Door hinges

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thinger2

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Sooo... how do you fix the holes that are out of round without replacing outright?

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Lots of ways. You can ream them out for bigger bronze bushings, you can put a bronze bushing in upside down and weld it then knock the bronze out you can even make a drill jig to relocate the hole then weld it shut and redrill it.
All kinds of ways.
But first, you need to find the slop.
Just a little bit of slack at the hinge will become a lot of slop 4 feet away.
They are just a real **** design and GM stuck with it for decades.
Google "gm sagging doors"
It aint just us. Its every gm since about 1968
 

RawbDidIt

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Lots of ways. You can ream them out for bigger bronze bushings, you can put a bronze bushing in upside down and weld it then knock the bronze out you can even make a drill jig to relocate the hole then weld it shut and redrill it.
All kinds of ways.
But first, you need to find the slop.
Just a little bit of slack at the hinge will become a lot of slop 4 feet away.
They are just a real **** design and GM stuck with it for decades.
Google "gm sagging doors"
It aint just us. Its every gm since about 1968
Yeah, I know it's a common problem, never knew of a different way to fix it besides replacing the hinge. This is the reason I make sure not to push down on the door when I step into the truck, and the main reason I got steps installed so people are less likely to do it on the passenger side as well. Thanks for the info, mine don't sag now, but I'm sure they will at some point.

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White96k2500

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Unless its been wrecked at some point. I would seriously take a hard look at fixing the hinges you have.
Dont worry about the door to fender alignment. The fender gets adjusted last.
Lokk at the door to b pillar and roof line.
The hinge pin kits at the stores are crap.
The bushings are made from whatever they chucked into the furnace that day and the pins are soft too..
Some of them even use plastic bushings and there is zero chance of them working.
The problem with bolt in replacements on any vehicle is that eventually they will also sag and are a whole lot harder to get at to readjust.
There is a good chance that the holes in the hinge are out of round enough that the bushings have already split or they have been pulled out of round from the weight.
So when you put a new bushing in, the door just pulls it back into the wear part of the hole and splits it.
If you put new bushings in and immediatly can lift up on the door and feel any play in it, that has nothing to do with a bent hinge.
Thats an out of round hole.
If you put new bushings in and didnt get any slop for a few days, thats the door being pulled up or down by riding on the striker and chewing up the bushing as you drive.
The hinges should hold the weight of the door but they have always been a problem on anything GM.
40 acres of door hanging off of a pencil
The striker should only hold it in and out, not up and down.
When you look at the striker, it should only be worn flat on the inside and outside. Not the top and bottom.
This is a real issue because if left untreated riding on the striker will crack and split the sheetmetal in a really not cool rectangular pattern all the way around the striker bolt, which may make it completely pull out of the b pillar and yeet your drunk friend right out the damn door and into the curb in front of a strip bar.
Not saying it will....But it could...
Lots of ways to fix this without cutting the welds.
Ya just have wallered out hinge holes.
The holes are out of round. Instantly i picked the door up and it moved and i was pissed. So your saying it would be better to fix them rather than replace?
 

thinger2

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The holes are out of round. Instantly i picked the door up and it moved and i was pissed. So your saying it would be better to fix them rather than replace?
Absolutly better beyond a doubt better to try to fix them. You can get it done over a weekend easy.
The whole taking out the dash thing is just a huge ball of **** waiting to happen.
Everbody who ever owned any kind of old gm truck or car has been through this.
Lots of ways to fix it and still have it run when yer done.
 

thinger2

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Yeah, I know it's a common problem, never knew of a different way to fix it besides replacing the hinge. This is the reason I make sure not to push down on the door when I step into the truck, and the main reason I got steps installed so people are less likely to do it on the passenger side as well. Thanks for the info, mine don't sag now, but I'm sure they will at some point.

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Yep. It got really bad with the 2nd gen camaros and firebirds. The doors on those are low enough that they really get leaned on when tall guys like me try to crawl in and out of those things.
I give mine a lift every now and then to see if the bushings are getting worn so I can replace them before the hole gets chewed up
 

White96k2500

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Absolutly better beyond a doubt better to try to fix them. You can get it done over a weekend easy.
The whole taking out the dash thing is just a huge ball of **** waiting to happen.
Everbody who ever owned any kind of old gm truck or car has been through this.
Lots of ways to fix it and still have it run when yer done.
What would be the easiest and effective way to fix them?
 

pieceofchevy

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Yeah, I know it's a common problem, never knew of a different way to fix it besides replacing the hinge. This is the reason I make sure not to push down on the door when I step into the truck, and the main reason I got steps installed so people are less likely to do it on the passenger side as well. Thanks for the info, mine don't sag now, but I'm sure they will at some point.

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when we get old lots of things start to sag.
 
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