I’ve read dozens and dozens of threads, forums and post regarding sagging/wobbly door hinges. 3 out of 4 seem to be in fairly proper shape, other than the drivers lower hinge (pin?). I can lift the door up about 1/8” and see the the hinge arm is moving. I could live with it IF… the door striker plate lined up when when closing the door.
I’ve read about pulling the front left wing to access the hinge box. Not goin’ to happen. I’ve read about roto cutting the sheet metal in the sill or interior to access then rewelding a panel in place after the hinge (pin?) rebuild. Not goin’ to happen. Someone please tell me that there’s a way to access and remove the drivers side lower hinge box without ripping the the car apart. I’ve spent… 3 1/2 years and tripple the money (But alas, I know here that I’m merely preaching to the choir). My intention isnto make this cars as reliable and as safe a driver as the day I came off off the showroom floor and not a show car, so it has most all of the patina of a 60 year old car. Please, please and double please.
Yes, it can be done, I did it maybe 25 years ago on my FHC and posted my experience here.
get the door and kick panel off
through the hole where the hinge arm comes through, drive a wedge, chisel or screwdriver or something to spread the hinge box away from the hinge arm, either top or bottom first
with a Sawzall or hand held hack saw blade, cut the hinge pin
repeat on the other side, then the hinge arm will come out
1/4BSF box wrench on screw head and 1/4BSF socket wrench on nut, try to get them off, but mine all broke.
Then it will come out.
Then you have to press out the remaining bit of hinge pin from the hinge arm.
Replaced mine a few years back, basically did what Rob suggests. It is not an easy job (as all XK owners who have tackled it will attest!), but it can be done. Biggest hassle for me was using a hand held hacksaw blade for what seemed like hours slowly cutting through the hinge pin. Removing the wing vent box (if fitted) gives you a bit more room to access the securing bolts which, hopefully will shear when you try to undo them! Replaced my pins with stainless steel bolts, some folks bush the new pins and fit a grease nipple, however, as my car no longer gets driven in inclement weather I didn’t bother. Good luck!
Ok, that seems to,be the consensus amongst most boards, and yes a roto-zip or a sawsall depending on room to move. But I’m still confused as to how to access the whole mess. 2 bolts from above, and 2 from below. The the entire box seems to be encased in sheet metal all around. How do you get the box out, or in for that matter? So so are you saying yes to citing an opening to get to it all, if not, I know idea how to get inside the guts. As usual, they built those cars from the inside out, where dozens of components and bolts ets are inaccessible.
I’ll take a closer look tomorrow. Maybe I’m missing something.
Althea, the repair method Rob and Chris used is necessary if the hinge pin bolt is frozen into the hinge arm due to rust.
In my case, the door hinges had play in them, but the hinge pins were not frozen into the hinge arms. The play in the hinges was simply due to wear. I lucked out, and the repair was far less involved.
To derermine if your hinge pins are frozen in the hinge arms, remove both kick panels. Then reach in and hold the upper and lower hinge pins while moving the door open and closed. If the hinge pins do not move in your hand, then the hinge pins are not frozen.
In that case, the repair will be much simpler. Remove the eight bolts that hold each door to the hinge arms. Keep track of the shims and remove the doors. Then unbolt the hinge pins and remove them. Then the hinge arms can be pulled rearward and out of the car.
I found the holes in the hinge arms were worn from 60 years of use providing a sloppy fit with the hinge pins. I took the hinge arms to a machine shop who reamed the holes in the hinge arms and pressed-in bronze bushings. I was able to reuse the original hinge pins because all the wear was in the hinge arm holes. Like I said, I got lucky and the repair was not that big a deal.
It may ( Or may not ) be of value, but some years back I posted photos of my non-destructive removal of the lower hinge. You can drill out the three spacers from the bottom and after removing the lower bolts on the door and body side, remove the bottom plate. Then you have access to cut the hinge bolt on top of the arm from the door with a dremel or other tool. After that remove the upper plate and you can repair the whole assembly easily( bushing in the arm and a proper fitted bolt.
After you paint and assemble it all. Take it apart and reassemble it in pieces in the car.
If you can’t find the pics and are interested, email me and I’ll dig them up.
That is indeed my situation. Just one sloppy, not “frozen” unless that’s a term I’m unfamiliar with. The door swings open and closed as it should, so it bust be a hinge pin that has come out of spec after 60 year, and a bunch a hack mechanics.
I’ll look closer as to how to remove and replace that pin, or I may try or add a couple of washers (shims) to the bottom door bolts and simply try to raise the door swing to meet the catch plate. Don’t care about the wobble in the hinge as long I can gear the GP door to close properly, and I don’t squeeze to much clearance in the door to shut gap. But even that I can live with.
For Sale:
1952 XK-120 Ots S all matching numbers. There’s a legacy involved in this project due to my fathers passsing which keeps me moving forward. I’m down the this issue, brake adjustment and I’m done. Like right, as if they’re ever really done. Thanks all.
