Door / Hinge Problem - Looking for Advice

[srvivor71]

Ok. Today I was going to try to fix whatever was making my drivers door so hard to close. You pretty much need to slam it every time. I have known I had an issue with the upper hinge and after experimenting with the latch and striker decided the hinge was the problem.

What I found is that the hinge itself looks fine but the door metal is actually bent (see pic). It must have been caught by a really bad wind some time in the past.

I decided to take the door off and try to bang the metal back into shape, and maybe install a reinforcing plate inside the door. I put a motorcycle lift under the door to support it and started taking out the hinge bolts. I removed all except one on each hinge when it occurred to me that the swing limiter (I don't know the real name) is probably going to need to come off before the door will come off. Well that stopped me dead in my tracks. I couldn't get it off to save my life. I saw there is like a retaining pin in the top of the hinge. I tried to get it out but was afraid I was going to bung it up or beat it to death.

Here's a pic of the problem. The colored parts are what I'm calling the swing limiter and the retaining pin.


So my first question is how the hell do you get the swing limiter off? Once I get that off, I need to deal with the deformed metal. It also appears to be pretty fatigued - it flexes when the door is pushed back and forth. How about abandoning that hole and drilling out a new one on the top of the hinge? Does anyone have any good ideas or experience dealing with this problem? I'd like to hear from you.