Door Hinge Pin Replacement

C

Cyboman

Registered User
Can anyone tell me the best procedure for replacing the lower hinge pin and bushing on the driver's door? I did this once on a Mustang and it was not fun!

Michael
 
I just replace the entire hinge....:p

The interior nuts are fairly easy to get to.....

Just be glad you are not replacing the top hinge.....:mad:
 
^^^ You dont even know how right he is, i had to do that last year on my 94 SC. Anyways i found the easy way was pull the headlight and fender, then cut the pin and replace it along with new bushings.
 
TBird666 said:
^^^ You dont even know how right he is, i had to do that last year on my 94 SC. Anyways i found the easy way was pull the headlight and fender, then cut the pin and replace it along with new bushings.
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I used a body shop to replace the top driver's door hinge on my '97 LX. They pulled the dash to get to those bolts. Yes, it cost a fortune in labor.

When my son's '94 LX needed an upper driver's door hinge, I took it to a local mechanic's shop. (Same one where we built two SC engines for my car.) They changed the hinge without pulling the dash - but ended up removing the door completely and reinstalling. That wasn't cheap either - but some $300 in labor less than pulling the dash.

eddie
'90 5-speed SC
'97 LX sport
 
I have changed the pins and bushings on all 4 of my tbirds (upper and lower) without pulling the dash or removing the doors completly. All you have to do is get Help pin kits, cut the pin in half, remove and then reinstall. Last set took me less then an hour to do.
 
rzimmerl said:
I have changed the pins and bushings on all 4 of my tbirds (upper and lower) without pulling the dash or removing the doors completly. All you have to do is get Help pin kits, cut the pin in half, remove and then reinstall. Last set took me less then an hour to do.
Click to expand...

+1 ... It's a tight squeeze, but definitely easiest.
 
rzimmerl said:
I have changed the pins and bushings on all 4 of my tbirds (upper and lower) without pulling the dash or removing the doors completly. All you have to do is get Help pin kits, cut the pin in half, remove and then reinstall. Last set took me less then an hour to do.
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Did you do this on the ground, or with the car in the air on a lift?

Michael
 
Car on the ground. Block of wood under door with rope from top of door to garage rafter to aid in balance of the door.
 
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"HELP" hinge replacement kit?

kendall221 said:
Watch this YouTube video. I used a Dremel tool to grind off the head of the pin. Very easy. You don't have to take the hinge off. I supported the door with a floor jack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVVozUkfDO4
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Where is the hinge replacement kit from? It looks like "Help" in the video. I did a search on this name and didn't find anything.

Nice visual and seems a simpler process than the one outlined in the MN12 Performance article. It would seem like one would still want to mark the hinge location on the door, top and bottom before starting so this could be the reference to where to start the alignment of the door after the hinge repair.

A detail, it would seem cutting the pin in the center and driving it out would reduce the chance of grinding off paint on the top side of the hinge when removing the old pin.

I would also add protection to the fender and door leading edge to prevent chipping if the door got away from me.

Great to see that some are taking the time to picture the process so others can get a better understanding of the task before tackling it themselves.
-Dave
 
You can go to the www.dormanproducts.com website and search by auto and category to find the #. If you go that route, you probably have to buy the hing pin and brass bushings in one pack and the roller in a separate pack.

I also found them on Ebay by searching on thunderbird hinge kit. Supercoupeperformance and spinning wheels has done all the work and when you buy their kit, they have everything there together, but it's a little bit pricier then buying the parts separately.

In response to the comment about grinding off the paint, yes I ended up grinding a little bit of paint off, but I just got some primer and scratch/chip paint and fixed it. To me, this is alot easier than trying to get to the nuts from the inside to remove the hinge. I thought that was going to be the hard part. And without removing the hinge, I never figured out a way to get a saw blade in there to cut the hinge pin in the middle. But, it's your car, so it's your decision on how to do it.

Good luck.
 
I just got a used pair of door strikers.

Have a couple of the door hinge pins from HELP

now I need the roller/pin kit.

Is that ALSO available from HELP... haven't looked yet.
 
HELP #38350 is for the roller and it's pin. Does anyone know the HELP # for the door hinge kit?

Michael
 
Dorman Hinge Pin Numbers

Dorman 38438 1 door hinge pin, (1) 3/8" e-clip, and (2) .350" ID x .480" OD bushings
Dorman 703-270
www.dormanproducts.com
This is the p/n's I got from the Dorman site for my car. They seem to be the same kit.

It amazes me that you can buy all 4 hinge pins for a Mustang for $12!
-Dave
 
cntinuum said:
Dorman 38438 1 door hinge pin, (1) 3/8" e-clip, and (2) .350" ID x .480" OD bushings
Dorman 703-270
www.dormanproducts.com
This is the p/n's I got from the Dorman site for my car. They seem to be the same kit.

It amazes me that you can buy all 4 hinge pins for a Mustang for $12!
-Dave
Click to expand...

Update on numbers from O-Reilly's Auto Parts

Hinge Pins and rollers on the shelf are from a Company called "NEEDA?"
Pins 384382... $6.79
Roller 383502... $5.49

good luck
 
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