door hinge mounting plate

[62chevy302]

i need 2 of the four mounting plates that are inside the door pillar. i can not find them in any catalog. am i missing them? they move in there but dont fall out. thanks in advance

[fleetsidelarry]

I'm having trouble understanding. you say you need them but then ask if you're missing them. either they're there or they aren't. then you say they move around but don't fall out. if they are there you should be able to see the threaded holes for the hinge bolts.
the plates are supposed to move around, that's part of your adjustment on the door, they are kept from falling out (but allowed to move around) by brackets that are spot welded to the inside of the pillar.

[62chevy302]

ok let me clarify. the bottom ones on my truck are gone. i have been looking in the catalogs and the internet and cant find ones to replace mine that are missing. i need two plates but cannot find where to buy them.

[harpo1313]

make some up with 3/8 inch plate,drill and tap for bolts.just use your door hiinge holes as a template.make sure you leave room in the pocket for door alighnment.Are they rotted out gone or just missing?

[SHutt24]

I just made a couple for mine. You will have to either cut it out from the door side and weld it back in or cut out an opening from the inside and weld the opening back in. I cut mine out from the door side, it was just easier to work on. Make sure you make a good template before you cut it out.
You could drill out all the spot welds that hold the hinge brace to the cowl and you would have access to both hinges. It's not too difficult just takes some time.

[fleetsidelarry]

here's what it looks like from the backside:

[61K10]

mine fell to the bottom (inside) when taking the hinge off. fished it back up with a wire(took awhile) and put a bolt back in to hold it.(run a tap through all holes) just remember when putting the hinge back on, it's loose in there. when putting hinge back on start another bolt in another hole before removing the one holding the inner plate. then remove holding bolt and rotate hinge and reinstall bolt + one more. hope i didn't confuse you----good luck

[fleetsidelarry]

what you and 62chevy302 are saying indicates to me that the "capture bracket" (or at least the bottom edge) has rusted away, allowing the plate to drop to the bottom of the pillar.

[61K10]

another note--when removing the bolts do one at a time as they come out hard as they are rusty on the ends. remove one and chase the threads and put a new bolt back in and tighten. do the rest the same. when i removed mine i didn't keep it tight and the pressure of removing the last bolt broke the inner plate loose. at least put the bolts back in even loose so the plate doesn't rotate and come loose. basically this was my screw up by letting the plate rotate. hope this helps------

[62chevy302]

n/a

[62chevy302]

one has a bolt broke off in it and the other rusted away and fell out. i need two. i dont care to make them 3/8 steel? im putting in kick panels too so i can make a bracket to hold it in place.

[fleetsidelarry]

with the kickpanels out you'll be able to fab something up. 3/8 should be ample as the plates themselves actually don't appear to be 3/8. hard to tell on mine since my are still covered by the retainers but they look more like 5/16 or maybe even 1/4. the retaining brackets are just sheet metal, over-sized enough to let the plates "float".