New and Improved?

[Dibbons]

My driver's side hinge rebuild kit installation was kind of a half-failure. The door did not open smoothly and made a snapping sound. The leg that runs on the roller was not parallel to the ground but slanted up in the air some (see fotos). The angle caused one edge of the leg to cut a groove into the roller, instead of a wider surface distributing the load/wear like it should. I finally decided to remove it and correct the deficiencies.

 

[Dibbons]

• The first thing I did was fabricate a thicker leg at .250" (1/4 inch) to take up some of the play in the hinge slot where it fits. The rebuild kit leg was only a skinny .181" thick while the factory piece (which broke off at the weakest point) was .210" thick. (see fotos) I tried pinching the hinge slot closed (where the roll pin holds the leg) a little in a vice but it just sprung back to the original gap when I released it.

 

[Dibbons]

I drilled the hole in the leg for the roll pin with a #13 bit, the finished hole diameter is .185". The factory leg hole measured .189" and the rebuild kit leg hole measured .192", The tighter clearance should also help eliminate some slop (as long as things don't bind).

The 3/16" roll pin diameter should measure about .1875" theoretically, but the finished diameter is determined by how much they are compressed after passing through holes that secure them on both ends. The factory pins eventually always fall out, but they are not supposed to. On the passenger side hinge I recently tried to secure the roll pin for the cylinder roller on both ends with JB weld. On this driver's side hinge, I have not made up my mind yet how to prevent a future roll pin failure.

 

[Dibbons]

I noticed the cylinder shaped rollers measured the same diameter, factory vs rebuild kit at .622". However, the hole drilled for the roll pin is smaller in diameter in the factory roller at .200" vs .208" for the rebuild kit roller. The factory roller drilled hole is also chamfered while the kit roller is not. I decided to use an old roller from the passenger side door (which has very minimal wear) in place of the rebuild kit roller. The factory roller is a tiny bit shorter at 1.319" vs the kit roller at 1.358" but that does not really matter one way or the other. There should be less slop using the old factory roller. In the foto we see an optical illusion where the hole in the factory roller (on the right) looks larger, but that is just because of the shadow of the chamfer on the outer edge.

 

[Dibbons]

I will reuse the rebuild kit spring (the factory springs were lost on the road or a parking lot somewhere years ago when the factory stuff all cut loose). I would like to have a couple of spare springs on hand, but I cannot find anything similar online nor in the hardware stores. The rebuild kit spring measures 2.425" long (not compressed), .685" wide, and coil diameter is about .1496".

 

[Dibbons]

When recently installed, will the cylinder rollers eventually make a full 360 degree spin, or will they just roll part way back and forth? I intend to find out. I painted three vertical lines (different colors) equidistant apart on the roller so that I can observe what kind of spin it makes, if any.

 

[Dibbons]

The factory hinge metal measured .208" thick while the factory leg measured .210" so it seems they are both manufactured from the same gauge material (steel I suppose). The roll pins are 3/16" diameter, had to purchase them on-line, not even the local Home Depot had any on the shelf.

The main, large hinge pins in the rebuild kit are .339" to .342" in diameter while the factory hinge pins are about .342". I am using the kit bushings so no problem there, except for finding the "Z" drill bit (.413") so the bushings make a slight press fit.

 

[Dibbons]

Ready to put it back together, don't remember how but I'll figure it out.

 

[SureGrip]

Nice work.

I look forward to seeing how it turns out!

 

[Dibbons]

Now I have threaded the cylinder roll pin with a 4-40 tap for 3/16" screws on both ends and secured the fasteners with Loctite blue 243 (recommended for fasteners 1/4" - 3/4"). I did not have to drill the roll pin out for the tap because it was already hollow enough once it was inserted into the hinge holes.

The threads for the screws were not cut all that deep, but nevertheless, I will be surprised if the roll pins work themselves out. But one never knows in a case like this.