Door sagging, but can't drive in new pins!

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Schurkey

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Perhaps a moderator will move this out of the Engine section and into Paint, Body, Detailing.

What us that Lisle 65800 supposed to do or how does it work?
It's a hinge-bender.

Thousands of years ago, I had an employer that taught me to use a 2x4 chunk in the door hinge area, then force the door closed until the hinge submitted.
 

sewlow

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Whatever happened with this door hinge design?
Y'know...the type that was bolted to the doors & body.
Floating encapsulated nuts = infinite adjustability.

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Bonded hinges? WTF? Did some ex-Ford engineer have a finger in that design pie?
I understand why. But...why? 12 bolts per unit probably saved GM millions.
But from a maintenance/repair standpoint though, it's a stupid concept.

Here's an old school trick you could try.
Use a floor jack.
Put a 2x4 just a bit shorter than the length of the door between the jack and the bottom of the door to spread the load. NOT on the lower body edge of the door. On the wider, flat part.
Position the jack more towards the rear of the door. Make sure that the jack's pad isn't contacting that thinner lower body edge. If the pad is touching, it could curl or bend that sheet metal.
Jack it up a little at a time. Easier to lift a little more than it is to lower it to the right height if you go too far.
This throws some torque at the lower hinge's brackets, tweaking them just that little bit required to raise the rear of the door back to where it needs to be.
Check the fit after each adjustment.
 

0xDEADBEEF

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Thanks. I ended up taking them out and filing them. They were 0.040 (may have decimal in wrong place) and brought them down to a 0.0393 and it was just enough to be able to drive them in with great force. Pins and bushings are all in super tight and it made little difference, door still sags.

I just received a Lisle 65800 in the mail today, and I'll see if i can finally get this straightened out.

Just get a floor jack and a block of wood and jack up the door while it's open.
 

stutaeng

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So that tool adjusts the striker? I now recall I had looked into it. I thought it bent the hinges back at the door?

I tried the jack and piece of block to try to lift my door when I changed the bushings (bushings broke within a few days after that though!), but it didn't work for me. At some point I felt like I on the brink of breaking/folding something...:(

I think the problem is these doors are so darn heavy for the hinges they provided...
 

Stringer

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So that tool adjusts the striker? I now recall I had looked into it. I thought it bent the hinges back at the door?

I tried the jack and piece of block to try to lift my door when I changed the bushings (bushings broke within a few days after that though!), but it didn't work for me. At some point I felt like I on the brink of breaking/folding something...:(

I think the problem is these doors are so darn heavy for the hinges they provided...
no it should adjust the hinge.

yes i had the same experience with jack and 2x4
 

someotherguy

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By "adjust" you mean "bend" - that tool bends whatever will give way first.

This might be the door shell itself (which can crack near the hinge; seen it)
This might be the cab around the striker (which can crack; seen it)

If the door shell is original to your truck (or from a very close year model donor) and you're having that hard of a time making it fit correctly again, something is either really wrong or you've missed a step somewhere along the way. Time to re-set and look at it again, look at everything, because while these doors can get badly out of alignment it really isn't rocket science to get them straight again.

Richard
 
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