Door sag

[jdheff1982]

Hey all,

The doors on my truck are sagging a bit. Would a hinge pin kit resolve this or will I need to get new hinges all around? Thanks.

[old Rusty C10]

hard to say without seeing the truck but more often than not you can replace the pins and bushings and it will work out fine

[hatzie]

Rotted cab mounts will make the doors sag too. If it's just loose hinges new pins will do it. No need to replace whole hinges.

[WarBeard]

If it's not a rust issue....Open your door all the way and pick up the door from the outside and move up and down..if it only moves at the pins replace pins

If the whole hinge moves you got bigger problems.....

Also check your doors for cracks around the spot where the door is bolted to the hinge.

[jdheff1982]

No, both doors move at the pins. That is good news, LMC only carries the upper hinge for 1 door.

[WarBeard]

Good go get some hinge kits and call it done

[tucsonjwt]

When you say the doors move at the pins, do you mean that you can open the door, grab hold of the outer edge, and move the door up and down? If so, and the hinges are secure in the door and cab, then you need new hinge pins. You should be able to look at the bushings around the hinge pins and see that they are worn out. If you replace hinge pins and bushings use only GM OEM parts. You can search my username on this forum for hinge pins and see two theads - one for my failed attempt to use aftermarket (Dorman) hinge pins and one for my successful attempt to use GM OEM hinge pins (with pics.)

[irishman999]

I just put the dorman pins in my 85 and could not be happier. It gets a little more involved than you think. You need:

-Cut off wheel on a 4 inch grinder.
-indexed drill bits.
-Hammer and punch.
-vice.

I left the brackets on the cab and removed the door. Then I cut the original pins with the cut off wheel. That lets the door side of the bracket come off.

Next I put the bracket in a vice and punched out the remaining pins and plastic bushings with a punch and hammer.

Then you find the appropriate diameter indexed drill bits to enlarge the holes on both bracket pieces.

After everything is drilled out you pound in the bushings, pound in the the pin and bolt on the door. The most time consuming part is getting the door lined up again.

[jdheff1982]

Originally Posted by irishman999

I just put the dorman pins in my 85 and could not be happier. It gets a little more involved than you think. You need:

-Cut off wheel on a 4 inch grinder.
-indexed drill bits.
-Hammer and punch.
-vice.

I left the brackets on the cab and removed the door. Then I cut the original pins with the cut off wheel. That lets the door side of the bracket come off.

Next I put the bracket in a vice and punched out the remaining pins and plastic bushings with a punch and hammer.

Then you find the appropriate diameter indexed drill bits to enlarge the holes on both bracket pieces.

After everything is drilled out you pound in the bushings, pound in the the pin and bolt on the door. The most time consuming part is getting the door lined up again.

This sounds good. I am unfamiliar with indexed drill bits. Are they different from normal bits? Also, I will prolly just pull the hinges off completely and try to remove the pins with them mounted to a table-top vice.

This will give me something to do next week.

[tucsonjwt]

That is why I did not use the Dorman pins - the splined area below the head on the pin shaft is too big to fit in the hole of the hinges. You can cut through the pins with a Dremel tool cutoff wheel but you have to come at it from different sides to fully cut through the pin, and you have to cut on a slight angle to get around the top of the hinge. If you can't get the OEM GM pins at your local dealer you can order them online - I found one dealer who will apparently sell them online by the piece (otherwise, GM sells them in packs of 5 pins and packs of 20 bushings.) It is worth your while to see what I went through and get some information - but each to his or her own.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ght=hinge+pins

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ght=hinge+pins

[irishman999]

For ease I think the factory ones Tuscon is talking about would be ALOT easier since you dont have to drill the holes out. Tuscon, do they have plastic bushings like the factory ones mine had?

If its just a matter of dropping new stuff in without the drilling that will save you half the work. To be honest, putting the dorman pins in took the better part of an afternoon.

I liked the Dorman kit because everything felt quality and strong, the pins look like hardened steel and its got brass bushings that are self oiled. I feel like they were worth the extra effort to put in but to be honest... given the opportunity I would have just dropped in the factory bushings and skipped the drilling.

If you have some time to kill and are on a budget like me I suggest doing the dorman pins that will last 100 years.

[tucsonjwt]

I am not sure about the model year of your truck, but my truck (and I thought all 73-87) are brass bushings -stock GM. I would prefer brass over plastic. Unless your bushings have been completely gone for a long time, I think the stock GM brass bushings are best. Most likely all you need are bushings, since the pins are probably in good shape (unless they are bent.) The problem is it will be difficult to remove the pins without damaging them - obviously if you cut them in half to remove them you need new pins.