cudak888
Well-Known Member
The upper part of the door frame on my new-to-me '68 Satellite (4-door) has been grazing the B-pillar, and - from what I could tell from first observations - the lower hinge brass bushings had cracked. At any rate, you could pick up the door and feel the play.
Hence, enter a new replacement hinge that arrived today. I hate it - not so much that it's made in China, but that all three A-pillar mounting holes drilled and tapped. The original had a large square adjustment hole for the one bolt that is fitted from the outside in. So be it, I fit it as-is to see if I could at least alleviate the door issue.
Problem is, it didn't solve the problem - the door window frame still grazes the B-pillar, just barely. Lower hinge is as far back as it goes. However, if you pick up the door, you can get it in the right spot - what surprises me is that there's no clunk of worn bushings at the top, even though this would be the obvious culprit. Either way, I ordered a new pin and bushings for said upper hinge.
HOWEVER, I still suspect that the upper hinge may need to be pulled forward slightly to get everything where it belongs, even after pin adjustment. I plan to pull the fender and have a friend help me on this one this weekend.
Problem is, other than stuffing quite a few socket extensions under the dash, I can't quite figure out how Ma Mopar intended for this thing to be adjusted. Is there a trick to this? Or does the trick comprise of removing the entire dashboard?
Am I on the right track here, or should I just rely on my fingers and the socket extenders? I know it can be made to work, but it's not necessarily the way it's supposed to be done.
Incidentally, all of this is making the door latch fail to make it's second click without a serious shove on the door (which it has not done since I bought the car) - regardless of striker adjustment - but that's really not important until the hinge issue is resolved.
Any advice appreciated here.
-Kurt
Hence, enter a new replacement hinge that arrived today. I hate it - not so much that it's made in China, but that all three A-pillar mounting holes drilled and tapped. The original had a large square adjustment hole for the one bolt that is fitted from the outside in. So be it, I fit it as-is to see if I could at least alleviate the door issue.
Problem is, it didn't solve the problem - the door window frame still grazes the B-pillar, just barely. Lower hinge is as far back as it goes. However, if you pick up the door, you can get it in the right spot - what surprises me is that there's no clunk of worn bushings at the top, even though this would be the obvious culprit. Either way, I ordered a new pin and bushings for said upper hinge.
HOWEVER, I still suspect that the upper hinge may need to be pulled forward slightly to get everything where it belongs, even after pin adjustment. I plan to pull the fender and have a friend help me on this one this weekend.
Problem is, other than stuffing quite a few socket extensions under the dash, I can't quite figure out how Ma Mopar intended for this thing to be adjusted. Is there a trick to this? Or does the trick comprise of removing the entire dashboard?
Am I on the right track here, or should I just rely on my fingers and the socket extenders? I know it can be made to work, but it's not necessarily the way it's supposed to be done.
Incidentally, all of this is making the door latch fail to make it's second click without a serious shove on the door (which it has not done since I bought the car) - regardless of striker adjustment - but that's really not important until the hinge issue is resolved.
Any advice appreciated here.
-Kurt