Door Hinges Wore Out

[Tony Ingram]

Need to know of a good fix if any for my door hinges. The doors on my H-63 are plum wore out, the doors are sagging due to the pin holes being wore out and oblonged. There is no adjustment other than shimming the backs of the hinges so the pin hole location is important. Got all my exterior sheetmetal work done, woooohooo, now onto door placement prior to the bodywork but my door alignment is no good. Not sure if my hinges would interchange with any other models. I'm sure if I found some others they'd probably be worn out to. Let me know, I'm rockin and rollin on her again. My passenger side lower hinge where it bolts to the cab frame has 2 old bolts snapped off inside the holes and someone had attempted to drill them out before but must have given up cause the holes look awful. The other 2 holes have been drilled oversize so I should be able to re-drill and helicoil those. Like I said the location of the holes are critical as there is no side to side or up and down adjustment on these at all. All ideas appreciated here.

[Rob]

Does anybody you know have a milling machine? I've made a jig in the past that was clamped into a vise, aligned the hinge so the hole was centerlined on the end mill, then plunge cut a new hole through the top hole, flip the hinge and do the same for the lower hole. Prior to actual work commencing one would need to pick out a bushing with the correct inner and outer diameter you plan to use. After the hole is bored, you can then bush the hole back to the correct inner diameter.

For making hinge pins, I like to use water hardening "drill rod" in 3/8ths diameter. It will be sold in a soft state so it can be worked with. Cut this drill rod to the correct length but leave about 7/16" to work with and form a head for the pin. I take a small oxyacetylene torch outfit and with the pin clamped into a bench vise warm the tip till a almost white color then "peen" the end to a rounded shape with a dinging hammer, (small hammer). After forming into a semi circular ball end, let the part cool and grab the other non formed end with a pair of vise grip pliers and again heat the part to a dull red color. While still red and hot, plunge the part into a bucket of water that is about 175 degrees and swish around for about 30 seconds, place on bench and let cool. As of now this part will be very hard, but very brittle and will not yield good service. After it cools, place on an ungreased cookie sheet in the oven, (usually a good idea to obtain wife's clearance first) and place the heat on about 350 degrees for two to three hours. This is know as tempering, and normalizing. After this amount of time, remove from the oven and let it cool. It will now be ready for grinding on a bench grinder to finish form the head. The part will be very hard, but have ductility and not break easily. I wouldn't skip the last step at all. I have personally take 1/2" drill rod in it's hardended state, placed it on a welding table and smacked it smartly with a 2lb sledge breaking it into a couple of pieces that went flying.

As far as the retention area(s) of the hinges, I'd just bore right through the center and helicoil, or threadsert as you mention. It can be difficult to undo someone elses' mess sometimes. I've even blown the center section out of hinges, welded them up, and using some sort of pattern, (like another hinge plate), remade the part. It is nothing but plain A36 grade mild steel strap and easy to work with.

Rob

[Freightrain]

My drivers door was wasted when I bought the truck too. I went to Azone and found a bushing kit with a pin the size to match. Pulled one hinge off at a time, fixed the hinge and replaced it. Never had to take the whole door off. I also fixed the tension spring that holds the door open too. Won't call it perfectly new, but works great(don't get bashed in the back of the head getting in/out anymore).

Rob, I have a small mill at home(let along BIG ones at work). I did mine by hand though, as it was before I had one at home.

[Rob]

My drivers door was wasted when I bought the truck too. I went to Azone and found a bushing kit with a pin the size to match. Pulled one hinge off at a time, fixed the hinge and replaced it. Never had to take the whole door off. I also fixed the tension spring that holds the door open too. Won't call it perfectly new, but works great(don't get bashed in the back of the head getting in/out anymore).

Rob, I have a small mill at home(let along BIG ones at work). I did mine by hand though, as it was before I had one at home.

I never had good luck filing holes back round to fit bushings into. Although the OEM replacement bushings are knurled on the exterior dimension to fit imperfect holes, I've found they fracture over time. This coupled with most of the replacement pins are of two different dimentions I found it easier to make a few at a time and they worked well. GM is really the only manufacturer that offered readily replaceable pins and bushing as they are a consumable item that doesn't last. There is not enough load bearing surface to support the weight of the swinging door.

Momma won't let me buy anything unless there is a need for it. I'd really like to have a vertical mill and engine lathe again. Herb has located a nice lathe but I can't get clearance to purchase it, (yet). The last truck I dragged home was the perverbial "straw" and she'd had enough of nothing finished, but plenty torn apart. I'm working on that nightly.

Rob

[vanscottbuilders]

Tony,

I think that the door hinges for your H-63 are the same as any "L" cab Mack, and might be fairly common.

Finding some good used ones to replace yours would be the simplest solution.

Absent that, finding a used set to repair makes sense. As Rob said, setting up a jig and doing some

machining is a good solution. And, you still have your originals if things don't go well.

Paul Van Scott

[Freightrain]

It's been 9 yrs and the door still works perfect(for a 50 yr old truck). Since I don't use it everyday and surely don't hang on it the dodge? pins I used musta worked. I agree, they aren't the perfect solution, but a viable one for the do it yourselfer.

[mikesheldon]

you sure you need whole hinge and they dont make a repair kit for it many cars they do have a kit to replace ive never had to buy a whole hinge and you might try ebay or type VW parts into search box and get more places to buy from other than dealer

[ThaddeusW]

Ha! I remember the days when my father used to temper parts at home (We used to have a machine shop and my father was a metallurgical engineer). My mom was never crazy about it but it did the job.