A couple of years ago, I read a post where someone was making reinforced door hinges. I know the pin can be bought from NAPA, Carquest, etc. in a rebuild kit. I changed the lower driver's side hinge assembly only a year ago and it's failing AGAIN. Anyone know who is making those hinges?

 

Hinge alignment is critical to hinge life. It takes a few tries to get it right. I bought a factory new one for my 92 and re-pined the old one for my 91. Re-pined the 91s and now I have a spare.

 

I just went through a learning experience with the hinges on my 93 that I would like to pass on.
The left bottom hinge was wore out so I went to O' Rielly's and got new pins and bushing for a "fits all Dodge" kinda kit. The old bushings came out effortlessly and the new ones fell right in the hole, with a little play.So Im thinking the holes are wore out too, but I leave them in for now.So I go to the salvage yard and pull another one, take it home and tear it apart to rebuild it, and order vehicle specific bushings and pins from a place on Ebay. When they arrive, I put them in and they fall right in with a little play also, so I called my local Dodge dealer, and cant get bushings for these hinges, just the complete hinge. The bushings on these are not brass, but a copper stranded/fiber covered steel bushing, and the hole for the bushing is not the same size. So, I went back to the salvage yard and got a right side bottom hinge off of a mid to late eighty's truck that had brass bushings and put the new ones in, put it on the left side, and it works great. The only problem with the older hinges, is that the plastic bushing that the hinge spring sits on usually breaks and you lose the function of the spring.

Later on, I went back and got a near perfect right side hinge off of a Dodge van that I am keeping as a spare. It will work on left or right side. The only difference between that hinge and my original 93 hinge is that, on the van, all 3 bolts come from the inside , so I just drilled that threaded hole out of the hinge and set it on the shelf.

 

I used Lok tite sleeve and bearing retainer on the bushings. Good n tight.

 

Terry's "super Hinge" was member Mysteryman's project that got some interest but not enough to justify a full run I guess. He has enough to keep his own fleet up and running, I believe.

I haven't seen the unit in person but I believe it has zerk fittings for servicing and is significantly more robust than the stock unit.

 

Yes, the pics I recall had zerk fittings. Looked real solid all welded up. Is Terry on DTR?

 

He is on DTR, but rarely posts. I see him on TDR a lot more in general but not much since springtime...

 

I think TDR is where I learned of this hinge. I let my membership expire when I found DTR because I felt I was getting more info and knowledge from here.
Anyhow, I'll keep an eye out for Terry. What is his DTR username? Thanks.

 

Mysteryman

 

Thanks Dave! Hope all is going smoothly in PA.