Jump to content

"hanging" door(s)


Recommended Posts

After a nice summer and several outings with the hard top,  I wanted to re-fit my sidescreens for the weekend.

To my surprize the doors, mainly the one on the rh-side were dropping 1 cm under the weight of the sidescreen to such an extend that the door could only be closed by lifting the door from the outside and it could not be closed from the inside of the car. I have noticed this phenomenon earlier this year but not to such an extend, reason why I did not pay much attention to it. Further investigation showed me that, as far as I can notice, the upper hinges (at the part wich is fitted to the a-post) are plying (or is it bending) under the weight of the door. The lower hinges will show the same problem but this is out of reach.

Not so much when the door is fully open but the more the door closes the more the hanging becomes worse. There is no play in the hinge pin and all screws are tiedly fitted.

Is this down to fatigue in the hinges metal or is there something bigger going on? A problem with the A-post perhaps? Any suggestions how to check and solve this problem?

Link to post
Share on other sites

As far as I can judge the A post itself is not moving. It appears that the hinges are bending (part between the screws and the pin). Maybe the metal of the a-post is also deforming under the load of the door incl. sidescreen. Maybe the pins are worn out? Who will tell. I guess this will be a trial and error job to find the real problem. I'll start with taking the doors of the car (if I can get loose these bl... screws:angry: ). Then check the a-post and the pins.

Has anybody any experience with quality and strength of re-manufactured hinges from eg Moss?

Link to post
Share on other sites
Les, the chassis looks pretty sound to me. With sound I mean that it is well preserved, there is no rust or visible cracks and steering is thight and correct. Also the body is ok. I guess (or hope) that the problem is not caused by the chassis. Doors are closing "fine" w/o the weight of the sidescreens. With the screens on the doors and by grabbing the door at the handle side, I can lift the door approx. 1/2 inch. Logically one would think that there is a lot of play in the hinge and/or the 2 outermost screws connecting the hinge to the a-post are not thight (but they are) and/or the metal of the a-post is deforming at the point of attachment of the hinge (however no sign of cracks in the a-post at this spot). I wonder if the metal of the hinges can suffer of fatigue and if the quality of replacements that are on the market is ok. Maybe people who recently bought some can answer this. (as they are not cheap, trial and error problemsolving is not what I want in the first place).
Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Rudi.

If this problem only arises when the sidescreens are in place could it be that as the door closes the front edge of the sidescreen is fitting badly against the windscreen stanchion and putting a downward force on the door ?  I can't imagine that the weight alone of a sidescreen could have that much effect on the door. There must be something else happening somewhere.

Les.

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 5 months later...
Problem fixed. Fitted new top hinges (Moss) and the door is fine now. It must be that the original hinges were bended and probably a bad quality steel.
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Please familiarise yourself with our Terms and Conditions. By using this site, you agree to the following: Terms of Use.