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Sagging doors and hinge pin replacement

13K views 27 replies 11 participants last post by  zjrog 
#1 ·
Anyone ever had an issue with their front driver door sagging and not closing properly? The door is aligned properly. far as I can tell the pin is worn.

I went to the dealership this afternoon and figured I'd just buy a hinge and swap it out - then I got the price and was told it involves welding.

So I thought-why not just pop out the pin and was told I can't. This came straight from the body shop tech.

So what can I do? I haven't pulled the door off to really look at it - I figured I'd try here before I turn any bolts.

I can't believe that the door pins don't come out. They are pictured on the dealer tech sheet.

Anyone?
 
#2 ·
Since I have the same problem, I was hoping to just replace the hinge pin and bushings, like I have in other cars.

I need to go out and look at the door again anyway, but I am kind of hoping to do this next spring, because I want to drive around without the doors for a weekend anyway [smilie=bal_cool.gif]

I'll go look when I get home and see what is involved.
 
#3 ·
That's exactly what I thought. The dude at the parts counter couldn't connect two words together. It was like pulling teeth to get him to look up the parts at all. He had me totally confused.

All the doors I've worked on, the pin got pulled, new one popped in. I can't believe that it's that complicated.

I'm going to check it out closer myself but it's colder than snot out here in CT with the wind chill outside. I'll wait til it's a bit warmer out.
 
#4 ·
#6 ·
Update.

Just got a confirmation from a club member. Door hinges are not serviceable. The fix is to cut hinge from door and weld new one on.

I'm cutting my pins removing them and using whatever I can to replace them. Mine will be servicable when I'm done. DC/Jeep gets an "F" for this one.

What a stupid design for such a highly modifiable vehicle and such a high wear part.
 
#8 ·
Yeah, your hinge has prbably broken the sheet metal, thats exactly what my door has done, I imagine a good welder and a support piece inside the door would fix it. I just took the door stop spring out and it took the stress off of the hinge, it won't hold open but it doesn't pop everytime I shut it now.. temp fix for a permanent problem. And I agree this is the #2 of all designs for door hinges.
 
#10 ·
BS. they are replaceable, just not very conveniently. Here is something I found on this forum.
jasone said:
The hinges are not hard to rebuild, if I remember right the factory pins are crushed at both ends, so you'll have to grind off the top on the old top pin then drive it out the bottom, do only one at a time, replace the bushing and the pins, there are 2 bushings and one pin per hinge, after you replace the bushings slide the pin in from the bottom on the top hinge and give it a tack weld (pin to the hinge itself to keep it from sliding back out). The bottom hinge I think you can take it out from the top of hinge so grind of the bottom of the crushed pin end and drive it up, again replace the bushings and the pin, I would also tack weld the pin to the hinge here to just to be safe. Have to go to the stealer-ship for the parts, be careful with the bushings the are coated with something. Oh and place a floor jack under the door edge to keep it from dropping on you. Good luck, Its not to hard, takes about half hour or so. I'm not to sure if I would place a piece of metal in there you might have trouble lining up the latch, plus I think there is already some reinforcing material in there ( not sure its been awhile since I took one apart). Don't replace the whole hinge they are welded to the door and A piller.
He says you can get them at the dealer, if they give you a hard time you can have autozone order them.

Motormite P/N 38422.
https://www.dormanproducts.com/cgi-...=ALL&vsrch_cat=ALL&vsrch_range=ALL&vTime=9492

Kevin C.
 
#17 ·
kevinc said:
BS. they are replaceable, just not very conveniently. Here is something I found on this forum.
But if the welds are broken on the hinges where they connect to the door and A-pillar then the pins will do you no good. I would say the welds breaking are more common on these than the pins going bad, I could be wrong. I took the spring out for the time so that it wouldn't worsen the problem. Just by the design of these doors and their hinges I would say check your welds around hinges. It won't be obvious but push your door and watch the hinge and pin as you move the door back and forth.
 
#18 ·
On my '95 ZJ if the door is lifted up and down there is movement only by the pins. Seems like where the hinges attach to the door and body are still solid. Though I would really like to learn how to weld!
 
#19 ·
I recently replaced my drivers side door hinge pins. Had vertical movement with a popping sound. I removed the door and inspected the hinge. The press in bushings had wallowed out. I used a dermal and ground of one end to pop them out. I ran int a problem on the upper hinge though. You need to grind of the top side on the uppers otherwise you can't fully knock them out. this is a pretty easy task to do just take your time with the grinding. One last item to mentioned is that the replacement pins have a tendency to back out after a time. I used some JB weld and it has held to this point. The popping sound didn't go away and after inspecting it again found that the rollers are worn and that is what causes the sound for me. I just keep putting spray lithium on them and it goes away for a time.
 
#20 ·
Shadow wrote: I removed the door and inspected the hinge.

Shadow,

To remove the door - the four bolts come off?

Did you find any alignment issues when reinstalling the door?

Thanks!
 
#21 ·
No! Those 4 bolt just attach the door to the other half of the hing the bolt to adjust the door are on the backside of the hing that mounts to the body.
 
#23 ·
First thing to get disconnected is the elect.connector. Then I used a set of jack stands to support the door while I removed the 4 bolts that hold the hinge together. After that just use some sawhorses or a table, a ladder is helpful because of the mirror, and a blanket of some sort. Just take your time grinding. My jeep is my baby (the wife hates that) so I can be very cautious when doing this kind of work.
 
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