Door hinges?

jmustian

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My drivers door sits lower than the trim chrome and body. Pass side does not. I loosened all hinge bolts on frame side, jacked up door, and the tightened bolts. Almost no change. I loosened all hinge bolts on door and did same thing. I may have raised the door 1/8 inch. Front to back spacing is good. Both front edge and rear edge of door are both law same distance. Still close to 1/4 inch low. Any thoughts? I didnt find anything bent or damaged.

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Hinge pins AND related bushings, while things are a part. Are the B-body items the same as the C-body items? Any recommendations?

The doors are heavy, so their swinging on the pins/bushings over time, will result in wear. Reason the lh door items usually show wear first.

ALSO, when you open the door from the inside, use your elbow/forearm to push OUT and not OUT and DOWN. I observed and realized that almost everybody, approaching a door to push it open, pushes down before they push the door open. Hinge assy wear results. Same with car doors, too.

I guess we push down first, as if to show the door who is boss, before we push the door open? Once you re-learn the behavior to not push down first, doors open easier and faster, too!

IF you readjust the door position, also be sure to not overly-disturb the weatherstrip sealing when doing so. Don't need another problem after fixing the other problem.

Just my experiences,
CBODY67
 
Looks like the door is to far forward in the opening (the paint chips verify that). Gaps should be consistent front/back. When the door is opened, can you pick up the handle end? Does the feel loose/rock? If so, the hinge pins are probably the culprit. When the door closes it should strike the pin and raise up maybe a 1/16 inch. A service manual covers this procedure.
Omni
 
This adjustment is where the hinge bolts to the body. I'm not sure you'll get enough out of the hinge to door bolts.


Alan
 
Looks like the door is to far forward in the opening (the paint chips verify that). Gaps should be consistent front/back. When the door is opened, can you pick up the handle end? Does the feel loose/rock? If so, the hinge pins are probably the culprit. When the door closes it should strike the pin and raise up maybe a 1/16 inch. A service manual covers this procedure.
Omni
Good info! Thanks!
 
Looks like the door is to far forward in the opening (the paint chips verify that). Gaps should be consistent front/back. When the door is opened, can you pick up the handle end? Does the feel loose/rock? If so, the hinge pins are probably the culprit. When the door closes it should strike the pin and raise up maybe a 1/16 inch. A service manual covers this procedure.
Omni
The bumper appears to have pushed something and pushed the fender back at some time and then the fender was readjusted because of hitting the door.
You cant raise the door by the handle and all the bushings are tight. What i cant figure is the door dont sag, its evenly lowered at handle end and hinge. Im going to assume that whatever happened to the bumper and fender has bent something else. Everything seems fine and tight except for the door being low. Im going to remove the door and replace the bushing and maybe add shims. Lots of great ideas on this post.
 
The striker could be forcing the door down on the right side. Take the striker off and align the door to get the body lines right, then install the striker and adjust the close. If the hinge pins and bushings are worn this will have to be corrected first. Check the hinge for play by lifting the door on the handle side.
 
The striker could be forcing the door down on the right side. Take the striker off and align the door to get the body lines right, then install the striker and adjust the close. If the hinge pins and bushings are worn this will have to be corrected first. Check the hinge for play by lifting the door on the handle side.
The striker is set higher to apparently hold the door higher when closed. All the pins and bushings are tight. Have tried adjusting door and cant get it any higher. Im thinking something is bent. Hinges? Hine pillar?
Think im gonna try shims in bushings.
 
If the bumper shows some sort of prior impact, you might look at its mounting brackets (comparing each side) for bent areas. Plus where the fender attaches to the core support and the cowl attachments, too. I suspect that if the fender got moved back 1/8" or so, then there should be some evidence in other places. So carefully compare both sides of the car with a tape measure. In many cases, they did not match exactly, but matched cosmetically with the doors' body lines and such.

I don't recall any "shims" being used on the door hinges, as they usually had mounting slots with enough movement in the caged areas the bolts screwed into, BUT the strikers always had shims under them, to move the striker forward. Our '66 Newport 4-dr Town Sedan has a couple on the lh frt door and it seems that all of the "striker bolt" strikers ('69+) usually had shim washers behind them, all to move the striker forward.

Considering that is a convertible, what condition are the door wedges in and are they in "near-contact" to each other? Should be some shims under them too, IIRC. Those wedges are there to help limit body flex on rough roads, even on Gen II Camaros with T-tops.

Might not be anything which is very significant initially, but slight bends and movements which might not be initially apparent to the untrained eye. Start at the front bumper and move backward in the progression of where the forces stopped.

Just some thoughts. Please keep us posted on what you might find.

Take care,
CBODY67
 
You have a narrow gap in the front and a wide gap in the rear. They are both pretty even from what I can tell in the pictures. Looks like it should just be a matter of proper adjustment. There's no secret to adjusting it, it's just trial and error. first you need to loosen the hinges on the body and move the door back and up. After you get that see what you have. the adjustments on the door are for in and out. And yes remove the striker so it isn't changing the position of the door.
 
I did loosen all the bolts and raised the door. It came up only about an 1/8 inch to what you see in the picture. I forgot to move it back some so ill try that tomorrow.
 
I did loosen all the bolts and raised the door. It came up only about an 1/8 inch to what you see in the picture. I forgot to move it back some so ill try that tomorrow.
What I would do is remove the door and then you should get more movement upward of the hinges on the body. I just don't see any reason why the hinges won't go up.
 
If I were faced with this issue, I would pull the fender to gain easy access to the hinges. Hinge to body and hinge to door. Get the door aligned first focusing on the door quarter and bottom gap, then work on the fender.
It appears the fender is too far back at the bottom but aligned close with the hood. Moving the bottom of the fender forward would improve your gap. Good luck.
 
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If I were faced with this issue, I would pull the fender to gain easy access to the hinges. Hinge to body and hinge to door. Get the door aligned first then work on the fender.
It appears the fender is too far back at the bottom but aligned close with the hood. Moving the bottom of the fender forward would improve your gap. Good luck.
I will soon as im well. I noticed the fender and front bumper on that side are too close. Dont see any damage but may have to loosen bumper and reposition it and the fender.
 
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