Door sag

[Old Truck]

Needing to replace the pins/bushings on the driver's door. The hole for the top hinge lower bushing (larger one) is visually elongated and the door sags about 1/4 inch and rides up on the striker bolt. Enough wear on the latch to have a nice groove in it. National Parts and Abrasives make bushings that are .010 and .020 over sized. Not having a welder and knowing that welding might be the only way to fix it the right way, would it be better to have a shop replace the bushings/pins and roller pin? The bushings/pins on the passenger front door do not look to be worn, but the roller pin needs to be replaced and the arm needs to be replaced (it has worn at a bevel). So besides the bushings/pins, roller pin and striker bolt, I will need to get a new latch for the drivers door. All of the doors, both front and rear show some wear on the striker bolts and latches. When I was under the front end recently, I noticed that there was some frame damage from the previous owner so the frame might be tweeked; bought it used almost 18 years ago for 7K. It sits a lot and only has 210k miles on it, but is now needing some much needed TLC.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I would start with new pins, bushings, strikers, and replacing damaged door latches. Once you get those done, you still may have a misalignment. At that point, either consider taking it to a body shop, or if you're feeling the truck is too wore out to justify that, put a 2x4 under the door and jack it.

 

[alpinecrick]

Needing to replace the pins/bushings on the driver's door. The hole for the top hinge lower bushing (larger one) is visually elongated and the door sags about 1/4 inch and rides up on the striker bolt. Enough wear on the latch to have a nice groove in it. National Parts and Abrasives make bushings that are .010 and .020 over sized. Not having a welder and knowing that welding might be the only way to fix it the right way, would it be better to have a shop replace the bushings/pins and roller pin? The bushings/pins on the passenger front door do not look to be worn, but the roller pin needs to be replaced and the arm needs to be replaced (it has worn at a bevel). So besides the bushings/pins, roller pin and striker bolt, I will need to get a new latch for the drivers door. All of the doors, both front and rear show some wear on the striker bolts and latches. When I was under the front end recently, I noticed that there was some frame damage from the previous owner so the frame might be tweeked; bought it used almost 18 years ago for 7K. It sits a lot and only has 210k miles on it, but is now needing some much needed TLC.

The upper most hole in the top hinge on the DOOR side does not have a bushing. The upper bushing is located in the cab side upper hinge. When that bushing wears out the pin begins to wear on the upper DOOR hinge hole. Replacing the bushings--even with oversize bushings--will not address the elongated upper-most hole. That's why guys are welding the pin to the hole.

I welded mine but gave serious consideration to installing a bushing in that upper-most hole.

 

[TechNova]

Great detail in that. Awesome
The rolled edges are from the punch press.
Just about every bracket you ever see is punched and then formed on a press brake.
So, its starts out flat
When you look at any punched hole with a magnifying glass, the "punch side" is slightly rolled in and the other side, the "blowout side" is much more jagged.
The punch side is the only close to true hole size. Typically +.005, -.000
But the blowout side might be .015 or even .030
because of the die clearence
When the punch hits, it shears for roughly a third, then the tonnage spikes
and the slug breaks the rest of the material and blows out.
Called the "snap through"
But then, car parts are often design to be the same both ways.
Which means they are often formed backwards.
Happens all the friggen time.
So the bushing you thought you were pressing into the shear side, is in fact getting pressed into .030 or worse of blowout and barely if at all grips the shear.

Yes, I was a manufacturing Engineer for awhile, spec'ed and bought ironworker and punchpress. Punched or drilled holes are not very round. A reamer makes a more round hole. Usually the bushings with a knurled OD will compensate for the punched hole.

 

[stutaeng]

I would start with new pins, bushings, strikers, and replacing damaged door latches. Once you get those done, you still may have a misalignment. At that point, either consider taking it to a body shop, or if you're feeling the truck is too wore out to justify that, put a 2x4 under the door and jack it.

