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...

[dugie6551]

Good Job !!!!

Very detailed and worth a permanent sticky for this forum. I also like the bushing "press" you made. I'm going to steal that idea (if you don't mind)

[rlith]

Originally Posted by dugie6551

Good Job !!!!

Very detailed and worth a permanent sticky for this forum. I also like the bushing "press" you made. I'm going to steal that idea (if you don't mind)

Don't mind at all! That's why I detailed it! Makes life a lot easier and you don't have to worry about breaking the bushing. Surprisingly they're rather fragile!

[OverBoardProject]

Rlith

Nice job, and good idea

Like Dugie said it should be made into a sticky, along with a complete tech tip section.
And 90% of the subjects would probably come right from you.

When I did mine my drivers door had to come right off, and the hinge had to get some welding done.

While I was at it I ended up sand blasting it and re-painting the area.
I wish that I would heve re-painted the pasenger side since it looks a lot better.