Anyone replace door hinge pins - 99 Blazer?

I just did this job - what a PITA!! The pins aren't so hard but the top pin has to come out from the bottom and the door spring sits right up against it. Naturally the spring had to come out but HOW in heck is that thing supposed to go back in???

I ended up clamping it with a stainless steel hose clamp, zipped the clamp with a dremel tool and it sprung back into place. Could only remove part of the clamp, though that's no biggie.

Is there a trick to this? The thing is like a valve spring - it is tough.

Hope to hear if anyone's done this before.

Ok, you are going to end up having to do the same thing I had to. (I did the clamp thing too) Anyway you have to get an GM Door Spring Removal Tool. Basically it looks like to pieces of steel held to gether by a bolt in the center (which you tighten to compress the spring) and notched forks at the end. I think i got mine online. Just search. That tool made the job really easy. Good luck. Oh make sure you get new bushings to put in there as well.

After I asked the question, I, too, did the tool search and found it. Guess I should have done that first. Thanks for the response. Since it's in and just some of the clamp is left, I'll just live with it this way.

The pins come with the bushings as it's really the bushings that go. Did both. At least the door closes right now and doesn't shift up and down. You would think they'd last longer than 5 years but those doors are heavy.

I ran into this problem too, got my new pin/bushings in but the spring lays on my dash right now. I had no idea how to get it back in. I now see the tool is avail on the web, its about 25 bucks or so with shipping and all. I thought about running by GM and see if they will pop it back in for free. If not, thanks to your posts, I know where I can get it. I looked at all the local retailers and nobody sells it for some reason. Thanks for the info.

Where'd you guys pick up the hinge pins and bushings at? The dealer?

most all the auto parts stores had them in the little red packages, got mine at advance auto in the help section, autozone had them too in the same area, a bunch of little red packages that have misc parts in them. the pins come by themselves or with the bushings, get the one with both since you need the bushings and the bushings wont usually fit with your oem pin. I already had to make two trips b/c of that. bought the bushings only and then got home to install and the oem pin would not fit through the bushings. I still have to put that spring back in though, I pried my spring out with a pry bar so that I could get to the pin, then hammered the pin out.

If you're like me and too cheap to buy a $25 tool to use one time, compress with a clamp and use about 7 or 8 zip ties to keep it compressed. Put that in and cut the zip ties. VIOLA!

Anyone wanna give me on how to replace these bad boys? My mom's 1999 Blazer has been self destructing from bad door bushings to bunk steering to leaky oil cooler lines. Anyway, her or I don't have the money to get any of those fixed, and this sounded semi-do-it-yourself. I'm a little autmotively challenged so if you can be as detailed as possible, that would be great.

Thanks!

Jeremy

I had my 99 blazer done at a body shop and it costed me about $130 with tax. I knew it was gonna be a PITA and did'nt even bother..I was pissed about the price afterwards I found out my dealer did'nt cover it under my warranty. This was for the Driver side only! Anyways I thought I would give you a ruff idea of what it might cost. Later.

i found that tool for only $16.95, but with shipping the total cost is $23.43.

if memory serves me correctly there are two size tools available a standard and a heavy duty which one fits the s-10 blazer?? i need to buy one also

If you go to ASK on your browser and ask How to change door hinge pins on a ______, they show a number of videos on changing the pins.
I just watched one, and that PITA spring can be compressed in a vise, and then kept together by a couple pieces of wire, put back in place, and cut the wire. http://staticaf.com/vbulletin/images/icons/icon14.gif

I actually replaced the Hinge Pins and Bushings on my 2000 GMC Jimmy, and found a neat little trick to help with the re-install of the Door Springs.

After removing and replacing the bad Pins and Bushings etc. I put one end of the Spring in its place, and put a 1 inch wide Steel Putty Knife on the opposite end of the Spring and positioned the Spring as close to its place as I could, leaving about an inch of the blade of the putty knife sticking out passed the spring and over the actual mount where the Spring is supposed to go. Then I took about a 12 inch long piece of wood and a ball peen hammer and gently tapped the spring up the "ramp" made by the Putty Knife until it was positioned exactly where it goes. Then slowly and carefully slid the putty knife out from under the Spring and the spring fell right into place. You might need to use the block of wood to hold the spring in position while removing the Putty Knife, but this worked perfectly on My Jimmy on both doors and cost nothing since I already had the Putty Knife and the block of wood.