See pic here with little gold "nurles" on the pin that need to be jammed down into the bushing and sleeve. about a few mm more and it's in for both the top and bottom hinge. they are just in such an odd spot that there's no way to get my 3 or 6 inch c-clamp in there to push them in (tried with a socket underneath and it's just too tight of a space on the top of the hinge with big clamp).

Do I dare try and hammer the pins in with a punch? I'm afraid to wail on the pins for fear of screwing up the weld seam of the hinge on the unibody.

 

Door pins can be quite the pain in the *** I have spent too much time on them in the past.

I would hammer them in. Dont just start swinging away. Start with taps then a little harder and a little harder till they seat

I've actually never seen or heard of it done with c clamps to press them in

 

Use a jack to support door and hammer away.

 

Thanks guys, yeah... I have 2 jacks I can put underneath the door. Makes sense to take the tension off of the hinges and just start small and work your way up until they are seated. Now to figure out how to actually hammer these damn things.... going to have to get a really long punch from the local hardware store, i guess... really long socket extensions are not working. They slip right off of the pin when hammering.

 

holy hell... Ive been hammering away and have the top pin about half way in more from the picture above, approximately. Took a break... they barrrrrely budge. fricking annoying job to do. Replacing my heater core and door hinge pins in the last two projects have been my least favorite thing to do on my XJ.

 

Hmm bad stuff. Take em back out if you can and grind them down then one tack weld gtg

 

Welllll, that would be an option if I had a welder... I can easily take them back out with a punch. sprayed them with some lubricant and let them sit for the afternoon. Gonna go take another wack at'em, here shortly and will report back.

 

Put them in the freezer to shrink them a bit too.

 

Lol. My take is they don't fit, which sometimes happens with 21 year old aftermarket parts.

 

This is a good idea.

 

Also true...

Report: Day 3 - Operation Hinge Hammer: I sprayed some lubricant and let it sit. Then made sure the door was very securely supported with a jack. Lots and lots of cussing, 10-15 minutes of hammering, and one destroyed 10 inch socket extension later, the top pin has seated!

Sadly however, the bottom pin is only about 25% of the way in still after a similar attempt... may tap it out and combo sand it/freeze it. cheers gentlemen.

 

If you have a torch even a little propane or mapp gas it will help. Just heat the pin and hinge plate don't go over board. Edit; Mostly the pin from the top down and don't forget some paint after it cools.

 

Would there be any advantage in removing the doors, perhaps more room to work and use a C clamp to press in the pin or a Dremel to slightly open the hinge hole to allow pressing the pin in?

Following this post as I also have doors that are sagging and need pins replaced.

 

I haven't had a chance to try heating or freezing or sanding down the pin yet... or more hammering, but did consider this. Problem is, I don't have an extra pair of hand to help me. If you take the door off you'll certainly have more space to work with, 100%. However, you risk not lining the door up properly when putting it back on + you may have to deal with shims + you'll likely need 2 people to help you line it up again properly. The job is definitely do-able with the door on and keeps everything aligned to the original spec, so IMO less is more here. + you don't have to remove the wiring harness....

Often times with my XJ, I find that what I consider to be less work sometimes turns into more. Just the way it goes.

 

If you decide to sand down the pins, chuck them up in the drill and run them against a file or sandpaper. Poor mans lathe.