My dad's upper driver's door hinge tore itself off the body today. It's a 4 door. I can't post pictures because he lives 3 hours away from me. I'm getting it on Friday though.
What's the best way to fix door hinges? Is there an easy way to reinforce the others? TIA

 

Your going to have to re weld it

 

^ thats what i did

 

remove fender on that side, open door. place floor jack under edge of door (flat inner edge, not the very edge), and lift it until it's in position. grind the hell out of where it's got to be welded back to, once you've lined the hinge up with where it needs to be. tac-weld the hinge back in, remove jack. close door. take BFH and beat hinge back in towards body (seeing as you can almost guarantee that the sheet steel pulled outwards in that area). weld the **** out of it, paint with whatever crap you have laying around, call it done.

oh, make sure the door lines up before you do the final welds after the tac weld.


this is a very common issue. once fixed, I've never had the issue again.

 

Is there a way to reinforce it? I'm not too good at welding sheet metal.

 

learn to weld to sheetmetal.

even with a reinforcement, at some point, you're gonna have to weld to sheetmetal.

 

take door off and reweld the hinge, no need to take the fender off.

 

x2, if you don't know how to weld find a friend who does or take it to a professional. Or just go doorless

 

You can either weld or you can't sticking 2 pieces of metal together isnt exactly being able to weld.

So lets start, what kind of machine do you have? If its a stick welder, you are gonna have tons of problems welding sheet metal unless you are really good with it. they are known for blowing holes.

If you have a mig, turn the heat down until the weld starts to look a little cold, and move up until you have the proper pentration (on scrap steel this is practice ofcourse) Now try it on a few different thickness's until you have proper penetration and arent burning holes. You may also have to play with your wire speed.

as for beefing up this area, its really just tin welded to more tin. I don't really think there would be a way to plate it to make it much stronger, I'd just clean the hell out of it, and lay some really nice beads in there after you get it all tached together and check to see if it closes and opens properly.

 

All that has been said is good info, also though when you go to weld it focus most of the heat on hinge because it can definitely take more. It will help the puddle move more onto the sheet metal and will be easier to not blow holes in it

 

Not at all recommending it, but in a jam you can drill clean through and bolt it. At least on a 90. Door actually works OK!

 

there's no way you're going to have the access you need with the door off, for one. the hinge is in front of the door and therefore under the fender.

fender coming off is the right way. and it's easy as all hell. easier than the door, actually. and then, you don't have to dick with realigning the door, or with the possibility of welding it on improperly.

 

I figured I'd be taking the fender off lol. I practiced some welding at school today and I think I've got it. I'll be using a 220v Miller MIG welder. I love it!

 

turn that welder WAAAAAY down.

 

Yeah, 15v at 110% I think. My school's 110v miller is a pos. Otherwise I'd use that.