Argh freakin door hinges and freakin mirrors

[yolner]

My mirror brackets are bent and rusty so now that the truck is somewhat drivable I decided to remove them and see if I can straighten them out or replace them with emt conduit. Turns out that the door hinge bolts are completely rusted in place. I managed to break the nuts loose on the passenger side door, but the bolts are not cooperating.

What I'm thinking now is that instead of trying to get the doors off I can just cut the old mirror brackets off and make up something like:

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce-...-50-dollar-deuce-bobber-mirrors-brackets.html

That'll at least allow me to do some driving without tearing up half the cab trying to get the the hinges off. Speaking of which, I'd like to have a talk with whoever decided to use + head screws to hold the door hinges to the cab.

Thoughts on my plan? If I do decide to make new brackets how far out from the cab should I put them on a regular unbobbed deuce?

 

[Tinwoodsman]

I had the same problems and once I got the hinges and mirrors brackets off, I installed the hinge bushing kit from OD Iron. Problem solved. Good luck.

 

[yolner]

I had the same problems and once I got the hinges and mirrors brackets off, I installed the hinge bushing kit from OD Iron. Problem solved. Good luck.

How did you get them off the truck? I need some ideas

 

[Petesos]

Hi Dude
I cut the heads off the bolts and then drilled them out and they tapped out nice with a punch
BUT be carefull putting them on as them arms can draw blood.
Petesos

 

[Tinwoodsman]

Yeah Yolner, that is a problem. I tried removing the hinge pins (bolts) but no luck. I got two out and the others were impossible. I then focused on removing the hinges and the doors at the same time. That worked but I used one of those impact tools with the Phillips head and beat it with a hammer to free up the hinge screws. Worked on most of them but some were a lost cause. On those, I drilled and re-tapped them once th doors were off. Creativity is involved. Once again, good luck.

 

[hoop]

KROIL and use the body of the truck as a wrench stop and open the door slowly.

 

[ranchhopper]

Heat the hinge with a torch and work them out thats how I got mine out. If you go hitting them too hard useing a punch you will move the hinge then the door will not open and close properly.

 

[scoutmanadam]

to get the screw head bolts out, i have spot welded nuts on them before so i could get a wrench on them. the only down side is you need to find new replacement for them but its a good idea to use new bolts anyway

 

[jasonjc]

I work on aircraft and they use alot of phillips head screws and some other funky kinds. My point is we use what we called screw knockers. It's a driver bit hold on the end of a air hammer bit with a handle. It works a 100's time better than those hand hammer things.
Screw Extractors And only $20-35

 

[yolner]

I work on aircraft and they use alot of phillips head screws and some other funky kinds. My point is we use what we called screw knockers. It's a driver bit hold on the end of a air hammer bit with a handle. It works a 100's time better than those hand hammer things.
Screw Extractors And only $20-35

Thanks for the link! That's a really neat looking tool. I even have a rivet gun somewhere I could use this with.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

When we picke dup our truck there were NO MIRRORS mounted (She had Ford pick-up "Swing away" mirrors screwed to the door sheetmetal in her prior life as a Brush Fire Truck.)

I simply removed the DOORS from the CAB FRAME (door posts), then removed the hinges from the DOORS. Clamped the hinges to a block and used a drill press to drill out the old bolts. Rehung everything using fresh screws and HARDENED BOLTS for the hinge pins.

Good luck on your project

 

[greg2560]

I had to use a impact screw driver to get my hings off the door and the truck. Amazon.com: Impact Screw Driver Socket Tool Set Loosen Bolts Nuts: Home Improvement these tools will save your butt most of the time. I had to pull the hing on mine and heat it red and let it cool soak with PB and drove the pins out with a punch.

 

[goldwing2000]

I had to use a impact screw driver to get my hings off the door and the truck. Amazon.com: Impact Screw Driver Socket Tool Set Loosen Bolts Nuts: Home Improvement these tools will save your butt most of the time. I had to pull the hing on mine and heat it red and let it cool soak with PB and drove the pins out with a punch.

I was able to get my hinge screws out with a 3/8" drive P3 bit (got lucky, I suppose) but the rest is exactly how I did mine.

 

[yolner]

Thanks for all the good advice. I have an impact driver so I'll give that a try.

One more thing I'm curious about. Can one guy safely handle a deuce door? It doesn't look too heavy, but I just want to be sure.

 

[greg2560]

you might need someone to pull the screws loose and some hold the door but ya. One guy can hold it. I moved and picked mine up on my own.

 

[Recovry4x4]

The doors are pretty light, its that heavy arse piece of glass that adds up. I use a length of 2x4 to assist me.

 

[goldwing2000]

I did my hinges one at a time, so I never had to take the door completely off.

 

[jasonjc]

I think it was said in another post that the doors are like 73lbs. I don't think you want to take them off by yourself.

 

[AceHigh]

I keep working the hinge bolts till I get them moving just a bit, then keep working and working till they move so I can drive them up. No fun!

As for lifting the door, I use a couple of straps and an engine lift. Makes it easy for a grayhair.

 

[Jake0147]

Doors are nto that bad weight wise. Take the first screw out of the top hinge, then put it back half way in. Remove the remaining seven screws. Close the door so it overlaps the floor just a smidge, you can keep it with one arm while you remove the pre-loosened remaining screw. The top hinge keeps it from falling sideways, the floor holds half the door, the gusset in the doorway keeps it from going too far...
Use common sense and think three steps ahead the first time around, after that it's not bad at all. You need a good grip on the door, but an average person can do it easily. No super human strength involved. Oh yeah, ROLL THE WINDOW DOWN. It's a lot less fragile that way, and the door balances a whole lot better.

The only way to get (good) access to the screws in the door is to separate the hinges (if it's an option) or to remove the hinges from the truck.