67mopar
New Member
My drivers door sagging on my 2 door, not very much but scraping the top of the striker. can i adjust the door? do i need to change the hinge pins and bushings, is it hard to do?
Drivers door sagging
- Thread starter 67mopar
- Start date
Per the FSM, the door should just drop slightly when it opens and also be raised just a small bit when it closes against the striker. You can try adjusting the top hinge at the cowl location, but if the hinge pin/bushings have much wear on them, replacing them is the only way to make things better.
Many times, the weight of the door wears the hinge pins, BUT how we open the door from the inside affects things, too. It seems to be human nature, to ensure the door opens, that we ph=ush down on the armrest as we open the door. Thereby wearing the bushings quicker. Learn to just push outward with your elbow only, not push down on the armrest. That will make things last longer, just as putting some quality spray lube on the bushings in the hinges.
I've seen the bushings and pin kits for sale somewhere, but don't recall where. By observation, GM pickup trucks are much worse about wearing hinge pins/bushings, with the door being very hard to shut as a result, until the pins/bushings are renewed.
To change, you'll probably need a helper and a floor jack to support/stabilize the door with the hinge removed. THEN, the trick will be to get the factory "paint lines" lined up again when you put the hinges back on the door and cowl. I suspect the most wear will be in the top hinge, so concentrate on doing that one first. Maybe not need to do the bottom hinge at all?
Just some thoughts and observations,
CBODY67
Many times, the weight of the door wears the hinge pins, BUT how we open the door from the inside affects things, too. It seems to be human nature, to ensure the door opens, that we ph=ush down on the armrest as we open the door. Thereby wearing the bushings quicker. Learn to just push outward with your elbow only, not push down on the armrest. That will make things last longer, just as putting some quality spray lube on the bushings in the hinges.
I've seen the bushings and pin kits for sale somewhere, but don't recall where. By observation, GM pickup trucks are much worse about wearing hinge pins/bushings, with the door being very hard to shut as a result, until the pins/bushings are renewed.
To change, you'll probably need a helper and a floor jack to support/stabilize the door with the hinge removed. THEN, the trick will be to get the factory "paint lines" lined up again when you put the hinges back on the door and cowl. I suspect the most wear will be in the top hinge, so concentrate on doing that one first. Maybe not need to do the bottom hinge at all?
Just some thoughts and observations,
CBODY67
The hinges are attached to a slotted mount on the door pillar. If they are not badly rusted, you can take the bolts loose and slide the top hinge forward to raise the door. Before doing that, grab the base of the door and lift, if you have more than about 1/16" of up and down movement you should replace the hinge pins. The door striker is also adjustable, so you might want to see if you can raise it enough to stop the scraping. The striker unscrews and has about 1/8" of adjustment.
Dave
Generally the lower hinge is the one that wears. So moving the lower hinge to the rear at the body will have the door back up where it should be. I do this many times on old mopars, works great. But there is a point that the hinge wear is too much and this won’t work.
Moving the top hinge will get you there, but now the door will be too far forward and may want to bind at the wing window fram to the A pillar. Amd the bolts are much harder to get at to loosen and tighten.
Moving the top hinge will get you there, but now the door will be too far forward and may want to bind at the wing window fram to the A pillar. Amd the bolts are much harder to get at to loosen and tighten.
I used to 'cheat' and install thin fender shims between the lower hinge and the door itself.
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