The drivers door hinge on my 91 xj is starting to pull away from the body. The welds are breaking. Has anyone else had this problem.

 

i got that issue on the drivers door because the moron before me desided the metal limiter thing was a waste of time and pulled the pin out of it. i just put a roll pin back in it.

 

I think everyone has had that problem on the older welded ones. I think the newer ones are bolted on. Mine is the same way, once the weather gets nicer I'm going to take the old mounts off and fab up some good ones. They did the same thing on Trucks in the "Cheep Cherokee" build.

 

The rear driver's side door on mine had this happen. Looks like the PO just welded it back on. Seems to work well.

 

I know for a fact that it is the upper hinge.

Do not try to weld it back on from inside the door jam.

At the factory the welded area is coated with some sort of seam-sealer.
Trying to weld it from the jam will only cause the sealer to catch fire and make a HUGE mess of the welds.


I bought our 91 Laredo with a broken hinge, DAPO stick welded it from the jam...
No big surprise 4 days later it failed AGAIN.


Here's a good procedure: Having a friend to help is an advantage.

1. Remove fender: header panel will have to come off for this. Its simple and straight forward and I wont get into THAT.

2. With fender off: Remove the 3 TORX screws that hole the hinge to the door.

3. Break hinge off completely. Just work it back and forth to fatigue the metal...it will give up.

4. Wire wheel the entire area around the hinge mounting surface of the pillar.

5. Clean up the hinge. Wire wheel the edges and grind away some of the weld. But LEAVE the pillar metal on the back side. This will aid in positioning the hinge back where its supposed to be, the pillar and the hinge will fit together like a puzzle.

6. Put above "puzzle" together and give the hinge several good welds (MIG)
TOP/FRONT/BOTTOM.

7. Screw hinge back to door (or vice versa)

8. With screws snug but not tightened, make any minor adjustments (usually IN/OUT) of the door. Close door and make adjustment. Use TORX socket THRU, yes you heard me THRU the hinge. Thats what the two oddly placed holes are for. After adjustment...tighten them up.

9. Give the welds and surrounding areas a good coat of primer and then paint.

10. Reassemble your XJ.

11. Step back with a frothy beverage and admire your handiwork.

 

Apparently both of my doors had this problem. Some time in it's life someone tried to reweld the hinges, and now the doors dont completely seal at the top.