Want door to close like a new car!..?

It sounds like your hinges are worn out. You can buy a hinge repair kit that will come with new hinge pins and bushings, that usually fixes it. Also make sure the door striker still has the plastic bushing on it.

Hinge pin & bushing kits are available at many auto parts stores. Or see http://www.texasmustang.com/ or http://www.mustang-unl.com/lmparts.htm. Usually less than $7 for the kit with one pin & 2 bushings.

Th hard part is to get the old pin out. Some were spot welded in, others were hammered so that the end mushroomed. Either way, it takes a grinder or cutter bit in a drill or Dremel tool to cut the pin or grind off the weld. Once it is off, tap the pin out with a hammer. Only remove one pin at a time so that you don't have the full weight of the door to manage. I highly recommend that you have a helper standing by to hold the door.

Once the old pin is out, lower the door and tap out the old bushings. Put the new bushings in and have the helper lift the door in place so that you can slide the new pin in. It may have to go in differently from the way it came out. That's OK, as long as you put the cotter pin in the hinge pin.

OOOPS!!! The important thing to remember is that the hinge pin isn't supposed to move once you are finished. If it does, then you will end up like me - the pin moved, it wore the door hinge instead of the replaceable bushings. Now in order to fix it right, I have to remove the whole thing again and drill out the hinge to the same size as the bushing and use 2 sets of bushings in each hinge rather than one set.


The fix for the OOOPs was very time consuming and if you aren't up to some very interesting machine work, do it right so you won't have to do it again. I fixed the OOOps but I had $43 worth of drill bit and specialized reamer plus pulling the fender off to fix it.

After hindges, new weatherstripping helps with the new door shutting sound.

MUSTANGJOE said:

Thanks guys...

I would have to remove the fender to do this..?

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I dont think so...i think his "fix" to his "oops" just required that he do so.

This should help.

View attachment 491927

The fender stays in place unless you do the Ooops repair...

A bit of tack weld on the hinge pin or drill a hole for a cotter pin in the right place will prevent the hinge pin from turning.

go info....I might have to do this to my stang since i have to slam the door for it to close correctly.

I did this about a month ago to a tahoe and it wasnt hard at all

to make sure its in the bushings, lift up on the rear edge of the door. if it wobbles, its in the bushings/pins. if it lifts the car instead, you need to adjust the hinges and/or stiker plate.

bigcat said:

to make sure its in the bushings, lift up on the rear edge of the door. if it wobbles, its in the bushings/pins. if it lifts the car instead, you need to adjust the hinges and/or stiker plate.

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I was just going to say that... You want to check and make sure it's your hinge pins or hinges before spending the money, if you open the door and it will move up and down, your pins are most likely the problem. If the door is firm, you might want to check your striker assembly's and make sure they aren't loose. IF everything in the doors are tight, your car is sagging... get some good full lenth sub frame connects and jack the car up from the middle, not the suspension like the instructions say until your doors line up and operate correctly, then weld them on (the sub frames, not the doors).

Most likley though, if it's only the drivers door and not both, it's your pins.

My dad and I changed the pins and bushings, aligned it and it shut really nice. I could push it shut with my fingers.