did not fix my sagging door as expected. even when worn out, there just was not that much play. Ended up adjusting the hinges a bit. Easiest way is to slightly loosen the hinge bolts and support the door with a floor jack with padding on the cradle (an assistant is necessary). Jack it up a notch or two, Then retighten the bolts and test. Be careful as to not damage the paint when testing, because a big adjustment might throw it off that much. Some folks have also found that removing the metal shim behind the top hinge lifts the door a bit.
I was suprised that a lot of my problem was actually at the back of the door in the striker. Try that first. I adjusted the catch and lubed the mechanism (which helped the most). The mechanism was not turning easily and lifting on the door lifted the sticking part high enough to clear.

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Agree. Installing those bushing is harder than it looks.

Stephan

[teamgomez]

Hadn't thought about the rear of the door...my door is properly aligned after I lift it up a bit to get the door closed. Didn't want to muck up the paint on the hinge bolts, but looks like that may be the best way to attack this one although I can't help but pin this down to a gap between the pin and upper bushing...

[fintstone]

get someone to lift up on the door while you watch the pin/bushing area. Unless both bushings are almost nonexistant, I'll bet you will not see much movement there. Did the pin fit tightly? Try lubing and manually rotating the door latch while working in the lube first.
Does your door leave any rub marks on the door sill?

[dean]

Rebushing a door is involed. Not only do you need to ream them to 8mm's you need to fit them length wise also. When you ream them you should referance the other hinge. I did it with a long 1/4" extention with a square drive socket to hold the ream. Worked great

[Ryce Stallings]

I just spent a lot of time realigning a door that was down at the rear. If you do have play in the hinge pin then that should do it..but. In my case it turned out that some damage from a previous accident hadn't been fixed correctly. You should look at the gap around the door when closed. If it uniform at 4mm then you should look at the striker position and see if its "pulling" the door down when closed and then probably raise it a bit. If the door gaps are not uniform then you can adjust it by adding or removing the hinge shims. In a rare case when you have removed the shim already and still need adjustment you need to take a hardwood drift and a two pound hammer and smack the top hinge forward. Sounds brutal but sometimes its necessary, and if done correctly doesn't harm anything. Good luck, I hope your car is "square" and the pin bushing does the trick.

[Zeke]

I was doing a door "hanging" about an hour ago. Removing a shim from the top hinge raises the door quite a bit. Too much, in fact. You might need to make a shim out of some thinner material. Shims seem easier than installing bushings. With the door off, if the pin doesn't wiggle in the hinge bushing much, I'd leave it alone and correct the door gap with shims.

[DavidI]

Originally posted by teamgomez

I'll trade you my 83SC Cab for your jet!

Are you in the Navy?

Semper Fi, David

[teamgomez]

Lots of great feedback- thanks! Never heard about having to ream the bushings- I'm no metalsmith but it appears that the bushing is the guilty SOB here. When I tapped in the new pin in the upper hinge (hoping that was the culprit, not the bushing), a piece of metal flew out and the door sags slightly worse than before. I can lift the door a bit and can see the door hinge piece move inside the door sill hinge piece thus believing that the bushing is shot.

Might be able to get away with a shim- need to raise the rear of the door about 1/4". No sill rub marks- the striker plate on the body (where the latch is) has a strike spot on the lower portion where the door makes first contact before it gets lifted over to lock closed.

As for the work truck- yeah- the judge said 5 to 7 or go in the navy. The nav was kind enough to find a hornet slot for me a few years back... and for a payback they needed me to see if pulling the stick back still makes the trees get smaller after we disassemble them and put them back together for a major overhaul. As far as a trade, an SC cab is nice- but let's talk GT-3. If I have to spend the rest of my life behind bars, might as well make it worth it! (just gotta read the GT-3 thread here...makes me want to mortgage the farm to get my hands on one of those...)

[fintstone]

Sounds like the bushing to me if you are losing chunks. Those bushings are bronze and pretty hard, so someone probably already tried to remove one and gave up after damaging them if they are breaking. They are hard to replace though....easy to scratch up you door when removing it. If you end up taking the door apart, you might as well do them all. If so, order a spare bushing for the one you screw up. I would be tempted to take new ones down to a machine shop with the hinge pin and have them machined to fit instead of buying a reamer.

[evill]

Where did you guys get the bushings? I searched the PP site, but could not find them. Are they a dealer only part?

Thanks,
Ed

[teamgomez]

I got mine from Black Forest in San Diego- a fantastic place to do business. If you don't have any luck finding them locally, call Jeff at (858) 292-1192 and he'll hook you up. They're not expensive, but are a real pain in the arse to install. I didn't ream the bushings enough and now have a pin *mostly* all the way in...

[evill]

Thanks.

Ed

[fintstone]

Bought mine from pelican. Don't have the info with me (travelling for work), but did a search by part # when ordering mine and they were listed. You could call PP or get someone to post a part number from the PET for you.

[evill]

Originally posted by fintstone
Bought mine from pelican. Don't have the info with me (travelling for work), but did a search by part # when ordering mine and they were listed. You could call PP or get someone to post a part number from the PET for you.

I will call Pelican today.

Does anyone have the part #?

thanks,
Ed

[gsmith660]

I have a question for all who have replaced their door hinge bushings were yours on the door part of the hinge or the body part of the hinge mine were on the door part and came out real easy so I assume I am in need of refurbishment.

[gsmith660]

Originally Posted by gsmith660

I have a question for all who have replaced their door hinge bushings were yours on the door part of the hinge or the body part of the hinge mine were on the door part and came out real easy so I assume I am in need of refurbishment.

Sorry all I answered my own question the bushings are on the door side and I talked to a machinist as an FYI a 5/16 drill bit is 8mm + .001 so it will work as a ream at slow speed use a new one.

[gsmith660]

Replaced my bushings using the 5/16 drill bit. Went real good door very tight and will wear in and be smooth had to use heat to get new pins in they were real tight in the outter hinge.