[urq] Door hinge pin replacement: job's finally done.

[Louis-Alain Richard]

Glad my newfound "expertise" will be useful to someone...

First: the hinge/door contact area is slotted so one can move the door
up-down and exterior-interior a bit. But there is no provision for fore-aft
door adjustment. If the front vertical gap is wrong, then you must adjust
the fender, not the door. 

Second: the hinge part welded to the body is very thick and strong. The
sheet metal where the hinge bolt on the door is, well, just sheet metal. I
really doubt that the thick part "moved", unless your car was involved in an
accident. Bending the door is a lot easier. And I would be worried about the
integrity of the welds after too much pounding...

So, the first thing to do (when reinstalling the door) is to line up the
body lines up/down (it's now that a rolling floor jack is handy). Then
adjust the outside-inside position of the leading edge of the door. To
achieve this without too much paint scratching, I bolted the hinges
finger-tight and closed it. With a pry bar between the door and rocker, I
raised it until satisfactory and then I tightened the bolts from the inside
of the car, door still closed.

The last adjustment (jacking the trailing edge of the door) was necessary
because it was still a little low, rubbing the rocker panel. I am sure this
was only metal fatigue from the hinge-door contact area, very thin as I
said. And I found also some broken glass, trace of paint inside the door so
maybe the car had an accident involving this door, explaining the sagging.

Hope this helps,

Louis-Alain
83 urQ


-----Message d'origine-----
De la part de Justin


Louis-Alain,
I was thinking about doing the same on my 4kq.  How did you adjust the door
fitting...ie., the gap distance between the body and door, and the gap
between the fender and door?
    I was thinking of removing the door and pounding on the door
hinges/mounts untill the door was fitted properly...
    Would you recommend this technique?
Justin

----- Original Message -----
From: "Louis-Alain Richard" <laraa at sympatico.ca>


Patient was a 83 urQ with a sagging driver's door.

Conclusions are:

1. An air chisel is NOT the correct tool to push the pins out of the hinges.
Not strong enough. Just noisy. Impress neighbors though. Brrrappppp!

2. An 8 inch long punch, a 5 lbs BFH and brute force (with some accuracy,
see point 6) is all you need. A punch-holder (human friend w/ confidence) is
a welcome help.

3. Heating the hinge will help a lot. Don’t forget to protect the fender
with an appropriate heat shield (see point 6).

4. Both pins were inserted from the bottom at the factory; removal by
hitting them from above is the way to go. Gravity is your friend. And brute
force.

5. Door adjustment is difficult. Need a floor jack to support the door and
move it out of the way. See point 6.

6. All work will be paint-scratching. Guaranteed.

7. Freaky moment: after all was done, door was lower than before! After
fiddling during more than 1 hour (see point 5 and 6) an appropriate use of a
floor jack (to “bend” the door upward) made things perfect. Freaky.

8. The pins themselves (433 831 421A) were not so bad; the bushings (433 831
441) were definitely shot.

9. The pins’ metal hardness is amazing: same quality as the tools used. No
deformation at all. Really hard stuff. Don’t even think of drilling them.
You’ll die of old age doing so...


Louis-Alain