Help with door hinge repair

[C.I.Blazer]

Any ideas on the the best way to repair this door? It is hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like the door was hyper-extended and the entire hinge area is bulged out. Thinking I can pound it pretty close to flat, cut out the top sheet metal and try to weld the frame underneath. Then patch the sheet metal on top.

Never been in one of these doors before but this is a driver and not a restoration. I would like the doors to open and close cleanly, but if the gaps are off a bit I can live with that. Any suggestions?

Thanks for the help.

[hemi43]

I had the same problem. The damaged area needs to be cut out and a new piece fabricated. Most likely the reinforcement piece behind it is cracked too.

[lks dcvn]

agree - I started to fix mine and then found a more solid door to replace it with. I figured the time saved by bolting on a more solid door would be faster/easier.

See posts 208, 209 and in my build thread here from a few years back.

[C.I.Blazer]

Thanks for the advice. Ultimately, I will keep my eyes open for a door if I can find one, or perhaps get a repop one down the road. In the meantime, I just want the door in roughly the right spot. I am going to work on my body mounts before getting into rust repair and I need to door in the right spot.

I ended up cutting out the sheet metal to get to the frame underneath and sure it enough it was cracked. I did my best to weld that up, then fit in a patch panel. Not an easy place to learn how to do this type of work, but after a couple of tries I got something that will work.

[hemi43]

Looks great! will probably last forever.

[lks dcvn]

agree - well done!

[C.I.Blazer]

Thanks. I appreciate the encouragement!

Getting this done, and reading dcvn's old thread, has started to give me the confidence to tackle the rust issues. I have it running and driving so I may wait to this winter to dive in.

[lks dcvn]

Drive the crap out of it while you can. Once you tear into it - you are going to wish it was back together again sooner than later. Thankfully, many more parts are available to fix these trucks now.

I'm rebuilding another one - just replacing a panel at a time...way faster, but a bit more expensive. All new rear sheet metal on this one...took it down to the frame. New doors are have been ordered, waiting on them to arrive to swap them out and keep making my way forward.

[C.I.Blazer]

I know what you mean. I am loving begin able to drive it but I really want to keep working on it. Then I start a project on it, and all I want to do is drive it. Now I am trying to figure out what to do next. Making me crazy.

Have I seen a build thread on your new one? Are you driving it as you work on it?

[lks dcvn]

I haven't started a build thread on the new one yet - although I shouldn't say 'new one' - I've had it since early 2017. I need to...