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Door gotta come off for repairs.....Tips?

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RICK212

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My daily driver '72 Blazer has rust damage above the upper hinge on the drivers door. It also has rust on the bottom of the door. The rest of the door is in great shape so I am not looking to replace it. I am going to weld the repair myself with new sheet metal. But....the door's gotta come off (oh joy, oh joy!).

Questions:

- Can the hinge pins be removed so the door stays alligned once placed back on the truck? It looks like the top of the pin can be ground off so the pin can be driven down and out. Yes or no??

- If the door must be removed with the hinge still attached, ...it appears an easier job by unbolting thr door from the hinge, not the hinge from the tub. Correct??

- How can I mark the door to ensure that the hinge is rebolted in the exact spot? I would "pin" the hinge but I can't get a drill in there since it is cramped space.

Any other tips or advice?

Thanks......Rick
 
Cant help you. but I had a busted pin bushing on my '84. I attempted to replace the pin myself, it was full of FAIL, never again. I ended up going to a body shop, paid 20bux and the did both sides. There are alot of things ill do my self, but hinge pins are not one of them. They had to use an air chisel to get the pass. side pin out.

You will need 2 ppl. Those doors are very heavy and you have to balance it, so be cautious.

Take pics and document your replaces and work, others may benefit, plus we just like to look at pictures. :D
 
DO NOT TAKE OUT THE A-PILLAR BOLTS!

just the ones to the door.. easy adjustment if need be.. in/out basically.. A-pillar adjustments are a nightmare..

just take a scribe to it, or hammer/punch to mark your locations...
 
i use an engine hoist and a ratchet strap around the window frame to hold mine while i put it on/ off
 
Like said scribe around the hinge or if you dont mind, spray paint the area before removal. If you had her painted before with the doors on you should make out all right. The markings will already be there.
 
The tech writeup on the main page here explains the general process pretty well. As some have said, DO NOT remove the bolts or the hinge bracket on the body side, mark the hinges on the door side from a few different angles (if your doors already line up correctly) to make it easier to realign. Once the doors are off, a sawzall will make quick work of the stock pins.

Keep in mind, new pins and bushings may "realign" the door for you, but you shouldn't need to adjust them on the door side anyway.
 
If this is for the 72, it doesn't really matter which hinge bolts you undo, but if you're repairing the pillar from rust, you'll have to take the hinges off the body anyway.

I'm in the middle of this myself and I'll warn you that what looks like "just a little rust" can really be a lot of rust once you open it up. Don't do it unless your committed to it.

Edit: you won't be able to remove the pins with the door on. You may not even be able to remove then with the door off. They can get rusted in pretty good and when you press them out, the hinges will bend and then be useless.
 
The sad part about the door is that it is in fine alignment, just the rust damage. I am a bit nurvous about what I may find behind the hinge on the door itself. I looked inside the door and the inside "appears" to be ok.

While the door is still mounted, I used a dremel and cut out two very thin layers of rusted sheet metal about two inches above the upper hinge. It looks like there are three layers of sheet metal near where the hinges are bolted on. I most likely will see if I can weld in some thicker metal support inside the door at the hinges to prevent any weakening.

I'll be taking the door off this Sunday morning. I'll take detailed photos to document the job. It seems like alot of our trucks have this same problem.

Rick
 
If you're talking about the rust inside of the door (and not the A-pillar) thats odd that there would be much rust up that high without a lot more being at the bottom. You can take off the inner door panel and shine a flashlight on the inside of the lower door hinge. The upper hinge is probably in similar shape so that would give you an idea of whats going on.

Is there some problem driving you to fix it? I ask because the rust inside the A-pillar is always worse than the doors in every truck I've look at. You might take a look at at a couple of the build threads in the 69-72 forum.

Take a look through this thread for pictures or what 40 year old trucks usually look like inside the a-pillar.
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=224462

Another:
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=237302

And here's mine (I'm doing similar repairs right now)
http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212062

And show some pictures when you do it.
 
Pics added of rust damage

I took this photos this morning. Does anyone make patch panels for thies two spots? If not...I'll just do some metal work.

Rick

picture.php


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Yea it's rusty. That upper area usually breaks before it rusts out. They do sell patch panels for the lower portion, but I haven't seen anything for above the upper hinge.

I was told once the upper hinge area breaks it's trash. But why not try and repair it?

Other options you have are to find a decent replacement or find a truck door and cut it down to make it a blazer door. This is what the factory did and the measurements are in the assembly manual.

They also sell reproduction doors, but I'm not sure how great they are.
 
I looks like an old battle scar from a previous owner right above my surgery opening. I'm going to remove the scar and see what is under it. I'm sure that I can make a better weld than that mess. It's not that someone may see the scar, it's my OCD and the fact that I will klnow that it is there.

Rick
 
Holy Crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well...I took off both doors and what a suprise for me! The drivers door was "not to bad" but the passenger door was REAL bad. The bottom had about a half inch of body work mud on it. The upper hinge area and upper frame area are rusted through.

I just got done chipping away and the door is shot. Tube doors are sounding pretty good as of right now. Got any pics of tube doors?

Maybe Obama will buy me new doors?:ears:

"Depressed" Rick :(:yikes:
 
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