The hinge pin is a shoulder bolt, usually harder than ordinary bolts. The original intent was that the pin should not move, that the hinge arm rotates on the pin.
Either the hinge pin is rusted and stuck and moving with the hinge arm so the holes in the hinge box are worn oversize (my car), or it is not moving and the hole in the hinge arm is worn oversize (Mike’s car).
The hinge arm has to come off first, then there are eight bolts to get off and then the hinge box comes out easily.
There is another way, if the hinge pin is stuck in the arm. Heat up the arm close to the pin to glowing red hot with an oxy/acetylene torch and it will loosen up. A propane torch might also work but is slower. And you take a chance on burning your paint.
Its a poor design, too much load on a small bearing surface, especially with the FHC door being quite a bit heavier than the OTS door, and no grease fitting.
Two things: to get the seized bit of pin out, heat the hinge arm until it just starts to glow red, then quench it. Quickly hold it on open vice jaws and get a mate to whack it out with a punch - very quick and easy.
The second thing is an answer to your question. I have just finished removing all four, all of which were seized, with both lowers welded and snapped off inside the hinge arms. In other words, couldn’t be worse!
Yes, it’s a pain and fiddly - on my car there was no access for an air saw without cutting the spacers as well, so it was a hand blade job. And yes - once the hinge arms are out, you can bash the hinge boxes into the middle of the vertical ‘slot’ they sit in and pull them into the cockpit. So, no cuts in the wings, sills, bulkhead - anywhere. At least on a 140DHC, anyway.
My new hinges are new, as the old ones turned out to be bent all over the place. New replacements are significantly more robust than the originals and can take bigger pins. I have modified them to take 10mm pins in Oilite bushes. I am using longer 10mm shoulder bolts as pins, with 10mm bosses welded to top and bottom plates to reduce the risk of wear. Probably overkill as they have anti-rotation flats as well, but just to be sure. No provision for active lubrication as I don’t want to drill the pins and the Oilite bushes should do the job anyway. If they wear the’ll be easy to replace in future.
Thanks sooo much for all the useful information photos and details, of which are stymying me at every turn. Door is of, and all Imfind are Different sized nuts here, odd bolts there. Frozen, yes assuming that I can feel the pin swivel as I open and close the hinge. I’m at the car now, and for the life of me can’t get a proper socket, spammer, vice grips ot channel locks to even come close to freeing the hinhinge pin.
Is the bottom line that the hinge box gas to come out and be reworked or replaced? If so, I can’t fine half of the nuts, or corresponding bolts on one end from another.
Blood, Sweat and TEARS. An ocean of them. Not sure my father is looking down anymore with pride or shame.
If your hinge pin is that frozen (i.e. stuck) you need to either heat it up with a torch, or cut it above and below the hinge arm, inside the hinge box.
Spread the box apart to get the saw blade in there.
It will take a long time to cut.
Then work on getting those 8 bolts off. There are 4 above the box and 4 below it.
So yes the hinge box has to come out.
Assuming you have removed all the trim and now have just metal to work on, the first thing to do is remove the nut on the bottom of the pivot pins if possible. If the pins have rusted into the hinges, i.e. the hex head of the pin and the nut on the bottom are moving when you open the door, there’s no point in removing the nut as you have to saw through the pin anyway. It might give you just a bit more space for the lower cut, but won’t help with the top one so don’t waste too much time on removing them. If the pin is not moving with the door, you only need to get the nuts off the bottom and are a very lucky person.There might be room to get a nut splitter on there, don’t know.
Everting is rusted and 60 year old stuck. If I had a lift, things might be a bit easier. Can’t find the right size socket or spanner to get the to or bottom or the pin. To take that whole box out is a non starter. Not goin’ there. That’s for the next guy ready for a frame off, and that ain’t me.
Plan b) angled roto-zip / angle grinder with a smaller wheel which hopefully I’ll have some luck with, or a sledge hammer… in the order.
After that, my plan is to drill the pin whole ro round, and the find a bush and a larger bolt. All I want to do is get the door to stop wobblying so it lines up properly with the dove tails and striker plate.
Who know where I’ll land, but either way, thank you all so much for ALL OF YOUR ADVISE.
Hi Althea
There are no shortcuts to completely removing the hinges and replacing them with bronze-bushed ones.
I drilled through the hinge pins; from underneath for the top one, and from above for the bottom one. Then the 8 bolts could be undone with patience.
The whole thing took me several days, but the hinges came out cleanly.
Patience and perseverance, the basic ingredients of car restoration …
Good luck
Francis
Are you aware that the 8 bolts are British size? The correct wrench for them is 1/4 BSF which is slightly larger than 7/16" but with perseverance you may be able to get a 7/16" to fit.
BSF - British Standard Fine
BSW - British Standard Whitworth
Basically, these are Whitworth spanner sizes. Very common on British vehicles up to the late sixties (or later, e.g. Land Rovers).
