Question: Removing the drivers side door- tips?

[KANE]

Hi all!

I'm planning to remove the driver's side door so that I can separate the fender and rehang it properly- a previous owner did not make a repair to my standards. The fit along the seam is off a wee bit for my liking...


Any tips or tricks to removing the door?

Any thoughts about how much it weighs? I'm trying to figure out how to support it while I take it off... any ideas?

I plan to take the door off from the door side and not the bird cage side. I believe there are eight bolts- four top and four bottom.

 

[Ryan536]

I had to take my passenger door off this year to be fixed. I did this job entirely by myself. For support I used a small wood pallet (skid) and an old tire (no rim obviously). I placed the tire flat on top of the skid and it was the perfect height for the door to rest on while I took the bolts out and put them back in when the door was fixed. Yes there are 8 bolts, 4 top and 4 bottom. The top ones are behind an access panel. Mine has power windows and I just unplugged them from the unit from the access panel below the door handle and pullled the wire out through the front of the door. The door weighs, I would guess about 50 to 75 pounds. I was able to move it around easily enough it's just akward and of course I'm trying not to hit it on anything or scratch it.
When I was putting the door back on it was easy to align it back up. There were marks left by the bolts. The only problems I ran into was running the wires back to the power window unit. If I had long and skinny needlenose pliers it would have been a snap for me.

 

[LVMYVT76]

Get someone to help you, maybe 2 guys!! I did mine by myself, never again, THINK about what would happen if you drop it!!!

 

[6880 Mike]

C3 doors, with glass and hardware, are about three times heavier than they ought to be. My advice is not to remove the door if you actually don't have to. If it has to come off, go very slowly and be very careful.

I used my floor jack with supportive chocking. Make sure the jack is on the steel and not the fiberglass.

 

[Ryan536]

I got the tire idea from a Hot Rod magazine I bought about 20 years ago when I first got interested in cars and wanted to build a "ZZ Top" coupe. It popped into my mind when I needed to take my door off. It worked for them back then and it worked for me this year. I would do it again with absolutely no worries. The tire I used was an old spare from my pick-up truck. The skid was about 4 inches high. The tire nearly covered the entire surface of the bottom of the door so there was no wobbling or shifting. The tire was a snug fit under the door right from the start. If it wasn't I would have "shimmed" it up with planks of wood between the tire and the skid.
Would having another person or two help? Sure, of course, but I wasn't so lucky and needed to get the door off that day to get it to where it had to go to get fixed and couldn't find any help.
And yes you have to be careful, you can't go all Hill-William on it.