Broken Door Hinge spring question

[ratdude747]

Well, I bought eBay hinges out of desperation (car show this coming weekend)... and I installed them Friday. But, there were issues:

(I will edit in pics later... typing this on a computer, but will add pics with my phone)

First, the upper hinges look like the bushing holes are a bit too big:



The hinge works fine though... and both "new" upper hinges I installed last time look the same (and the passenger side still works fine). FWIW the upper hinge did need replaced as not only is the bushing spinning, but the hole is badly wallowed out.

The lower hinge is another story. They painted it after assembly, causing the bushings to seize on the pin and spin in the brackets:



I was able to fix it... one I was able to free with vice grips, the other took a little heat to soften the paint. I then added some blue loctite (liquid, not the gel!) to adhere the bushings in the hole better. Much better:



I also added spray grease to help ensure the bushings don't seize to the pins.




Idea being that the solvent in spray grease allows the grease to seep places that are otherwise ungreasable, suck as between the pins and bushings. Buttery smooth!

Upper hinge had hole pitch issues. I think I might have bent it while manually opening it past the detent. As always, tightening the hinges to the body during/after adjustment was a pain. But between a 13mm ratchet wrench, a conventional 3/8 13mm socket and handle, and a 1/4 13mm socket on a harbor freight wrench-style double ratchet (maybe the only thing it's good for!).

All in all it's working better than before. Sadly, these cheapo hinges is what everybody sells and is all one can find (aside from NPD who claims to have some of these as OE, but at $150 a pop ). But if it works, it works!

[Gary Lewis]

Good tips, Larry.  Thanks.  Glad you got the door back on.  

[ratdude747]

The upper hinge spun its lower bushing... tried retroactive loctite but it won't bite to the smooth metal of the hinge and only seems to last a few days.

Guess I get to redo this job yet another time in the future...

[Gary Lewis]

No chance of staking the bushing with a punch to make it out of round so it won't fall out?

[ArdWrknTrk]

Can't fall out, there's an e-clip or something on the pin.

But it seems odd that it would bind on the pin and spin in the hinge knuckle...

[ratdude747]

I thought about that... may give it a try.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Sintered bronze is really pretty brittle.

[Gary Lewis]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Sintered bronze is really pretty brittle.

Good point.  You aren't going to deform it much w/o breaking it, Larry.

Any chance of using something as a shim to take up the space and keep it from spinning?

[ratdude747]

By staking I meant the bracket... deform the bracket near the bushing. Or use the same loctite I used originally on the lower hinge (I misplaced my tube of thin permetex blue, I used green loctite 609 since that's the bottle I could find in my stash).

If I'm pulling the hinge it's getting replaced and if the new one looks the same, I'll loctite it on the bench first before I have to contend with spray grease. I suspect my inability to fully clean the joint is fouling the bond.

[ArdWrknTrk]

If it is an Oilite bushing I doubt you could ever get it 'clean' without 'baking' it for hours to burn the hydrocarbons out of the powdered metal.
If it's straight up brass it would help to use Primer T or the equivalent to give the piece some ionic activity.

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, you might be able to stake the bracket.  Just small punch marks around the hole causing it to deform inwards.

And Jim is right, with the oil in the pores of an Oilite bushing its not likely that Loctite will work.  But it is hard to tell from the pics if that is what you have.