Broken Door Hinge spring question

[ratdude747]

The door hinge spring on my driver's side door busted yesterday:



However, everywhere I've looked it seems that that's the wrong style hinge... as a style with a sheet metal spring is what turns up for 1980-1996. Even Dennis Carpenter lists the newer style (with a 1988 engineering code) as the correct part back to 1980:

https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/trucks/door/door-hinges/?per_page=20&sort_by=1&filter%5Bcustom2%5D%5B0%5D=1984

So, my questions are:

1. Is the newer style better, other than for part availability?

2. If #1 is a no, then who makes a replacement? Or am I looking at torching a rod of spring steel?

[Gary Lewis]

I don't know the answer to #1, but it looks to me like the change happened in '88 given the "E8" prefix.  So for some reason Ford changed, and it may or may not have been because it was better.

As for Q2, I don't see anything that suggests there's a replacement for the spring.  The fact that it is shown as a "Hinge Assy" implies the hinge comes with the spring as a unit.  And there isn't an entry in the catalog for "Spring (Front Door" that is for the hinge.  From "22894 SHIELD ASSY. (FRONT DOOR CHECK OPENING)" it goes on to door handles, vent windows, etc.

[85lebaront2]

Gary, the spring is the "check" and was replaced on later models with a different style hinge altogether. The usual reason these fail, other than fatigue, is the little "star" rollers freeze from lack of lubrication, and instead of rolling over the end of the spring, they end up sliding over it and wearing through the spring.

[Gary Lewis]

So if it is the check, then the change was in Nov of '84, and the part number is D8BZ 5422886-A.  Bill/Numberdummy had a good post about that in FTE, and the spring is indeed 22886.  Plus, he confirmed what I'd found that there's no pic thereof in the 1980-89 truck MPC.  But there is in the 73/79 car MPC.

Here's what he said - 5 1/2 years ago:

D8BZ-5422886-A .. Right & Left Front Door Hinge Check / Obsolete

1980/84 F100/350 & Bronco / 1983/84 Ranger / 1984 Bronco II / Ditto 1985 before production date 11/1984.

1978/83 Fairmont/Zephyr / 1980/82 Thunderbird/Cougar / 1981/82 Granada / 1983/84 LTD/Marquis (Fox body midsize).

GLOFF FORD in Clifton TX has 1 = 800-659-6632.

NOS PARTS LTD in Waxahachie TX has 1 = 972-937-2201.

B.F. WHITE MOTOR CO. in Stanton TX has 1 = 800-953-3321.

GREEN SALES CO. in Cincinnati OH has 28 = 800-543-4959.

TYPE 6 as 22886 in pic from 1973/79 Ford car parts catalog (no pic in 1980/89 truck parts catalog).

[mat in tn]

i have the same spring on my bronco 2  and on my 83 f100. changing the hinge to the flat spring design is probably the most practical but i like the originals . if you do attempt to heat and make your own take note that the s portions are not in line. there is a bit of an offset. they may be twenty degrees.  

[ratdude747]

So the later hinge is the way to go then... got it. I work in the auto parts industry (Toyota supplier)... this sort of "backwards compatible, no service on old design" thing does happen now and then. For suppliers this is nice because that means we don't have to worry about service parts on the old setup (which can be a pain in many cases).

So question 3: who makes good hinges? Dennis carpenter ones OK?

[ArdWrknTrk]

Gary Lewis wrote

I don't know the answer to #1, but it looks to me like the change happened in '88 given the "E8" prefix.

I can't speak for the E8 number but I can definitely say that my '87 (actually assembled in '86) came with the flat springs on the hinges.

Maybe they changed because they saw too many failures of the S shaped spring?

[Gary Lewis]

That would be my guess.

[mat in tn]

going from memory... the s spring hinge is on the bottom? the flat spring units go on the top. so, you may need a set.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

Flat spring is definitely on top.

Would it matter if the bottom hinge has no spring, as long as the pin bushings are tight?

[mat in tn]

i think if you were to just swap the top hinge with the newer style then the bottom can stay but certainly do the pin and bushings while you are there.

[ratdude747]

Did the work yesterday. I went with Goodmark hinges and SKF pin/bushing kits. Did not go well:

-Found some pretty nasty rust on the driver's side upper hinge upper bolt. I didn't have a long enough replacement handy, so I rolled with it.





- Made the mistake of trying to do the pins/bushings on the lower hinge of the driver's side. Not much more slop than new... should haven't tried to fix what wasn't broke. Drilling out the old pin and driving out th eold bushings was no problem but I couldn't get the new bushings to press in. I got part of the way there using a mini-vise (but I was bending the handle) but not far enough. Read that they need to be drilled to 15/32"... which I had on a unibit, but was smaller. Like a good idiot, I went up a size to 1/2"... too big! Had to wrap the bushings in masking tape to make them slip without slop. I didn't bother trying the passenger side after that. SKF didn't give any directions at all

-The driver's side hinges lined up OK the first try... but I got lucky. The passenger side took many tries (and some creative socket/ratchet wrench use to get to the hinge/body bolts with the hinges attached). Had to lift the door with a floor jack to get enough preload for the the door to land in the right spot (my wife couldn't lift it hard enough); otherwise the door was too low and the door and fender interfered (may also be an issue leftover from KO'ing a deer last year).

-While I was at it, I also replaced and rerouted the speaker wiring. I had to cut it to remove the doors anyway, and what was there was some really thin (20 gauge?) junky aftermarket garbage (to go with the equally junk Jensen speakers and "AMERICAN" analog aftermarket FM radio that came with the truck and I replaced not long after). I used Monster 16 gauge cable from Walmart... not sold as automotive wire, but is adequately flexible and per foot a lot cheaper than what was sold as automotive. I won't say Monster is magic (I'm not an audiophile/audiophool), but at least when it comes to cables and wire I've never had a bad product (their 3.5mm cables are particulary good, other than the metal trim tubes coming unglued from the connectors).



Glad to have that job over with. Man do I hate body work...

[Rusty_S85]

Looks good.  I actually bought the spring NOS, it's been a while since I did mine, I think mine was broken when I got the truck, the roller worked just fine wasn't seized up or anything.  I got just the spring NOS off Ebay using the part number I found on the parts catalog.  I how ever did not remove the door hinge and fought the spring forcing it into place.  I got it at the price of putting a couple scratches in the cab by the hinge, but I am really contemplating having the fenders removed when I take the truck to paint so the cab can be painted properly by the hinges, so everything matches.  Not like the fenders are hard to remove anyways.

[Gary Lewis]

Sounds like quite the ordeal, Larry.  Glad you got it done.  But it is a bummer on the bolt.  Can you get to it to replace it now?

[ArdWrknTrk]

Masking tape door bushing doesn't sound long for this world.  

Would you consider replacing the lower hinge if it dropped in your lap?

[ratdude747]

Yes. I was going to replace it later...

[ratdude747]

... and that hinge is shot as of this weekend. Door sagging pretty bad.

The upper hinge bushings were spinning too... who makes good hinges? as much of a pain as this was last time, I'd rather not waste my time and money on more junk parts.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Masking tape bandaid, and the parts are no good?

How long do you expect a pivot to work if it's not held coaxial with the other hinge?

[Gary Lewis]

Larry - I don't know if anyone makes "good" hinges.  I'd be tempted to go with original style hinges with new bushings in them.

[ArdWrknTrk]

This is working for me.💡

I've done them once on the passenger side and twice on my side, in 38yrs since it rolled off the line.