Door pin and bushing repair How-To!

[rlith]

Well, since no one has done a how-to on this subject, I figured I would since we always see this question...The following pictures were taken while we we're working on Grappler's 95 2 door Blazer (www.vettel.org/andy). We completed both his doors and my front passenger side door. (www.pghconsulting.net/teal). All told we averaged 15-20 minutes per door for this repair. The bushings on all 3 doors were cracked and at the beggining of being egged.

Should your hinge pin holes be egged (taking on an egged shape) You have the option of either replacing the hinges (a nightmare) or filling in the holes with weld, grind down, then redrill (about 20 mins worth of work) Fortunatly for us we didn't have to do either... But we will both need to keep an eye on these hinges for a few years.

Tools needed:

BF Hammer
Punch (improvise)
Masking tape
Lithium grease
Door Spring tool (or improvise, though the tool makes life a happy place)
Another set of hands (invite friend)
Bucket (or similar)
Large flat head screwdriver or a cold-chisel
Hinge pins and bushings (Make sure you get the right ones! 1st gen and second gen pins and bushings are quite different!)
Soft bristle brush


So we start by taping up the inside and outside of the door to prevent damage to the paint.




Next we remove the door spring with our handy dandy doorspring tool...




Now the door needs to be supported. Here's where the bucket came in handy as well as the extra set of hands. These doors are heavy and awkward, so having a buddy (in my case grappler) balance the door makes life a lot easier. Optionally if you can build yourself a proper door hanger, a buddy won't be needed for anything except passing you a smoke or tool...




Now for the fun part...Most people think it's simple to knock pins out. It's not. First you need to make sure you don't whack the windshield, secondly, they can be in there pretty tight. Grappler's were pretty much rusted to hell and it really took a lot of persuasion...Here you can see me with a 2 long 1/4" ratchet extentions. I find this better than a punch because the hole in the base gets a nice lock on the top of the pin. This will prevent it from shifting as your whacking it and you won't put any dents/dings into your body.. Also not you may have a little ring on top of the old pins. Don't worry about it, they can't be reused. As you punch the old pin out, it will fall off.



Next seperate the door from the body..Do this slowly to prevent paint/metal damage to your truck. Here we see Grappler after he seperated the door..





Next we take our large flathead screwdriver and put it against the bottom of the old bushing and whack it with the hammer. Depending how tight your old bushings are, they can either immediately fall out, or you will have to chip away at them until they fall out. If they fall out without anyforce, take a good look at the bushing hole to check for egging. Once the bushings are knocked out, you will be left with this..(Now is a good time to take a brush and maybe soap and water and clean any debri in the holes and surrounding dirt off the door jam and hinges





Now for the installation of the new bushings. Here we see one of Grappler's old Pins and the new GM OEM bushings and pins that we are going to install. As you can see the old pin which was factory was pretty pooched...

Note: These bushings are different sizes! The top bushing (or bottom depending which side you're working on) Is larger than the bottom. This is to accomodate the expanded top part of the pin. DO NOT MIX THESE UP!



Now you can if you want tap in your new bushings with a hammer. The problem with this is that you run the risk of damaging the bushing, especially if it's an OEM bushing and not a splined aftermarket. So what would would any self respecting S/T tinkerer like myself do? Improvise! I created a nice press out of some stuff in my garage.

The press consisted of a 2-1/2" bolt that would fit through both bushings, a washer, a socket, and a 13mm nut..



Here you see it seated ready to crank down. This made life a lot easier and take about 10 seconds to do. Simply tighten it down until the top of the bushing meets the hinge.



Done:



When you get all 4 bushings done, simply load the door back onto the hinges, and slide the pins in. Once they are slid in, take your punch (or in my case the extension) and hammer the pins all the way in.. You will have some clips with the new pins, these need to go on! Simply press them on top of the pins down to the hinge metal. Reinstall your tension spring and check the door for looseness by lifting it up and down. You should have no play what so ever. Check your door that it closes right. Spray the entire area including the spring with lithium grease. You may hear some creaking but it goes away after a bit once the grease has worked itself in. Enjoy

Here is the completed hinges with new bushings, pins, and clip...

[93LT]

Good job. If you don't want to fuss with the spring compressor with the spring in the door, just take a long screw driver or pry bar and pop it out. It's not going to fly all over the place, it'll just drop. Much easier to then install the spring compressor onto the spring out side of the vehicle.

