Door Adjustment

[jdavidsmi]

I have a question about how to adjust the doors.
My passenger door was sagging and I could see the bushing on the top hinge were very worn. I watched all the u-tube videos and it looked very straight forward, secure door, pull bolts from door side of hinge, knock out old pin and bushings, replace, re-bolt hinges to door. So I got a set of hinge pins and bushings, and went to work.
1st thing was my hinge pin was braded down so no knocking the out without grinding off bottom first. Could not get the grinder into the area. The only way was to pulled the top hinge off the truck and grind down the pin, it all came out very easy. Knocked out what was left of the bushings and replaced. Reassembled and reinstalled on the truck.
Now came the fun, door on the truck. Could not get any thing on the bolt head to tighten it up. First I tried an extension, no go. Then I tried a universal joint. got it on the bolt but is it such an angle could not turn.

So guys how do I get a wrench, socket, on the bolt behind the fender to tighten once I got the door adjusted? looks like I needed an old distributor wrench.

[reamer]

Depending on how much aggravation you like, the fender should come off.
Remember:
Align the door to the CAB first, the cab is the only solid reference point.
Once the door gap in relation to the cab is even, (height) now align the door (in and out) so it is smooth to the cab wall. Make sure in closes and the body lines "line up"
Now re-attach the fender.

You can really open a can of worms pulling a door off without making earlier reference lines.

50% for the time when a door sags, it is not the pin, its the door skin at the bolt tabs that is rusted from the inside and paper thin, door sags under its own weight.

You can test this by bolting up the door,  (in alignment) and have someone lift and drop the door as you watch the hinge-to-door bolts. Ifthe sheet metal even has a minute flex, its rotted and no new pin will be able to align AND keep the door from sagging.

Once the new pins are in, and the door looks fantastic while closed, push the button like you were going to open the door, Push the button with your eye at the door body line level, if it sags on opening, door is rotted.

[ArdWrknTrk]

2 things.

1) It is much easier to cut the pin in the middle of the hinge with a dremel (or die grinder, or whatever) and then pull or lever out the two pieces than try to drive the old pin out from one end.

I also find it easier to put the top pin facing up, so the e-clip is where I can see it and not trying to fall off the pin.

2) The hinges bolt into a captive (but loose) nut plate.
If the bolt is spinning the nut, you have bigger issues like bent or rotted keepers in the door post.

In my '87 you can see the hinge points from inside the cab with the interior stripped out.
I don't think you have direct access though.
So, either a hole saw or body saw for getting to it.

In my case it was a cowl leak that caused all the damage.

[PetesPonies]

OK, I adjust doors for a living now  :) I do restorations, so I get a lot of opportunities to install and adjust doors. Typically it is with a car and again typically, after sheet metal replacement. So often I try and help people get their door adjusted, on the web, after they have replaced the quarter, had the fender off etc. The point of this is . .you have it easy  :) You have no quarter to be welded on that might change things etc. I assume you did not remove the front fender. So all you need to do is get it back where it was . . or was it aligned well to start with ? Were the gaps good once it was latched in place? I have to assume here, yes it was. I coincidently, just removed my drivers door on my '82 to make some repairs and reinstalled it a couple days ago. I did not remove my hinge. I had to replace the "S" spring, but did so with the hinge still bolted to the "A" pillar. You had to remove the hinge to replace the bushings and pin. But you should have had tell tale marks as to the exact location it was in before you removed it. Did you try and replace and tighten at the exact same location?  . . . using marks left by the hinge when you pulled it off? You want to limit your variables. Getting the hinge back in the same location will limit the variables. The mounting of the hinge on the pillar controls the up and down, of your door at the back. In other words, its the arc the door can be adjusted. If you get that right, then the hinge bolts to the door, effect the distance from the fender to the rear of the door opening. In others words, your gaps. Not to say the first adjustments don't effect gaps too, but the first adjustment is where you try and get the door parallel to the rear of the opening. Then slide the door closer or farther away by the hinge bolts on the door. So easy to show you, so difficult to explain. SO . .what is your exact problem? What does it look like now? You can get the door bolts with a wrench. A normal combination wrench is fine, but a ratcheting wrench is better; quicker.

[jdavidsmi]

The door was sagging and was very hard to close. The bushings around the hinge pin on the top hinge are worn out.The bushings and pin were replaced. Hinge was reinstalled back to where it was, and the door rehung. Door was still out of alinement, so I took the door back off and readjusted the top hinge. I basely moved the hinge back 1/8" or so. I left the bolts a little loose so I could move it more if needed. I put the door back on and it needed just a small more adjustment. I was able to tighten two of the bolts. but the 3rd one that is behind the fender is the one I cannot get a wrench on it to tighten.

[PetesPonies]

If you absolutely cannot get it, remove the door then. The two bolts for each hinge on the door are easy to get to, as you should know. But if you are happy with alignment now, remove it before th hinge moves on the "A" pillar. Get the third bolt tight.

[CountryBumkin]

I'm replacing the top hinge now - so this thread caught my attention.
I have a couple of "door hinge" wrenches that I bought back when these trucks were still new. Seems that they are hard to find now. I think it was MATCO or MAC that was selling them. You may be able to find them on Ebay.

I do find that these swivel-end ratcheting wrenches work pretty well on those door hinge bolts.
Such as this one (and the same in 1/2" size). https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002SR04Y/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[jdavidsmi]

Country Bumkin, That is exactly what I need, when I do the drivers side. But for the time being I took PetesPonies advice and pulled the door off and tightened the third bolt up.