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The windy months are fast approaching and now is a good time to check the doors on your 1947-1955 1st Series Truck. The wind comes into play because of weak springs in the upper door hinges. It is almost a regular thing to see a truck with a crease in the cowl just forward of the doors due to the wind taking it and slamming the door open against the cowl. This is a very difficult repair job and anything you do can and probably will damage the paint even further.
This is fully preventable by rebuilding your hinges. The top hinges on each side have a retention spring on them. They give the door a fully open detent. You can easily feel them snap into place at the full open position and because of the way they are made, they cannot be working and still get the infamous crease in your cowl. Sadly, these hinge springs were not made stout enough so they are subject to break or to slip out of a worn slot. I have even mentioned this to a crowd of enthusiasts and they didn't even know the trucks had a positive stop on them! Hinges are probably the most neglected part of the truck. Each hinge has an oil hole about midway down and that is for OILING!
The way the hinge works is, the housing and the hinge pin are fixed together while the hinge arm rotates on the pin. Through neglect, weather, and wear, the pin starts to rust itself to the hinge arm causing the hinge frame to loosen and wear down. All of this pressure causes the top hinges spring slots to warble out. After that much damage, something has to give, and the spring either comes out of the warbled slot, or it breaks completely. Now, we are just a windy day away from a disaster.
It is not hard to remove a door hinge and one side of the truck can be done in a few hours. Procure a hinge pin kit from our vendors and the home garage mechanic can do this. Here is how I do it. I have rebuilt about 30 hinges so far and help others from time to time...
1) Get a drill bit set that includes a Letter R and an 11/32" Drill Bit. Do not even try to do this with whatever you have lying around.. use those drills!
2) Get the oversize hinge repair kit from the vendors. As far as I know, there is only one kit available.
3) Depending on how bad the old pin is rusted in place, get a punch that will barely go down the hole and punch the old pin out. This can be easier said than done. One method to make it easier is to take a saws-all and separate the hinge housing from the hinge arm. Then you can try the hammer and punch again, if that doesn't do it, use a shop press to press it out. Do not beat up the hinge housing which once warped is almost impossible to put back, or the hinge arm which needs to be as wide as it already is.
4) Once the pieces are apart clean them up and use the Letter R Bit to drill the Hinge Housing and the 11/32" Bit to drill the Hinge arm.
5) Install the spring. If the hole the spring fits into is warbled very much, it will just pop out again, so I repair them by welding them shut and re-drilling them. Before you go to all that trouble, fit the spring in place and check to see if there is any chance of it coming out. If it looks tight, try it the way it is.
6) Hammer the pin into place holding everything together. Hammer it in all the way. The pin will probably be too long and require cutting. Leave about 1/8" but cut the rest off.
There may be some brass bushings in the kit. Those are not used for this application. Before you put it in service, oil everything well. There should be no play anywhere. Everything should fit perfectly. If you did it right and are conscious of the oil hole, you should be good for a very long time. Seeya Next Week!
This is fully preventable by rebuilding your hinges. The top hinges on each side have a retention spring on them. They give the door a fully open detent. You can easily feel them snap into place at the full open position and because of the way they are made, they cannot be working and still get the infamous crease in your cowl. Sadly, these hinge springs were not made stout enough so they are subject to break or to slip out of a worn slot. I have even mentioned this to a crowd of enthusiasts and they didn't even know the trucks had a positive stop on them! Hinges are probably the most neglected part of the truck. Each hinge has an oil hole about midway down and that is for OILING!
The way the hinge works is, the housing and the hinge pin are fixed together while the hinge arm rotates on the pin. Through neglect, weather, and wear, the pin starts to rust itself to the hinge arm causing the hinge frame to loosen and wear down. All of this pressure causes the top hinges spring slots to warble out. After that much damage, something has to give, and the spring either comes out of the warbled slot, or it breaks completely. Now, we are just a windy day away from a disaster.
It is not hard to remove a door hinge and one side of the truck can be done in a few hours. Procure a hinge pin kit from our vendors and the home garage mechanic can do this. Here is how I do it. I have rebuilt about 30 hinges so far and help others from time to time...
1) Get a drill bit set that includes a Letter R and an 11/32" Drill Bit. Do not even try to do this with whatever you have lying around.. use those drills!
2) Get the oversize hinge repair kit from the vendors. As far as I know, there is only one kit available.
3) Depending on how bad the old pin is rusted in place, get a punch that will barely go down the hole and punch the old pin out. This can be easier said than done. One method to make it easier is to take a saws-all and separate the hinge housing from the hinge arm. Then you can try the hammer and punch again, if that doesn't do it, use a shop press to press it out. Do not beat up the hinge housing which once warped is almost impossible to put back, or the hinge arm which needs to be as wide as it already is.
4) Once the pieces are apart clean them up and use the Letter R Bit to drill the Hinge Housing and the 11/32" Bit to drill the Hinge arm.
5) Install the spring. If the hole the spring fits into is warbled very much, it will just pop out again, so I repair them by welding them shut and re-drilling them. Before you go to all that trouble, fit the spring in place and check to see if there is any chance of it coming out. If it looks tight, try it the way it is.
6) Hammer the pin into place holding everything together. Hammer it in all the way. The pin will probably be too long and require cutting. Leave about 1/8" but cut the rest off.
There may be some brass bushings in the kit. Those are not used for this application. Before you put it in service, oil everything well. There should be no play anywhere. Everything should fit perfectly. If you did it right and are conscious of the oil hole, you should be good for a very long time. Seeya Next Week!