Door hinge question

[Stinger]

I read all of the threads I could find and drilled down on the ones that had links that went back 10+ years, but I still have a question. 

 

The driver's side door on my '49 doesn't close easily.  It feels like the lower hinge is binding in the last 3 inches of travel or so to close the door.  The fit looks tight at the bottom inside of the door and there is a little wear on the paint.  From what I read, it looks like the hinges themselves have a slot for each of the four bolts so that both upper and lower hinges can be moved in and out independently.  What I couldn't determine is if the hinge itself has a nut welded to it or do I have to get a wrench down in that small slot behind the kickplate on the lower hinge to hold a nut that is there?  I am recovering from surgery right now so I couldn't contort myself enough to see down in there.  I hope it is as simple as slowly backing out each of the four bolts on the jamb face side side and moving the door a small amount at a time until it closes properly and the fit looks okay from the outside when the door is closed.

[Los_Control]

I do not have any photos, old pc crashed a few years ago & lost what I had.

I can say the hinge is slotted & is adjustable ..... The metal plates for the door I do not think they are.

 

For me when I removed my doors, the top hinge plate on the passenger  side fell into the abyss .... It took a strong telescopic magnet to retrieve it.

So the bolts go through the sheet metal of the cab, through the slotted holes on the hinge then the drilled holes on the plates.

 

The plates are not welded to the cab, they are stuck to the cab by rust over the years. ...... The nuts are not welded.

 

I have my doors back on, I greased the slotted hinge, I still need to do final adjustments but they work as is for now.

[bkahler]

If I'm not mistaken there is a captive plate inside the A post that has threaded holes.  In the picture below you can see the lower hinge that slides into the A post.  You insert the bolts and tighten down as needed.  You should be able to slide the plate in and out to some degree for alignment purposes.  Don't be surprised if things seem to be frozen in place.  In this case a rust penetrant like PB Blaster or Kroil is your friend

 

I would have taken a picture of the A post but the truck is at the painters.....

 

 

 

Just found a picture of the upper hinge mounting, it's the same as the lower.

 

 

 

Found a shot of the lower hinge

 

 

 

Brad

Edited June 3, 2023 by bkahler

[Stinger]

Thanks Brad!  Can the hinges be moved independently of each other?  In other words,  can I just loosen the bottom hinge to move the bottom of the door without loosening the top hinge?  How heavy are the doors?  Can this be done with one person?  They don’t feel that heavy.

[bkahler]

The doors are heavy.  Even without the window parts installed they are heavy and awkward.  You should have no problem loosening just the bottom to move the lower half of the door out or in.  

 

It may take a little bit of smacking the door with a  rubber mallet to get it to move.  After x number of years it's going to be stiff and not want to move.

 

Good luck

 

[Stinger]

Thanks. I hope it’s not that difficult.  The truck was restored about 6 years ago so I’m hoping the rust hasn’t taken hold yet.  I asked the previous owner why he had not adjusted the door and he said that he did.  He adjusted it for the finished look when viewing from the outside.  He didn’t consider the fact that you had to slam the door to shut it an issue.  I would like to make it a better fit before I install the door rubber that he never did.

[ggdad1951]

Once happy, I'd still go back and loosen the other hinge (let it find it's new neutral position) and retighted as to not put undue loads/stress on it over the coming years and wear it oddly.

[Stinger]

Follow up:

I had my brother come over to give me a hand.  We loosened the bolts on the lower hinge a half turn and the door moved in and out easily.  We ended up moving it maybe a quarter inch.  The door was still binding and had to be slammed to close.  Fortunately having the extra set of eyes on the problem helped as my brother figured out the issue.  The previous owner had installed a dome light in the cab and the plunger style on/off switch was placed in the door jam and it was sticking out so far that it was hitting the leading edge of the door itself.  We took that switch out and the door closes nicely.  I never liked that dome light anyway as the light always came on when I opened the door to work inside the cab.  I had to tape the switch closed so that I didn’t drain the battery when I needed to leave the door open.  Because I have the new headliner kit from dcm to install I was going to have to remove the dome light anyway.  So…we pulled the dome light out and discovered that it was actually cheap plastic and the hot bulb had melted / burned part of the plastic.  It was a fire waiting to happen.  All in all a successful hour and a half.