I am in the process of restoring a 50 F-1 and while I have removed and restored most of the fenders I am having problems getting the hinge pins out of the door hinges. I have the "Drake" pin puller and it only fits onto the bottom hinge. And when I used it the first time the first interchangeable push pin broke after pushing the lower pin up about 5/16 or so. I have tride candel wax, Thrust, and heat. Not having very much success at getting the pins out. Anyone with a suggestion or experience?

 

Welcome to FTE!

Yeah, those hinge pin removal tools don't work very well especially on hinges that have been in there for 60 years or so. The only way I could get mine out was to remove the door with hinges attached, put the door hinge in a big vise with the door turned upside down and then pound them out using continuous applications of PB Blaster...not a fun job for sure! Good luck with them.

 

The easiest way I have found to remove the pins is to center punch the head of the pin, start to drill with a small drill, drilling about a 1/4" down. Follow with a larger bit, one slightly smaller than the pin, drill until the head of the pin comes off and then drive the pin form the top. I've tried many different ways and this was the fastest, easiest I've found. It still helps to squirt a little oil before starting.

 

I had thoughts of not removing the half of the hinge from the post so that the alignment could be retained. I'm also concerned about removing the phillips head screws and the weld on the hinge post. Did you have any trouble getting the screws out?

 

It's a pretty good bet you'll have more trouble successfully removing several rusty Phillips-head screws than 2 hinge pins.

 

I used one of those impact driver screwdrivers that turns as you hit it a hammer. All the screws came out easy enough although I bought new ones (stainless steel) to replace them. My hinges were not welded or if they were I broke the weld getting the screws out. You can retain the hinge alignment by drilling a couple of 1/8 inch holes through the hinges before you remove them and use the holes to re-align.

 

The hole trick is a good idea but I've never really worried about losing alignment. The doors are simple enough and there's not much adjustment to be made anyways.

Removing the doors by removing the bolts I feel is the easiest way to go. You'll be able to get to all the areas around and behind the hinges, if half of the hinge is left on the truck you'll have to work around it. When removing the hinges I don't waste time, I first try to remove the bolts with a regular Phillips screwdriver, if that doesn't work right away I break out the gas wrench and apply heat. I usually can have a set of doors off within an hour. As for the weld, a cold chisel will bust them with a couple of good whacks or use an angle grinder to gouge into them. I never reweld them and the doors don't seem to move at all.

Unless your hinge pins are worn I wouldn't mess with them, just remove the bolts.

 

I just finished removing all my pins. This method works good as long as you don't want to save the paint on the hinge. It is a 2 man operation, one with a torch (small tip should work) to heat the hinge and the other with an air hammer with a bit machined down to fit the pin, Once the hinge is almost red use the impact hammer to push the pin out as far as you can. Use another hardened rod a little smaller than the pin and a big hammer to finish pounding it out. You will have to heat and pound a few times. It is much easier if the door is off and there is also risk of burning paint, for sure on the hinge but in my case everthing was being stripped anyway.

Good luck

 

Just removed both upper hinge pins a couple of weeks ago to install hinge-mounted mirrors. The only way we could get them out was to drill them out.

Good luck,
DV

 

I've been trying to drill mine out but it's not easy because they appear to be hardened steel. After working at it for several hours yesterday I got the upper passenger pin to move but I can't drill straight down on the lower hinge pins because the hinge isn't as far away from the door. Trying to drill up from the bottom of the pin is really tough. I agree that heat is probably the way to go. I just have to find a torch to borrow or a cheap one to buy.

 

Finally got the pins out of the driver's door. Used heat, penetrating oil, air hammer (with ground down tip as suggested),the Drake pin puller, a hammer and punch. Really felt good to finally have the door off and hopefully will have a better approach at getting the passenger door off. Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

Good news, they go in easier than they come out