'59 door removal

[1959 Apache 3600]

As you guys know, I'm a total newbie. Want to remove the doors as I take the truck apart to work on. Is there more to it than just removing the 4 bolts on the truck where the hinge is located?
Quite embarrassed to ask what probably is a dumb-arse question....

[OrrieG]

Here is my process.

1. If the doors are in good alignment or close take a 1/8" drill and drill a reference hole thru the bracket and cab metal and door support (be careful not to drill thru the door skin). This will get you close on reassembly.
2. Use a floor jack (or crate, etc) to support the weight of the door. Remove the hinges. I loosened all the door and cab bolts with the door installed, you get better leverage. Use a lot of penetrant and let them soak as they have been on there are long time and usually rusted.
3. If (or when) the captured nuts fail you will need to pull the kick panel metal and hold them with wrench or vise grips. If they break you will need to use nuts or build new caged nuts (search on this site its been discussed). If the door bolts snap you will need to drill and tap.
4. If you just remove the door it will slide horizontally off the hinges. This is a good time to have a helper or a jig mounted to the jack to hold the door vertically, you do not want to drop it on the corners unless you really like doing extra body work.

Once you get the door off then the fun begins if you need to replace hinge pockets or the lower suport in the door, common rust area.

[1959 Apache 3600]

Thanks OrrieG. I actually bought a couple replacement doors at a swap meet that are in much better shape than mine.
I really appreciate your response!

[Russell Ashley]

You might not want to mark the door alignment permanently by drilling just yet as they are probably not aligned very well now anyway, and you will most likely have to rebuild the hinges so alignment will change. You can remove the doors with out removing the hinges from the cab by removing the six bolts in the door and sliding the door off of the hinges. I used my engine hoist to remove my doors. A jack or some other support will work but the door can't fall over when using the hoist.

[1959 Apache 3600]

looks like a pretty viable option...
Thanks Russell!