Quick Door removal/mounting tech

[69MyWay]

Here is a quick idea. If you are going to be removing your doors and want to be able to put them back on in the exact same position, then give this a try. Drill two small holes and run a 3/16" zip screw in to secure a thread mounting. Now you can remove the door to do whatever you want. When you put the door back on, simply line up the holes, insert the zip screws, then install and retorque the other bolts.

 

[Tom73]

Not bad, looks like a good idea.

tom...

 

[redmist]

As an alternative you can just remove the hinge pins leaving the hinges in their original position.

 

[69MyWay]

Excellent point. I just tend to get a little wild banging the pins back in place and have scuffed up fresh paint in the past. Otherwise, simply knocking the pins is the best possible way to do this.

 

[Tom Bryant]

I've heard that it is sometimes impossible to get the top pin out on a Shark without cutting it in 2 or grinding it's head off. Supposedly it hits the inner door where it wraps over. Any thoughts?

Tom

 

[redmist]

You are correct Tom. You have to push it out part way, dremel off the top and extract it. Put the new pin in from the bottom up. The knurled section of the pin keeps it in place.
In twenty years when you do it again you just push it out the bottom.

 

[69MyWay]

I guess there is no one easy way to do it. I had already rebuilt the hinges with new bushings and pins. Put them on the car, etc. etc. just as you see in the picture above, then started fitting them to the fenders, etc. etc. I realized after the fact that I was going to have to take them back off. I had already spent umpteen dozen hours getting them right where I wanted them.

We painted the jams the other day and a friend came over (he has a gimp arm too) and we gimpedly (is that a word?) put them back on. It went really smooth.

He held the door up and I lined up the small zip screw holes and ran them in with a power screw driver. Then, I put the remaining bolts in finger tight. We closed the door and put a floor jack on the back edge and gave them both a little upward tweak, then torqued the main bolts down. They are right back where I left them with shinny black jams.

You have to be very careful with the metal shavings created by the drilling. If left in the door, they will eventually rust and cause rust problems in the bottom of the door.

Oh, one other thing. I don't know if it is because the hinges were worn out or what, but the door skin had been hitting the upper edge of the lower hinge causing a nick in the door. I have seen this on other sharks. While I had it apart, I went ahead and ground out a notch in both lower hinges on the upper portion so that there was no way the door could be forced beyond the normal wide open postion and crack the door again.

Just a thought.

 

[yooperod]

great Idea, I'll try it out , soon.
thx rod