door hinge replacement or repair.

What will be best for me to do on fixing the front drivers door hinges on my 73 M-M combo, fix them or replacement? The set that's on the car now have worn making it hard for the door to latch properly. Can a on the car repair be made using the pin and bushing kits from the parts house or would it be best to replace those hinges with a good unworn set that I have on one of my parts cars? How hard is a or if a on car hinge repair and what is a safe/best way with help of course to do a hinge swap if needed?

diy hinge pins

Jeremy,
We have used many kits from the parts store with very good results. All of these were on full size and mid size pickup trucks. I would think you could get the same results if they have your pin size. Even on the ones that had worn through the bushing the new bushing seemed to get the job done. Always replace the pin and the bushings together. You will need a good jack and maybe a block to rest the door on. Your helper will be there mostly to steady the door on the jack. Only do one hinge at a time. That way you always have one hinge and your helper holding the door.
Once you take the parts off the parts car the interior is open to critters. I say that because you may have latter plans for the interior parts.
I think the hinge kits are about 6-8 bucks up here.
Good luck,
Mike

Jeremy...Unless the door hinge itself has been damaged due to an accident the repair is as others are saying just replace the bushings does the job nicely.

Saggin' Cadillac Doors

I agree with Mike and David... don't mess with the hinges unless absolutely necessary. Our in-house Mechanic here said he gotten pin and bushing kits from CaddyDaddy.com and RockAuto.com (*) He thought the Dorman Pin & Bushing Kit # for a 1973 is 703264, but you should double-check that to be sure. Good Luck! MM

I also would go with new pins. If you do not want to take on this task a body shop can easily do this for you while you wait. I have had door pins replaced many times (on different cars) at a cost under $50 and about 45 minuts wait.

like everyone else said. that's what I'm doing. you can use the lower bushing on the top hinge to if you want but you'll have to drill the hole bigger in the hinge. remove the door leave the hinge on the body and just change the bushing the pin if it's worn enough to catch you thumbnail on. then adjust the door so that it fits right and the striker is center in the latch. change the hings with a used one and it may be worse off then the one you got.

I have had good luck changing out the pin and bushing, I used a socket and a c-clamp to install it and the new bushing and pin brought the door back up as to not drag on the striker, and I didn't mess up any fresh paint. Good luck.

I had to do this on my 76 M+M back when I was in high school. I'd suggest taking off the chrome just below the door on the outside of the car ( not the sill plate ). I accidentally put a kink in mine when I was putting the door back on.

i used the hinge pin kit in the "Help" section at the auto parts store on my 73 m-m. it worked great. you will need someone to help hold the door when you replace it. that door is pretty heavy.

Thanks for the advise guys! With what everyone has said and after giving the hinges a through examination I believe a bushing and pin replacement will be in order. Prolly will do it in the next week or two. One question though. How do you get the pin on the upper hinge by or remove the upper door hinge spring?

Jeremy I don't know how handy you are, but here's another approach. Often the hole is "egged out" if the pin is harder steel than the top hinge, causing the sag. I've had very good luck using a floor jack to support the weight of the door opened all the way, then knock out the pin & use my MIG welder to fill in the egged out front of the hole. A couple short spurts with the MIG will do nicely. If that ends up being too agressive use a small rat-tail file to make the hole round while testing with the hinge pin for size. The main thing is to have your MIG set hot enough so when it arcs it spreads/fuses & doesn't ball up, and have the area clean with a wire brush for a good arc.
I've found this is easier than trying to get my angle drill in there to drill a bigger hole for the oversize bushings. Just did this trick with my '94 GMC Safari work van (319,000 miles & everything is worn out) and the driver's door works like new now & was much easier than taking the door off or drilling in the door jamb. The door was sagging so badly you had to lift it slightly to hit the striker. There's another approach for you to consider...

There is a tool for holding and then compressing the spring on the hinge. You may be able to rent one or borrow one from a shop if you know someone there. I can take a picture of it and post it if you would like.

KD makes the took most of your parts stores will have them. some were in Roberts pictures of the 75 is the steps I took to do one.
try it here http://www.dropshots.com/jer57747#albums/1975 MM /2008-05-05/02:09:07

give it a bit to load there are a lot of pictures there.

Ah! I know the tool that Ed and Rocky speak of now! One will be added to my tool box then!