What should I do with this door?

[Kennuck]

My drivers door has come loose at the top hinge mount and the sheet metal is cracked from the hinge down and across to the front door edge. The inner skin moves against the outer skin from this crack up to the window frame. If you look closely in the pics you can see where it has been rubbing together. Looks like it has been slammed open many times. It was a parts delivery truck for 41 years so its probably been opened millions of times.

Should I just weld this up or am I always going to be chasing this problem. I don't want to to have to revisit this issue again and again. Or should I just look for a replacement door. Other than this problem the door is in pretty good shape.

What do you guys think?

[BIG69GMC]

i would rather start with another door.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by BIG69GMC

i would rather start with another door.

x2

[marvgarr68]

Keep it original and weld it up

[Tinkermc]

time to get up your welder

[hugger6933]

I not trying to be smart but the ones say find another door must have a better place to find them than I do.I have three trucks that I am gonna build and I think maybe close to a dozen doors but I would weld that one up.I have one in the shop a 70 and the drivers door check had messed up and the door had been opened and backed into something causing damage to the front lip and the shell at the back and a dent on the inside between the hinge areas. The door bottom was really clean almost no rust looking back at me so my attack plan at first was to put pins on the damaged parts of the shell part of the door and pull it back into shape. Well, that was a no go, so my next plan was to cut the skin off and then hammer out the dents from the inside. That worked like a charm, But once I got the skin off it looked kinda bad inside so I think I may have it media blasted on the inside now before I put new skins on. The point is the doors are hard to find the new ones may fit but My labor is really cheap since the shop is slack so I'm bored basicly and have more time than new parts. Jim

[Steve Cole]

Weld it up. A good weld is stronger than original metal. Make sure it is a good Welder not a occasional hobbyist. Good rust free doors are hard to come by.

[Sammy]

I had a similar problem but on the latch side. Got a deal on a set of doors re-skinned that on replacement of the latch found some serious damage. The hinge side had been repaired looked like your door's damage. After some cutting from another door and some good welds it worked out just fine. Good doors are getting harder to find as more disappear all the time. If at all possible to salvage what you have try it.
Two pics showing what I dealt with..

[Kennuck]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Hugger thanks for your comments. After browsing the paint and body section it appears you are the go to guy on stuff like this so I appreciate your reply.

I guess I'm really not out anything if I go ahead and try to weld it up. My main concern is making sure the hinge mounting surface remains in the proper position to allow the door to fit properly. Any tips?

[Kennuck]

Originally Posted by Sammy

I had a similar problem but on the latch side. Got a deal on a set of doors re-skinned that on replacement of the latch found some serious damage. The hinge side had been repaired looked like your door's damage. After some cutting from another door and some good welds it worked out just fine. Good doors are getting harder to find as more disappear all the time. If at all possible to salvage what you have try it.
Two pics showing what I dealt with..

Sammy where you replaced this section did you weld the the inner to the outer skin. Spot welds or continuous?

[Sammy]

Outer skin spot welded about an inch between welds to hold it firmly then smoothed them out with the grinder. Unless pointed out barely can tell work was done to it.

[Kennuck]

I know this is an old thread but someone might appreciate an update. My body man looked at the door and didn't think it was bad at all. He had it whipped into shape in no time and it is real solid now. Glad I went this route and kept the original doors.

So if any of you guys face the same problem I say save it. To me it was worth taking it to a pro to do the work.