Door hinges...what I learned today

[emac]

My rig is painted and back together. Doors have always shut well and solid. I replaced all the weatherstripping. When I drove it I noticed some creaking in the driver door. After trying several things I noticed a lot of play in the driver door hinges.

I bought new hinges. I learned that it is possible to change the hinges without removing the front fender, but it is a real pain. I used the arm of my lift to suspend the door. I unbolted the door and let it swing free. Replaced the hinges and put it back together. Tough getting it lined back up and adjusted. Tape the door and fender to keep from scuffing anything. It took me about 1.5 hours.

My advice: If your fenders are off replace the hinges!

 

[gregnash]

My rig is painted and back together. Doors have always shut well and solid. I replaced all the weatherstripping. When I drove it I noticed some creaking in the driver door. After trying several things I noticed a lot of play in the driver door hinges.

I bought new hinges. I learned that it is possible to change the hinges without removing the front fender, but it is a real pain. I used the arm of my lift to suspend the door. I unbolted the door and let it swing free. Replaced the hinges and put it back together. Tough getting it lined back up and adjusted. Tape the door and fender to keep from scuffing anything. It took me about 1.5 hours.

My advice: If your fenders are off replace the hinges!

Actually there is a special curved wrench that you can purchase to get the door off the hinge and then the hinge off the body. I have replaced/removed almost all of my doors with my only issue being that I mounted the body striker plate to far out so the door did not close fully.

 

[emac]

That may have been helpful for sure.

 

[SteveH]

I learned that the lower right (passenger's) front door hinge (typically showing little wear) can be flipped over and used as the upper driver's door hinge (typically showing a lot of wear). Agreed that they are no fun with the fenders installed!

 

[Spike Strip]

Yes. 12mm SST wrench. There is a much cheaper one that is identical I see sometimes on ebay.

JTC 12 mm S Type Wrench for Installing/ Removing Car Door Hinge Screws, JTC 4093 4712631143570 | eBay


https://toyota.service-solutions.com/en-US/Pages/ItemDetail.aspx?itemVID=132060

 

[emac]

That looks like it would have been helpful, thanks for posting it.

 

[gregnash]

Yes. 12mm SST wrench. There is a much cheaper one that is identical I see sometimes on ebay.

JTC 12 mm S Type Wrench for Installing/ Removing Car Door Hinge Screws, JTC 4093 4712631143570 | eBay


https://toyota.service-solutions.com/en-US/Pages/ItemDetail.aspx?itemVID=132060

Yup, the JTC one is what I purchased from ebay. Couldn't bring up the purchase for whatever reason.