47-55.1 Door/hinge alignment Help request

[vintovka]

I have always had a badly fitting drivers side door. Its a replacement and not original to cab. I added new repop hinges and now its worse as you can see. The bottom half of the door seals ok. The upper does not as you can also see. I donn't think the top half of the door can be easily bent to make it fit. Some say the solution is to bend the hinge in. I have also been told that the hinge pocket may have been damaged when door was opened too far decades ago. the poposed cure is to pound it back with a oak 2x4 section and a 8 pound sledge. Which one or combination is best?? Will cross list with my build thread and would be great to hear all comments. Thanks in advance - Phil

No idea why it loads pic sideways???

[vintovka]

Last pic showing door from back:

[Rickysnickers]

Originally Posted by vintovka

No idea why it loads pic sideways???

Several reasons, but have a look here,
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...d.php?t=818026

If they still come out twisted, just post them anyway and leave them. I can fix it without somebody having to make another post with the rotated pictures.

[Hcb3200]

look like the top hinge needs to toward the steering wheel and the bottom out just a little. remember. This video gives a good representation of how adjustments on one corner affect the opposite corner top or bottom Think of a X on the door. Before you go bending work the door first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiTe9QKardE

[dsraven]

I always do door adjustments with the pillar latch part removed. that way the latch isn't giving you a false door fitting as it pulls the door up or down at the end of the door swing into the opening. also, don't try fitting the door to the fender, just fit the door to the cab and when done adjust the fender to fit the door. it's a trial and error thing. mostly error for me, lol.
also a good idea to remove your hinge bolts, one at a time so as not to affect the current door fitment, and lube them up before you start. that way they won't gall the threads from being dry or rusty. a little antiseize or just palin oil will do the trick. personally i find the fluid film lube works pretty well for general lube on things like that. a little lube on the hinge pins is also a good thing. i suggest some aerosol grease or, fluid film. wipe off the excess after working the honge a few times to let it settle in deep.
I'll hafta check out that video

[leegreen]

did you just now fit the new hinges and it looks like this, considerably worse than before? Do you have a before picture? A picture showing entire front edge of door viewed from by tire? From the pictures you shared it looks like top hinge needs to move in, does not look like door needs to be bent

If you need to bend the hinge, IMO that is not easily done in the truck, it requires a vice and heat.
Since that is a major step I'd try this first:

remove latch as dsraven suggested

loosen and lubricate the hinge bolts in hinge pockets, make sure both hinges are free to move around in their pockets. Close the door and see if you can shift it about to make it fit. If you can't remove the top hinge entirely and then see if the door fits. then the bottom hinge and weather stripping if needed.

By the time you are holding the door in the opening so it fits you will have an idea of bending the door or hinge. twisting hinge pocket in cab may also be an option if you find evidence the door frame is bent

New weather stripping makes this a lot harder. I glued on weather stripping before aligning doors, it was a big mistake. next time I'd get the door fitting perfectly, then mark or pin it, remove it for weather stripping then reinstall.

[vintovka]

Thanks. Top hinge is all he way in. no more room in slot or pocket. Old hinge was half as bad but still bad. Will try bending pocket first and then hinge if still bad. I guess what they say about Chinese repo's is true. I might take your advice and remove all the new weather strip first and see how it goes.

[leegreen]

look closely at the geometry of hinge pivot point vs cab before you try bending pocket. it appears that your window frame is parallel to the cab now, twisting the cowl will angle the door in or out, it will not move the entire door in our out.

edit: on further reflection I am not sure what I wrote above makes sense, twisting the pocket like you were opening the door will move the pivot inwards. it is still a pivot though so the angle of the door when closed won't be changed. Unless the cab had unrepaired damage when you got it I would not expect the frame to be twisted so the door can't close properly, getting the doors to close properly is collision repair job 1 and usually accomplished quickly and brutally before any sheet metal repair

maybe shimming one side of the hinge to cowl bolt up will test the idea of twisting pocket before you do it

