Some of our trucks are a quarter century old, and this means wear and tear on parts we don’t think about, like door hinges. My front doors were getting hung up on the striker. Lifting the door revealed play in the hinges - enough to drop the latch about 1/8” below where it should engage the striker.
Based on a little research here, the root cause seems to be the hinge pins, which get worn down. There’s no adjustment by design, so replacing the hinge is the right long term fix. Some people have also fabricated new pins, but that would require removing the hinge to work on it, so at that point you may as well replace.
I started by supporting the door and putting a small amount of upward pressure on it.
Next, loosen the two 12mm bolts holding the lower hinge to the door. Don’t remove them all the way until you’re sure the door is held securely.
With a bit of a gap between the hinge and door, I slipped in a pair of 1mm thick washers to act as shims. It’s a little fiddly getting the washer to stay in place as you put the bolts back in, a thin putty knife helps.
Tighten up the bolts, and you’re done! Takes about 15 minutes per door, start to finish. The 1mm shim resulted in about 2-3mm of lift at the leading edge of the door, nearly exactly what it needed. I will probably go back and replace the washers with larger diameter rubber washers I later found, which will spread out the clamping force better and seal the slight gap I’ve introduced between the hinge and the door. I don’t want moisture creeping in.
If you need more than a couple mm of lift, I’d probably look at new hinges. It’s hard to say whether the wear is on the upper or lower, or both. Over-shimming will affect your panel gaps and just kick the problem down the road.
Based on a little research here, the root cause seems to be the hinge pins, which get worn down. There’s no adjustment by design, so replacing the hinge is the right long term fix. Some people have also fabricated new pins, but that would require removing the hinge to work on it, so at that point you may as well replace.
I started by supporting the door and putting a small amount of upward pressure on it.
Next, loosen the two 12mm bolts holding the lower hinge to the door. Don’t remove them all the way until you’re sure the door is held securely.
With a bit of a gap between the hinge and door, I slipped in a pair of 1mm thick washers to act as shims. It’s a little fiddly getting the washer to stay in place as you put the bolts back in, a thin putty knife helps.
Tighten up the bolts, and you’re done! Takes about 15 minutes per door, start to finish. The 1mm shim resulted in about 2-3mm of lift at the leading edge of the door, nearly exactly what it needed. I will probably go back and replace the washers with larger diameter rubber washers I later found, which will spread out the clamping force better and seal the slight gap I’ve introduced between the hinge and the door. I don’t want moisture creeping in.
If you need more than a couple mm of lift, I’d probably look at new hinges. It’s hard to say whether the wear is on the upper or lower, or both. Over-shimming will affect your panel gaps and just kick the problem down the road.
Last edited:
