Fj-55 Door Hinge Rebuild With Grease Fitting

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Installing the Hinges

Install the upper rear hinges using an allen cap screw in place of the hex head for that low clearance issue. The pictures show installed Driver side rear hinges. Yippy!
upperrear.webp
lowerrear.webp
 
The Final Test

Give er some grease. But do it in a quite place so you can hear the air hiss out of your brand new greasable hinges. Practice makes perfect. This is the second set I have completed. The second set were built with better precision. When I put grease into the first set (drivers door) there was some resistance to the introduction of the grease. On the back hinges there was alot of resistance. I had to hold the grease gun nozzle firmly in place and pump slowly. Finally saw a little grease ooze out from the nylon washers. I suspect that this was caused by the weight bearing washers being too snug between the hinge and the stay. With the drivers door, I believe the normal wear from the drivers doors' greater use allowed enough gap for easier air release. I used the same thickness washers on all four hinges. Anyways, give yourself a treat. Fill the hinges with grease in a quite place so you can hear the air hiss out of your new hinges. Oh baby!
 
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Notes on Door Installation

Do you ever wonder where your hardware goes when it dies? I don't. At least, not any more. Come on sing it with me. O my darling Clemintine. Ok, something useful. When installing the door, install the hinges onto the door first. Move the lower hinge into the closed position. Load the door into place, latching it. Install mounting bolts.
 
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Work and Effort Estimate

Planning on doing all four doors? My estimate, a full brake job with store bought hydros plus a brake booster rebuild and add a full bearing replacement to your rockers.
 
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n2666s said:
Got the SOR rebuild in tonight, the rebuilt hinge pin is 8mms; stock ones seem to be around 7.5 mms, but mine had a lot of corrosion.

Lou
Click to expand...
Thanks Lou. I just finished the thread. Loads of changes. Hope it helps and good luck. If you See anything you want to add or need to ask questions I will try and pay attention to this thread for the next few days. If you think it will help. I will give you my #. You then could phone to get quicker answers.

Richard
 
Im sure I will have some by the time I get my tools all set up, hopefully by this weekend. I'm definitely an armchair ranger when it comes to reaming.
 
Materials and Tooling

Oil hardened Drill rod commonly comes in the sizes 3/8" and 13/32" The stock hinge strap hole diameter is close to 3/8" If ther is alot of wear or rust then reaming for the 3/8" diameter drill rod might not be possible. Therefore you might be forced to use the 13/32" drill rod. Unfotunately, all of the adjustable hand reamers I have seen break at 3/8" therefore you could buy a 3/8" to 13/32" adjustable hand reamer to cover both sizes. I would not recomend that size for making the 3/8" hole size. The reamers just do not work well at their lowest settings. Bringing up the possibility of having to buy two seperate reamers to complete this task. I bought the Chadwick reamer, it cost me $60. You probably could track down a carbon steel blade adjustable hand reamer for considerably less. So, you might want to consider going with the 13/32" drill rod alleviating the need for two reamers if you have to go with a larger hole. Don't know for sure but bet you will have room for the 13/32" drill rod in the upper rear hinges ( they are the most problematic). So below I have generated a materials and tooling list along with the contacts I used to aquire them.

OIL HARDENED Drill rod in sizes 3/8" and 13/32" Pacific Machinery, www.pmtsco.com

Adjustable hand reamers: in sizes (107-5A (11/32 to 3/8), 108-4A(3/8 to 13/32)). Chadwick @ Trefethen. www.Chadwickreamers.com, www.Halltool.com

Drills: #4 center drill, 118 deg twist drills sizes 9.5mm and Y. Halltool.com

Weight bushings: nylon washers outside diameter 5/8" in various thickness. quantity of 32 per thickness.

Allen head set screws: 1/4-28 in lengths 1/4" and 1/2". Quantity 16 per size.

Stainless steel allen head cap screw: size 8mm X 1.25 length is 1"? I don't know for sure.

Zerk fittings: Forget the straight fittings. Use the 1/4 X 28 45deg and 90deg fittings. looks like eliminates teh drive in type

Good luck!
 
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awesome, awesome, awesome.

great thread! this has a ton of information in it. Now I just need to read through it 4 or 5 times so that I can understand/comprehend every thing in it. :doh:

*ok done reading several times*

Now to convince the wife to let me buy a bunch of new fun tools. :bounce:
 
I have gone several months now with the drivers door modified hinges. I decided to remove, inspect and replace the straight fittings with 45 deg zerk fittings. They might be the best choice all around. Inspection of the now used pin showed some light signs of scoring on the pin surface. I suspect that this scoring is caused by me installing the hinges without lubibg tham first. A worst case test I suppose. In any case, the oil hardened drill rod might be too soft for long term reliability.The dark areas on the pin are mostly grease deposits. Scoring is very light.
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rsbcruiser said:
In any case, the oil hardened drill rod might be too soft for long term reliability.The dark areas on the pin are mostly grease deposits. Scoring is very light.
Click to expand...

What would you suggest for a material to use on the pins then?
 
not bad at all, again depends on how many months/cycles they were in place; would rather the pin be scored than the cast iron hinge...........my 0.02

Lou
 
Trollhole said:
X2

Pin need to be expendable
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That was my thinking TH, maybe. That cast iron is fairly abrasive. Maybe the only change needed is a lower viscosity grease. When you put together a tight hinge it is hard to get the grease in there. Too me all of this is a long term experiment. Ol n2666s tells me he has plenty of 55 hinges. He done showed his 55 parts coveting souls' weakness. Maybe gettin my curmudginy mits on some new hinges to trash.
 
rsbcruiser said:
That cast iron is fairly abrasive. Maybe the only change needed is a lower viscosity grease. When you put together a tight hinge it is hard to get the grease in there.
Click to expand...

Why not polish the inside of the hinge where it pivots on the pin before assembly? That should help with the roughness and would have to increase the life as the pin wouldn't be doing the polishing.
 
cruiser_guy said:
Why not polish the inside of the hinge where it pivots on the pin before assembly? That should help with the roughness and would have to increase the life as the pin wouldn't be doing the polishing.
Click to expand...
Considered that, When you polish in there you take your dimensional stability in your own hands, literally. Most surface improvement efforts will result in coning. A worst case condition. If you are mucho careful maybe. Hey, you guys get those photos I sent? I think you were still in Guatemala then. Issue with pin hardness relates back to manufacturing. The harder the pin the harder it will be for your garage level machinist to make. Bet it is a non-issue caused by me installing the hinges before lubing. Anycase, Trollhole is right "their disposable". Lower visc lube the simple solution.
 
I'm in Guatemala most of the time!! They do their work here on a proper lathe and can do some pretty good work. I'm going to see what it might be for making those pins and perhaps polishing the hinge at the same time (on the lathe though so it is straight and true).
 
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