[dsraven]

removing the upper hinge is a great idea. prolly gotta take the door off to do that so maybe apply some tape around the hinges first, then mark the hinge and tape with a sharp pencil or pen so that you know where it was BEFORE any new adjustments are made. if you remove the top hinge and stick the door back in place with the lower hinge you will be able to see if the door can be fit to your liking. if it can then maybe work on that top hinge. over the years that hinge may have been replaced and i think the factory was known for bending the original hinges as a last resort to get better fitment. that would mean even if your NEW hinge was a factory part the door wouldn't fit well. and then there is the aftermarket door issue for not being known as awesome fitters
also, possibly consider elongating the hinge bolt holes so the hinge can be moved inward more if needed. i can't remember now, do the hnges have a third bolt that holds the forward part of the cab side in the cab area or is it just the 2 visible bolts that you see when the door is opened? I know the TYF trucks have a third bolt at the front of the hinge. if there is, it may need to be lossened to get the hinge to move properly.
like LG syas, if the hinge needs to be bent it needs to be heated and put in a good sized vice to get the job done effectively
sorry man, I know it is hard to get things done when you have joint issues. i am always looking for a sky hook.

[mr48chev]

Personally I'd look for a hinge on a rotted out cab that had the doors fitting right and rebuild the hinge rather than use aftermarket hinges.

I agree 100% with Dsraven in that the first step is removing the striker from the door jamb and fit the door with it out of the game sitting on the bench.

I'd have to say that some of the stock hinges get sprung when the door flys open and around and hits the cowl and puts that big ugly crease in it.

I'm not to the point of knowing what I have for left over door parts right now Or I might have one out in the shed or on the orange 51 cab. When I get my cab to the point it doesn't need any more donor parts all the left overs will be up for sale or what ever.

[leegreen]

agreed, I rebuilt factory hinges with new pins, bushings and detent springs. It was a lot cheaper and the quality of the hinge arms in the repops felt poor when I looked at a pair.

[mr48chev]

When I went out to see if I could get a photo of Mt Adams today (clouds on top) I took a shot of the hinge in the orange 51 cab and the one in the 49 cab and you can see in the photo that the one in the 49 cab is so worn out that it sags sitting there.

[vintovka]

Tried bending the door top back with heavy duty binder straps with no luck. Has any one ever made up a jig that bolts into the upper hinge that could be used to pull or push the pocket back into place. I simple jig of 1/2" plate with a "lever" arm long and sturdy enougjh to be hammered or otherwise forced in??

[leegreen]

did you try fitting the door in the opening without hinges yet?

I'd start with that before bending anything.
and I'd bend the hinge before trying to bend anything else...in a vice, probably with heat. You can always buy a new hinge.

A plate to fit hinge holes with a pipe welded to it would bend the hinge pocket. I'd probably take some angles off the other side or another cab before proceeding with that

[dsraven]

I would have to agree with Leegreen on this one. maybe even see if somebody on here has the factory assembly manual where you could check to see if it shows a diagram with body dimensions. possibly there is a listed dimension for hinges mounting bolts from side to side, like the dimension from the right hand upper hinge to the left hand upper hinge. I think trying to bend the body as you say, with a bolt on plate and pipe snipe, may do damage to nearby sheet metal, tearing, cracking, creasing etc, that would be a big fix and/or cause the area to be less strong if that were to happen.
possibly a run past a good autobody shop for a show and tell would help gain some insight? bending the hinge in a vice is a good place to start otherwise. doing a corner to corner dimension check on the opposite door opening and then comparing those results with the bad door opening may also show discrepancies

[dsraven]

also, if you have access to a digital level, you could level and block the truck (side to side) and then check the angle from the lower to upper hinge bolts on the good door opening. then compare those to the bad door opening.

[dsraven]

if you remove the hinges and try the door fitment in the opening you could gain a little insight as to whether the cab is tweaked or if it is more of a hinge problem.

