Door hinge repair question?

8475 Views 12 Replies 7 Participants Last post by on a bugdet, Aug 30, 2012

on a bugdet

Discussion Starter · Aug 28, 2012

My doors on my nova hang its not because theyre installed wrong its the hinge pin bearing im guessing its called has no bearings im assuming. If I would to buy it from ebay How would I go about replacing them. Do I have to remove the door to get to the hinge and how would I go about the spring? Or is there an esier way without removing the doors that someone has figuered out?
Thanks guys in advance!

Driver Door

Passenger Door

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sapperranger04

· #2 · Aug 28, 2012

Your best bet would be to buy a door hinge rebuild kit, and a gm door spring tool. its easy to get the spring out, but putting it back in could be a task in itself. Once you have the stuff, it would be best to take the doors off and drive the old bushing out and put the new ones in with the new pins. Also itll make it alot easier to change the roller bushing for the spring arm. Hope this helps.

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Greg Ellis

· #3 · Aug 28, 2012

What you are talking about is not a big deal but you need to remove the door first and in order to remove the door you need to remove the front fender. Depending how much room you have between the fender and the bumper you may also have to remove the bumper, too. On my Gen I it was easier to remove the bumper brackets from the frame than to remove the bumper from the brackets. Use a good penetrating oil and let it work over night.
Getting the screws out of a 40 year old door can be tough sometimes. At a minimum you will need a 3# phillips screwdriver and it needs to be in like new condition. If it or the heads of the screws are rounded off then you have to be really careful. I have also used an impact screwdriver and that makes the job a little easier. Sometimes you have to heat the screws with a gas torch and the wax from a candle will do a great job if you melt it on the threads of the screw. This is the best way I have found to beat a screw that is rusted in place.
Once you get the hinge off of the door then you can hold the hinge in a vise as you beat on the hinge pin with a round drift punch. (about 5/16" if I remember correctly) DO NOT try to remove the hinge spring without using a door spring compressor. They only cost about $12.00 and they save a whole lot of effort.
I hope this helps!

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on a bugdet

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 29, 2012

Now I see what you are talking about! My next question, is there suppose to be bearinngs inside the bushing?

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Greg Ellis

· #5 · Aug 29, 2012

No bearings are involved, just a simple bronze bushing.

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Roger Connolly

· #6 · Aug 29, 2012

Hinges

On my 1972 Nova wich should be the same, I took the door off and unbolted the hinge. No fender removal, no screws, 1/2 in. bolts. rebuild hinge on the bench and reinstall, make shure you replace spring at the bench, a lot easyer. I've done hundreds of them.

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on a bugdet

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 29, 2012

Roger Connolly said:
On my 1972 Nova wich should be the same, I took the door off and unbolted the hinge. No fender removal, no screws, 1/2 in. bolts. rebuild hinge on the bench and reinstall, make shure you replace spring at the bench, a lot easyer. I've done hundreds of them.

I was planning on that, I have bear paws I dont think they would have fit. LOL:no:

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on a bugdet

Discussion Starter · #8 · Aug 29, 2012

Greg Ellis said:
No bearings are involved, just a simple bronze bushing.

Dang no wonder!

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JPFin

· #9 · Aug 29, 2012

I want to do that too. Winter is coming and doors would be great to paint separate in my basement. Front bumper and fenders are already taken away. I understand that the hinge is bolted to the door and to the car and that there's a pin keeping it together. So, should I first take the hinge (and the door with it) off the car, and then (if necessary) take it off the door?

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riverdog

· #10 · Aug 30, 2012

On my 71 Nova the hinges are welded on , Can these be replaced with bolt on's ? I was thinking about a new door on 1 side .

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Craigert

· #11 · Aug 30, 2012

I recently did this to my 64 hardtop. I had taken 2 pair of upper and lower hinges in decent condition and replaced the bushings and reusing the best of the pins I had around. I repainted them to match and left them on the pegboard to await a good opportunity when I could remove the doors.

The hinges are easily removed from the door post area because the bolt heads are 1/2 in. hex headed. I had trouble with 2 rusted phillips heads in one of the doors. I did'nt mess with it. I mig welded a bolt to the 2 tough bolts and applied torque. Voila!

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sapperranger04

· #12 · Aug 30, 2012

I had to do the very same thing on my nova. my door hinges for welded on so I had to take a drift pin and a hammer to knock the pins out and then take the door off and then work the bushings inside and put it all back together and put the pins back in. Not hard at all.

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on a bugdet

Discussion Starter · #13 · Aug 30, 2012

on a bugdet said:
My doors on my nova hang its not because theyre installed wrong its the hinge pin bearing im guessing its called has no bearings im assuming. If I would to buy it from ebay How would I go about replacing them. Do I have to remove the door to get to the hinge and how would I go about the spring? Or is there an esier way without removing the doors that someone has figuered out?
Thanks guys in advance!

Driver Door

Passenger Door

sapperranger04 said:
I had to do the very same thing on my nova. my door hinges for welded on so I had to take a drift pin and a hammer to knock the pins out and then take the door off and then work the bushings inside and put it all back together and put the pins back in. Not hard at all.

So looking at the pictures were do the bushings go? Looking at my pictures does any bushings go in the guide wheeel?

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