I tried this on my '00 K3500 CCLB. Only the drivers' door has this issue. I bought a set of pins an bushings and broke at least 3 sets trying to get them into the holes. I had to drill out the holes to make them fit. Unfortunately, that didn't solve the problem and bushings broke after being installed (they are soft and fragile anyways,) and lifting it with a 2x4 and floor jack didn't work either.

I thought about drilling new holes and getting some bushings from McMasterCarr and see if that works, but I'm living at the moment with it like that. BTW, these doors are HEAVY as heck, especially compared to the GMT-800 series, those also wear out the bushings, but not as bad. I suspect the weight is part of the problem on the GMT-400s.

 

[alpinecrick]

I tried this on my '00 K3500 CCLB. Only the drivers' door has this issue. I bought a set of pins an bushings and broke at least 3 sets trying to get them into the holes. I had to drill out the holes to make them fit. Unfortunately, that didn't solve the problem and bushings broke after being installed (they are soft and fragile anyways,) and lifting it with a 2x4 and floor jack didn't work either.

I thought about drilling new holes and getting some bushings from McMasterCarr and see if that works, but I'm living at the moment with it like that. BTW, these doors are HEAVY as heck, especially compared to the GMT-800 series, those also wear out the bushings, but not as bad. I suspect the weight is part of the problem on the GMT-400s.

The first time I broke a bushing until I figured out they were different sizes......

Using a bolt and nut as a press makes installing the bushings easy. Trying to pound them in is a 50-50 proposition. I know this.

Unless the elongated top pin hole is addressed the new bushings will break or begin sagging soon after installation.

The GMT 800's were designed with the third and fourth doors as standard--no need for the gigantic doors like the GMT 400's which probably were not originally designed to have the extra doors for the x-cabs. Remember, the third door dindn't come along until 95-96, thereabouts.

 

[TacosnBeer]

I ended up replacing my entire hinge. not fun but, not overly difficult. That said, I have done a lot over my time. The S10s were famous for the hinge pins going bad and if you let it go too long, just like the c10 and C1500 it does more damage over time. Makes you have to replace more like the hinges, latch and strikers....

 

[stutaeng]

That was my other idea: replace the hinges! Alignment may be tricky though. Are hinges sold somewhere?

Looking at the thread, looks like @someotherguy figured a simpler solution. I may try this soon. Mine is not a daily driver, but that sagging door is annoying as heck!

https://www.gmt400.com/threads/hinge-assembly-replacement.30507/

Also found this sort of recent article: https://www.hotrod.com/articles/chevy-truck-door-hinge-repair/

 

[alpinecrick]

Here's what Richard said on page 2 of this thread:

The "hack" - and yeah, it's a hack, but it works - is a little bit of welding. Go ahead and replace all your bushings and pins, *leave the retainers off the small end of the pins* - then check the hinges for slack. Door partially open, lift up/down at the rear edge of the door, if those holes are egged out then you'll have movement up and down.

Jack the door up gently with a block of wood against the flat part of the door shell so you don't bend the bottom seam, this will shift the gap the direction you need to work on. Grind a little clean spot on the small end of the pin and the immediately adjacent hinge area. Tack just enough weld in there to hold the pin to the hinge so that it doesn't fall slack when you let the jack loose.

The idea is you want to weld just enough to keep it together; if you do too much you'll regret it later if you ever need to replace the bushings again, or the door, because there's not much room to work in there to grind your weld out.

Trust me, this does work; done it to several customer's trucks in the past. The only time I ever saw one that this wouldn't fix was a truck where the door shell was actually cracked near the hinge; needed a replacement door. That was just a bit too much of the driver hefting himself in/out of the truck with his weight on the door.

Richard

 

[thinger2]

Yes, I was a manufacturing Engineer for awhile, spec'ed and bought ironworker and punchpress. Punched or drilled holes are not very round. A reamer makes a more round hole. Usually the bushings with a knurled OD will compensate for the punched hole.