[jweb]

I had to bend my upper hinge like this
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...2&postcount=17

[vintovka]

Will try bending old hinge this way first. did you use heat or bend it cold? Anyway ill try swapping in the old bent hinge when i can get some help as i do not have the strength anymore to even remove the door. it will be a while - thanks to all for the advice.

[leegreen]

if you have an engine hoist you can rig something up.

open the window, lift from top of window frame with some padding on top of hoist, or with a strap around the door or a chain hooked into inner door structure.

no hoist? use a rope and couple pulleys, screw a hook into garage ceiling or throw a rope over a tree. Where there is a will there is a way

[vintovka]

Originally Posted by leegreen

if you have an engine hoist you can rig something up.

open the window, lift from top of window frame with some padding on top of hoist, or with a strap around the door or a chain hooked into inner door structure.

no hoist? use a rope and couple pulleys, screw a hook into garage ceiling or throw a rope over a tree. Where there is a will there is a way

Good ideas and will consider them. As you may see from previous posts am still pretty busted up.

[dsraven]

yeah, I understand that. it takes time to get healed up and then, even if you can get to doing the work, maybe you just wanna have it done and save any further injury etc. it's why i said to slide past a body shop and get their opinion. and, possibly a quote. no scratched paint (hopefully) and no sore muscles, just a door that fits and a quieter drive sooner. if you could find a shop somewhere close by that does old iron that would be best. likely somebody there has a clue how old vehicles work. lol.

[vintovka]

Sadly i only have one local i trust and hes so busy i have to wait my turn. Theres 2 other shops in town. One is only interested in $1000 up repairs and wont touch old iron. Last time there i overheard a him quote $2000 to change a headlight!!! The other is so stoned all the time you can get a freebee buzz just walking past his shop. Guess i will wait unless someone lives near Florence Oregon.

[jweb]

I would recommend drilling a few 1/8" holes through the door & hinge before removing.
Then you can use a few 1/8" bits to get it back to where you have it now.

This saves a ton of time and you won't see the holes, they'll be covered up.

[dsraven]

any nearby towns with somebody that can do the job? drive it there or trailer it there?
a good welder could maybe fix you up as well.
I often use a well supported overhead 3/4" airline in my shop to suspend a door while still on the vehicle. I tape the surrounding edges and the door with a few layers of tape, then mark the hinge location with whatever means is required, be that a drilled hole, tape and edge marking etc, then open the door, attach a ratchet strap to the upper window surround and gently take the weight of the door onto the strap. then unbolt or unpin the door to remove or replace the part. sometimes i also use a length of wood with a groove cut into it (that fits along the bottom edge of the door well) and a floor jack to support the door on the latch end to help it to not drop or allow the strap to shift positions in the window hole. sometimes a door will require complete removal so several ratchet straps will be required to keep the door level and to hold the door from swinging back into the opening once swung out of the way far enough to allow work to be done. i have changed a lot of door hinge pins and bushings this way over the years and also scrapped a few cars this way back when my kids were still home and needing written off cars for parts.
i work alone all the time so making use of what I have onhand to get assistance is a must. this could work for you if you have some method of hanging a sky hook in your work space. if using trusses for suspending heavy items I have used the steel beam section from a jackall/farm jack across the top of the lower chord of the trusses to spread the weight of the suspended object over more than one truss. the jackall beam is handy because it has those nice holes th use a shackle for connection of a lift mechanism like a ratchet strap. i wouldn't use this for stuff like engines or really heavy stuff, but it works well for lighter items that are awkward or too heavy to lift safely by myself.
just some thoghts that could help you get a hinge off so you could bend it yourself or have a helper or shop do the bending. i suggest to take a cardboard pattern of the original shape before you bend the hinge so that you can compare it to the other side or at least to the progile of the other hinge on the same door. maybe even do that before you remove the hinge to see if the upper sort of matches the lower. it could have been replaced but not angle matched to the old one.