Door dropping slightly

[PhilW]

Can anyone advise the best way to resolve door drop.  Not really have a close inspection of the hinge bushes yet but if the door was a open a few inches is it feasible to put a trolley jack under to support it then loosen the two large nuts on the inside and just jack it a few mm.

Any advise appreciated

[jonwat]

There are abrasive washers that hold it in place (part 30 in diagram) which have probably become unstuck so need replacement.

I made my own replacements using wet & dry paper, 1200 grade I think. 😀

Edited May 27, 2020 by jonwat

[PhilW]

Jon

Yes Ive seen these. But adjustment as I describe assuming abrasive washers are OK or replaced?

[C43]

is there up and down play in the door hinges. If so then the normal cause if the plastic door bushes have worn out. Bit of an epic to change. I have done it a few times now and I would still recon on a full day to do one.

 

[PhilW]

Christian

Not really checked very well but I dont believe so.  Could be wrong though.  Happy to take that on but want to try and just avoid another major task until end of the summer.

 

[andydclements]

Phil, when you say the door drops, if you mean it drops but the hinge plate attached to the body doesn't move (normally can tell by the paint being intact over the hinge or by presence of undisturbed dirt on the door pillar) then it's parts 35 in the diagram. If you want to fix the problem then you'll have to remove the pin and bushes from the door, which is easiest by removing the whole door (shell and metal bar) from the car. There's no adjustment that will get rid of the drop but you could adjust the top hinge (move it towards the nose of the car)  such that the door only drops as far as the normal position of the latch when closed.

[PhilW]

Thanks Andy.  Yes only want to raise 2 mm.  I notice bottom of the door was just touching the cill.  So minor adjustment should stop that and then I can sort the bushes end of the summer.  Thanks

 

[jonwat]

17 hours ago, PhilW said:

adjustment as I describe assuming abrasive washers are OK or replaced?

Phil.

Probably better off with a glamorous assistant helping, or the wife if you don't have one available. 

[C43]

I held the door up with a car jack at the end and measured the distance to the ground, I found it easier to accurately adjust the height when open that way. I took the weight off the door hinges with the jack then undid the hinge bolts inside the body a bit then lifted the end of the door with the jack then did the door back up. 

If you open the door and lift the end up and down and feel inside the hinge mechanism you should be able to feel if there is any play and hence if the bushes have worn. 

Even if your hinge bush has worn rather than the nut plate sliding I guess you can still lift the door a bit with the hinge mounting bolts rather than changing the bush itself.

good luck

C43

[PhilW]

Christian

Yes ill try this.  Only need minor lift until more time to remove the door and do the bushes.  Still looking for a glamorous assistant

though 😀

[C43]

know what you mean by glamorous assistant!

BTW if your rotate around the top mount you tend to open up the gap at the front of the door, if you rotate around the bottom mount you tend to close up the gap at the front of the door. Looking at the geometry I did not think it would make much difference but in practice I found this a useful way of adjusting both the height of the door and both the for / aft movement of the door. Useful if you are being anal about getting your shut lines good (better!). Which your rotate around depends on how much  you undo the bolts holding the top and bottom hinge points. The one you are rotating around you undo less. So if I wanted to open up the gap on the leading edge then I would undo the top bolt by 1/2 turn and the bottom bolt by 1 turn (having first taken the weight with my jack) then jack the door up a little and retighten. BTW the absolute number of turns to undo the bolts by are by memory from my car, yours might be different.

Let me know if this is not clear.

cheers

C43