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Over the winter I picked up a set of hinge pins and bushings and tackled the job last week. Not as difficult as I’d feared. I thought I’d share with the forum.
I supported both the car and the door with jacks so they would be as solid as possible and then put padding between the door and the fender. Even though the jack should hold the door with a hinge out, I didn’t want it to shift and hit the car.
I marked tape with a line and then stuck it to the hinge plates, making sure it was folded into the joint and then slit the joint with a knife. There are 4 bolts into the body and 3 into the door, and the two rear body ones are well back into the fender. Only one on each hinge is tough to get at, and I used a ratcheting wrench and an extra long set of needle nosed pliers to hold it during removal so it doesn’t disappear into the fender and to get it lined up with the hole to start it during replacement. Worked fine.
The photo is of the top hinge on the bench, the bottom one has a spring in it but you don’t have to touch it. Both come apart and assemble exactly the same by driving out the pin with a punch and knocking out the 2 bushings. The top bushing was out of round by a lot and the pin was sloppy, definitely due for replacement. The new bushings press in easily with a bench vice.
Once the top hinge was back in, I removed the lower one and did the same. Even with the jack support, the door is so heavy that it sagged towards the car with only the top hinge in. Be careful.
With everythng back together, I tweaked the top hinge adjustment a very small amount and the door closes perfectly now.
The pins and bushings are only about $10 for the whole car, mine were universal replacement ones and the pins were a little long, but that won’t hurt anything. Well worth considering if you have door alignment problems, especially riding up on the hip of the door jamb.
Hope this helps
Terry
64HT
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