ok i know my hinges are going bad, but is there a way to shim them up or do i need whole new hinges?

 

hood hinges or door hinges ? I cut my door pics and pulled them out up and down. knocked out the old bushings and tapped in the new bushings. Then pushed in the pin.

 

door sorry for leaving that info out haha, was it hard changing them?

 

You can get the pin and bushing kit in the HELP section at most stores.

Its not hard to change. A helper makes it easier to hold the door though.

Make sure you replece the bushing part too.

 

If you're in a pinch you CAN loosen them up and adjust them. Basically your door will still sag, but you'll realign it so when it's sagging it is actually correct (hope that makes sense). You can loosen the bolts behind the door- use a 1/4" swivel and go from between the door and fender with the door open. Then lift the door and tighten them and check. Just make small adjustments.

Your door will still have play, but it'll be aligned so that even though it's sagging it will close correctly and sit correct. The only way you'll know the difference is if you lift up on the door.

Might as well do it right though. Either replace the pins or the hinges altogether. I personally didn't have good luck replacing the pins, but others have. I just ended up grabbing some replacement hinges from a junkyard and haven't had any problems in the past couple years.

 

I fixed mine by adjusting the bolts, and it fixed them. I don't have any sag either. I did buy some hinge pins that I have yet to install for the past 2 years. Exactly how do the hinge pins go bad?

 

well it looks like im headin out to the junkyard soon lol, i need a new front bumper anyway, so i will just get hinges while im there

 

The hinge pins go bad from wear, due to lack of lubrication and/or the presence of dirt in the lubricant. The pins get thinner, the holes get egg-shaped.

Like yours did, before you adjusted the hinge bolts. You actually do have sag--you just corrected for it, with the adjustment. Go outside, and lift up on the bottom rear corner of the door, noting the amount of movement.

Now, repeat on the pass. side. Note the difference in the amounts of movement between the two doors. That difference is the amount of sag (unless, of course, your passenger door received equal usage, like if you always have a passenger on board--then they could have equal amounts of sag, and the comparison between the two will not show the specific amount on the driver's side.)

IOW, if you'd truly had "no sag," then there would have been nothing to adjust for, in the first place, because your door would have been shutting properly--know what I mean? If you had to adjust it, it's because there was sag.... You compensated for it, but it's still there.

I need to do a pin/bushing replacement on the D/S of my 1997--another thing on "The List."