[Guest]

Can anyone give me the step-by-step basics of replacing the door hinges on my 94 Silverado? The driver's door is sagging and is a pain to open and close.

Any tips, special tools, things to avoid? Sources for hinges? Easy fixes without replacing hinges (shims?)

I'm a hacker with few of the right tools. Should I pay someone that knows what they are doing?

Thanks,

Barry

 

[889]

Its not the hinges, its the hinge pin bushings. 4 little brass bushings that wear out, about $4 in parts. I paid 120 to have them done in 1 door by a body shop. The hinge has a spring loaded component that keeps the door open at the 2 open positions, so you have to unload and reload the spring. I'd say leave it to the professionals, but hopefully someone on here has done it themselves and can help you out.

 

[MSF]

He's not kidding, I was getting into my truck at Wal-Mart not too long ago, and I heard a creak, followed by a loud SNAP, and I found the spring in the parking lot a few spaces away. That thing is under lots of pressure, and the door no longer stays open on it's own. And from what I hear it is a major pain to hold the doors up while someone puts the hinges in (h e a v y). But if there is a procedure, I'd like to know too.

 

[276]

I checked my '94 service manual (SM) for the door removal sequence. It is pretty close to the steps below. You won't have to worry about disconnecting the wiring if all you want to do is replace the hinges.

The SM procedure described removing the spring, lower hinge pin retainer, lower hinge pin (using a soft mallet against the pin, and against a pair of locking pliers on the pin shaft to finish the removal), and installing a temporary bolt in the lower hinge while the upper hinge pin is removed.
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Cross-posted from another forum:

You need a spring tool, which looks like two metal plates with a C notch in one end, hinged at the other, with a nut and bolt through it. That tool is hard to find. Remove the spring.

You also need to press the old pin out and press the new one in, trying to hammer it will only bend the hinge.

You need a firm support for the door while the hinge pin is out. (it is heavy and easily unbalanced)

Aside from all this, all you need is a socket larger than the pin, a C clamp that will fit over the works, another, smaller C-clamp, a block of wood and a helper to change it out.

The block of wood needs to fit inside the hinge right next to the pin, and cut to fit tightly so as to keep from collapsing the hinge. The helper needs to be strong enough to hold the door up while the pin is out. Put the socket over the head of the pin and use the C clamp to push the pin out.

Use a set of pliers if needed to finish the job once the C-clamp has bottomed out. Use the smaller C clamp and socket to push out the bushings.

Put the new bushing in place, using the socket to allow the bushing to extend past the bottoom of the hinge. Put in the new pin, using the socket on the tip side to allow the C-clamp to seat the head.

 

[Guest]

Hey MSF, is your door harder to close now? I lost my little spring thingy a long time ago. It did the exact same thing that you described. Now I have to slam my door pretty hard to get it to close. My door speaker is actually about to come out of where it is mounted and I have had to replace my mirror because the slamming made it fall out.

Just wondering if that spring is why I have to slam it so hard.

 

[MSF]

It's not any harder to close, it just won't stay open on it's own. The pin is fine, just the spring/roller is gone. If you have to slam it, your pin may be allowing the door to sag, and the latch won't hook up unless you slam it.

 

[889]

If the bushing are bad, the door will sag making it hard to close. Shut the door without latching it, and see if the body lines line up. If not, replace the bushings. You will also be able to lift on the door when its open and feel some play in the hinge pins.

 

[Guest]

It's not that hard to do, I have done both of the doors on my 93. use a floor jack and a block of wood to support the door. there is a little clip on each hinge pin you need to take off, it should just pop off with a screw driver. Then carfully tap the pins out of the hinges while holding on to the door, set the door aside and gently tap the bronze bushings out. Then tap the new bushings in place, it dosent take that much force to drive them in, but make sure they are straight when you start or you will break the tops of them off. When you get all the bushing replaced lift the door back in place and tap the pins back in, then the hardest part is to get the spring back in, the way I did it was to put the spring in place aginst the door then with a pry bar, pry aginst the cab to slip the spring back in. It dosen't have to be compressed much but it is a very stiff spring so it will take some work, and make sure to put a folded up towel between the bar and your cab. when you are taking the doors off when you pull the pins the spring will just fall out, and I din't have to brace any of the hinges to put the bushings in just tap them in carefully. I orderd the kit for mine through a gm dealer.