As a caution, when seating the spring into the spring compressor and compressing the spring, it is a good idea to wear a glove on the hand that is holding the spring compressor tool. Just one time of having the spring slip out of the compressor while tightening with no glove and you've got an instant blood blister

I'd also like to stress that in the photos above, rlith is using painter tape, great idea for those without a door jack. Do NOT use any other tape other than painters tape. If your paint is susceptible to the GM paint delamination, regular masking tape or duck tape will pull it off the primer below.

rlith, the bolt and washer assembly for installing the bushings is an excellent idea. I just use a flat end of a pry bar and tap the pry bar handle with a hammer, but I've probably installed a thousand sets of door bushings, or more. Your way would definitely be fool proof, good job.

[foon]

Thanks for the time in posting the HOW-TO, i was totally lost on making that bushing press without seeing the picture, now i thing i have a better idea. Thank yous again, you just saved me $200.00 in labor and a probably a giant headache!

[Gabe25]

Rlith, Great posting!!!!!!!! This should be a sticky...........

[DINO55]

Very Very Good Post as Usual rlith, You da man. You make this shit look so easy.

[foon]

I went out to buy the door pins and bushings today for my 2000 Bravada here are the part numbers

Door pins GM#15653790
Bushings- smaller diameter GM#16632193
- larger diameter GM#16632192

My questions is which of the size bushing goes where or should i even use two different sized bushings, the GM part guy was too busy to help so i fiqure better off trying here
thanks

[DINO55]

The bigger bushings are used for the head of the door pins(top of the pin is thicker), The pointy part of the door pin will take the smaller bushing. DON'T HAMMER THE BUSHINGS IN OR THEY WILL CRUMBLE. Make a homemade tool like rlith did,Thats what I did and they went in like butter. I bought the GM door spring compresser back in June at napa auto for $20.00, I have changed out 6 sets of door pins already since having the tool(friends and family). Be sure to coat the pins and bushings in grease before you install them, and I suggest you grease the door pins at every oil change, they will last a long time. Good luck

[foon]

thanks for clearing that up Dino, for a moment i thought i got conned at the GM dealers. haha

[rlith]

Originally Posted by foon

thanks for clearing that up Dino, for a moment i thought i got conned at the GM dealers. haha

If you look at the picture of the pins above and the inclusive note, it states the bushings are different sizes and why...

[dnvrbrncos]

Great how-to. Nice to have pics. I do have one question. After putting in the new hinges I have been unable to seat them all the way, there is still a little bit of spline showing on each hinge. Is this a problem?I hit them as hard as I could muster given the ackward angles. The door operates fine and the retainers fit on properly at the other end. Thanks to whomever may respond.

[rlith]

The door pin should be flush with the bushing. Use a socket extension on top of the pin and tap it in a little bit farther if you can.

[dnvrbrncos]

Originally Posted by rlith

The door pin should be flush with the bushing. Use a socket extension on top of the pin and tap it in a little bit farther if you can.

Thanks for the quick reply. I tried again, this time I used a mini-sledge and a 1/2 inch extension bar with a little sandpaper on the end to keep it from slipping. It would be hard to imagine being able to hit it any harder and still no movement. I've attached a pic. Any other ideas/suggestions?

[img=http://img365.imageshack.us/img365/181/1040419large7gw.th.jpg]

[rtreptow]

Originally Posted by dnvrbrncos

Thanks for the quick reply. I tried again, this time I used a mini-sledge and a 1/2 inch extension bar with a little sandpaper on the end to keep it from slipping. It would be hard to imagine being able to hit it any harder and still no movement. I've attached a pic. Any other ideas/suggestions?

[img=http://img365.imageshack.us/img365/181/1040419large7gw.th.jpg]

Is this picture upside down or is the hinge pin in upside down. I'm getting ready to tackle this project this weekend and I was under the impression that the head of the pin is on the bottom side of the hinge....make sense?

[muddyjimmy]

I tried to change mine out with a friends help. Very hard. Of course I am mechanically challenged. Very good read and sounds very helpful.

[dnvrbrncos]

Originally Posted by rtreptow

Is this picture upside down or is the hinge pin in upside down. I'm getting ready to tackle this project this weekend and I was under the impression that the head of the pin is on the bottom side of the hinge....make sense?

That is the lower pin. The upper pin head is on the bottom side, the lower as shown - at least on my truck (it's a C1500). Good luck. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to do. I expected it to be my lengthy project. However, the front shock replacement was much more challenging. That's typical for me! lol Good luck.