I replaced all the door hinge pins and now i can not get a good gap
between the door and the body. It wasn't great before this, but now
it is worse.
Has anyone ever tried tweaking (bending) the part of the hinge that
is bolted to the body?
The metal around the rivets is cracked and fatigue, but is still flush
with the door. This i can repair later, but probably won't allow any more
clearence.
Any sugguestions, i would surely cherish. I have tried six ways to
Sunday and have had no luck. Modification is all i have left.

Thanking everyone in advance.........

Scott

 

which door is it, and what exactly is wrong with the clearance. [ front rear or side door, to tight at the top bottom or all.]


jim

 

Jim,

The two side cargo doors only have about 1 mm space at the top and
about 2 mm at the bottom along the vertical back sides. Also, they
won't raise to the height they were before so the body lines are about
3/16 off. I guess i could elongate the top hinge holes in the body to get
the height, but was trying to think of a good way to shim the doors to
get the gap. Got lots of space down the middle of the two doors. Maybe,
this is as good as it gets, but i would like to see about 1/4 inch. Don't
want to go bending on the hinge, thats good thick steel. Maybe when
i repair the stressed riveted side the gap will improve. Just seeing what
you thought about it.

Scott

 

if the rivets are loose, that would do it. also if the doors have been tweaked when open, that will move the hinge post a little and mess everything up.

the hinge pockets on the body arent the best in the world, and have been known to just sag if the doors are left open. each set of hinges are differant, but if you just pinned yours it shouldnt matter. did the pins knock out, or did you have to drill them?

if you can find an older bodyman he could adjust them for you. the old guy's realy know how to manhandle the heavy steel in the old cars. almost scary to watch them sometimes!

 

Jim,

I wish i could say the pins just fell out, but that would be far from the
truth. They were quiet the challenge to get out, some were broken in
half and pivoting in the wrong place and sealed in with rust. The doors
still opened and closed, but i'm not sure how. Between a combination of
pressing and drilling they came out like a bad tooth. New hinge pins sure
make me feel good, but now i have a whole new can of worms.
The rivets aren't loose but the metal is cracked around them so i guess
that's as good as loose. I'll drill 'em out, replace the sheet metal and
whittle some stove bolts down to hold it all together, and maybe that
will fix all my problems. Thank you for your reply, it helps to talk about
these things.

Scott

 

I've go a 61 econoline pickup. The right door worked perfect but had it ton of bondo in it and it was cracking. I found a nice used door but the guy wanted me to put my door on his, he was using old cab for storage. My door went on his and fit good. I thought this is good. I got home and put my door on and it wouldn't even close. Hummm, what goes on here, my door went on his cab and worked perfect but his door won't work on mine. It wasn't even close and I adjusted everything and no go. I looked everything over and it looked like I needed to bind the hinges. I took them off, put them in a vice, heated cherry red and bent them the way I had thought they needed. Put them back on and the door at least closed, but needed more tweaking. I took one hinge back off, bent it a little more, put it back and bingo. With a little adjustment of the hinge position the door works just as good as the old one.

I'll never figure that one out. So yes, you can bend the hinges.

L.D.

 

Thanks L.D.

It will probably come to heating/bending the hinges for me. Now I can
say, " I not crazy, i know someone else that did this, and it will work just fine."
Got to keep these ol' econolines rollin' one way or the other.
Jim and L.D.
thanks again, Scott