After rebuilding my door hinges it seems to me they’d benefit from some way to actually lubricate them from time to time so they don’t get sloppy again. There have to be XK owners who’ve figured out a simple work around but a search of the archives comes up dry. If you’ve installed something, care to share?
I was thinking about drilling a hole down the middle of the pivot pin through the hex head to a depth about midway of the depth of the hinge boss, threading in a grease nipple then drilling a small hole in the side of the pivot pin, viz
That’s an interesting design. Robust. Pity the XK doors weren’t afforded the same kind of provisions. I think the challenge setting up a lubrication mechanism in an XK120 door hinge is providing access to the zerk fitting. Not much room. And the three wear areas top , bottom and inside of the hinge pivot are not all that large so will get sloppy in a hurry without lubrication. The spiral channel makes a whole lot of sense. Otherwise maybe three small holes:
Well, what a coincidence - I have recently addressed this problem in my 140DHC’s hinges. I chose the following route:
Welding a steel collar in line above the top plate and below the bottom plate of the individual hinge plates to contain the load of the pivot pin more effectively. Ream appropriately to ensure alignment.
Hinge pivot bore opened out to take an Oilite bushing, reamed to match collar bores as outlined above.
Use of a steel shoulder bolt to act as pivot pin, with threaded shoulder end machined to match the distance between collar outer faces when clamped.
Top collar to have a hole drilled and tapped into the accessible surface for fitment of 60˚ grease nipple fitting.
Flat cut on head of pivot pin and tab welded on top collar to match to prevent rotation of pivot pin.
Dimple drilled into top of pivot pin bearing surface to act as small grease reservoir.
Hand-cut spiral groove made in steel pivot pin with diamond wheel (sometimes a previous existence as a dentist has its uses).
Interested to see Jag copied my idea (obviously) of cutting a spiral in the pin. This is a modification of the system Nick Green has made for his 140, details of which I am very grateful for.
I note that some have fitted a grease nipple directly to the hinge arm, inbetween the two plates. This would be useless on a 140 as that part of the lower hinge box is completely inaccessible due to the outer wing and the chassis, don’t know about other variants but I would have thought this applied to all XKs.
Hello folks, Would these bearings work as well? I had thought bearings would be nice and so I searched for “XK120 ball bearing door hinges” and I found this. Maybe a grease zerk could also be employed? Would it possible for accessibility (maybe a dumb question) to extend a metal feeder line to the bottom of the car and attach a zerk there instead of at the hinge?
I wouldn’t use that kind of bearing on door hinges - they’re better suited to rotational shafts. On a door hinge, a bush will give a greater bearing surface. If you look at the illustrations, the entire weight of your doors would be taken by four of those small-diameter rollers.
As to the grease fitting, anything’s possible… don’t forget, if your’e going to design a path for grease to get in, it needs to be able to get out as well or you will get old, hardened grease solidifying in the bush/bearing, unless the whole component is properly sealed (like a wiper motor casing).
