Today was supposed to be a relaxing day with just a little work on the truck. Well, Murphy’s Law got me. I was pushing my truck back on the carport where I park it and it just rolled too much and was ready to roll off the slab. I ran around to hit the brake but I hit the clutch instead. Well, the open door hit a column supporting the carport roof and the door bent a little on the leading edge. Boy, was I mad at myself. I have moved the truck this way so many times with never a problem but today was different.

I had done such a nice job of changing out the door hinge pins and was getting ready to post my how to on the hinge pins. Now plans change and I have to remove the door. Here is a pictorial of the job.

Door damage



You remove 3 screws and these trim clips to get the trim panel off. Using a putty knife and the trim removal tool it is quite easy.



I removed the outdoor mirror **** but it is not necessary. Just undo the connector.



The window and door lock control comes out by pushing in the plastic tab at the bottom and a metal one at the top. Then you can remove the electrical connector.



The trim panel. I have since replace the mirror ****.



All the electrical wiring has to come out as there is no quick disconnect at the door hinge point. The speaker also has to come out.



The plastic cover has to be moved some.

 

I made this door jack stand to work on the hinge pin job. It really works great. I work alone so I need some help. This is one heavy door. I am glad that I did not disassemble the door stand.



The wiring stays with the truck.



Great looking hinge pin job. All for naught. Bad looking hinge. The bad part is, if you look closely just above the roller., that bolt threads from the inside. I had to move the parking brake assembly to access it. The assembly is held on by one bolt on the side and two nuts on the firewall. The bad one is the top nut. It would not turn freehand and as it comes out it contacts part of the assembly. So I had to pull the assembly as I removed it. The last few turns I was able to turn it by hand.



The bottom hinge just gave a little. I am going to see if I can punch it in a little and get by if I can buy just the top hinge.



Another view. The body side hinge is really in bad shape but the door detent side is in good shape. Maybe I can find something at the junk yard.



Damage with door removed. Not sure what I am going to do about it. This is just an old work truck. I may just bend the damage straight and see if I can punch out some of the bent metal. As is, I do not think the door will close properly.



Any advice on door repair?

Tomorrow I will look for the hinge/s and get started on putting it back together. A friend has dropped off a vehicle I can use to pick up the parts. This is my only vehicle so I have to get it going soon.

 

a lower doorskin might cover that much height, not sure.
If you go that route youd need to cut off the lower section, straighten the inner door and put on a new skin. Eastwoodco sells a nice tool that works with an impact gun to skin a door.
Youd probably want to do the top lip as an overlap with a body adhesive. unless you wanted to weld it up.
BTW, that company also sells catalyzed clearcoat in a rattle can, if you wanted to repaint without a compressor.

 

Dad gum it, I know how you feel! Last Wednesday, I had hooked a small trailer up to my Dodge, to go pick up a Wheel Horse tractor. Coming home, I had stopped by the local dump to throw some trash away, and forgot I had the trailer- backed up, and jacknifed the trailer into the rear quarter panel of my beloved Dodge. $1538.00 damage. It went in the shop this morning. Needless to say, I felt VERY stupid, but atleast no one else was involved, or to blame. We live, and hopefully learn.

 

Heres a new door. They will also paint it before sending it to you.

http://www.pershingauto.com/new-left...m-truck-1.html

 

Thanks all for the info. I will keep it in mind. Today, I bought an upper hinge at the local Dodge dealer. $80.00 plus tax. I have it and the parking brake assembly back in place. I used my mobile door jack to test the door for clearance and I believe that the door may clear to the first detent. It may even open fully. So tomorrow I will bolt it on with the electrics just stored inside and take it to a nearby body shop and see what they say.

Hodge, I had a similar incident. I was trailering some parts over to a friends house and a part blew off the trailer. I made a u turn to go pick it up. Now I had to make another u turn and I turned that trailer tight, right into my right rear fender. So I take it this body shop that I will visit tomorrow. They did a beautiful job repairing my mistake. Soon after, I park my trunk on the slab behind my shop and go into the house. When I came back out I found my truck in my back pasture. It had rolled off the slab, crashed through my cattle guard gate and rolled into the pasture. I saw more dollars for the body shop guys. But, when I inspected the truck there was no damage. What saved me was my ball hitch in back. It had hit dead center on the gate cross member and forced the gate open. The truck then just rolled perfectly thru the center of the cattle guard. What a save. Of course I did not set the parking brake nor left it in gear. I guess I have had my share of dumb on duty moments.

 

I just screwed the hood to my 85 30SD & am having one of the paintless dent guys out to look at my fleet (00 Ram, 85 300SD, 78 280Z, wife's Saturn - which I hate but is the most repair free). I don't know price or what the outcome will be. Search youtube for examples of what they can fix.

 

Well, I think I need more than the paintless dent guys. Looks like I need a new door or new truck Hmmmmmm. I mounted the door today but the bottom hinge mount is all messed up. When the damage occurred the bottom hinge mount on the door pushed out at an angle and the sheet metal under the area actually split. Now the two hinges do not line up on the same plane. The bolt holes on the bottom do not line up with the hinge. I had to work the door around to get one hole somewhat aligned and managed to get one bolt in on the bottom hinge. The door touched about ½”of the fender while closing but it was not a big problem. Now the top hinge hits the door open stop while the bottom hinge stops with ¼”gap on the door stop.

I took it to the body shop and they agreed that the door was too messed up. The inside skin also pushed up against the bottom hinge so I have just a little room for adjustment. They recommended I look for a used door. They took a block of wood and hammer and knocked some of the bent metal back in place. Now it clears the fender like normal. It does not look all that bad. The door is out of adjustment. It does not close completely and sags a little on the latch side. I did have some wind noise and gaps today but this was without the trim panel installed. The panel will help some. I adjusted the top hinge position a little and closed the gaps and air leaks. So working the adjustments may help.

Tomorrow I am going to remove the door and grind the bottom hinge holes a bit larger. I will then reinstall with shims on the bottom hinge to raise the latch side some. If I can get a better fit, I will be happy. At least I am on the road again.

OH, and the body shop guys wanted to know how I removed and installed the door by myself. I told them about my door stand contraption and they just shook their heads. Thought I’d post a couple of pics just for ideas. With this stand I am able to roll the door in and out or rotate it. The only down side is the HF rubber wheels that I used. They were not good for the weight of the door. I also can raise or lower the front or back independently.



Here it is in use. This thing works great for making fine tuning adjustments.

 

"Well, I think I need more than the paintless dent guys. "

I never tell someone how to do their job, only the quality that is acceptable. PErhaps you need a door. Perhaps not. Asking won't cost anything. My body shop friend doesn't believe in paintless but we'll see how it goes. I just want the hood good enough until I get the car ready for paint.

Good idea on the door support. Tractor would be useful. I wonder how I could get that past the wife. She might notice it sitting in the shed.

 

Thought I’d post the final chapter to my problem. After removing the door again, I looked at the lower hinge and decided to order a new one. The old one was bent some and the bolt holes did not align. In the mean time, I used a piece of cardboard to trace the door pattern of my right door. I made sure that I traced a portion of the good part of the door. I cut the cardboard to shape and traced the pattern on a 2x6. I then cut the 2x6 to shape. I clamped the 2x6 to the good part of the door and saw how much the damaged area was off the pattern. Using a hammer, clamps and a 1 ¼ x 1 ¼ block of wood I hammered the door back into shape. I also hammered the inside skin to allow some room for the lower hinge. I then reinstalled the door so I could pick up my new hinge.

Today I picked up the new hinge. The drive down was in a really bad thunderstorm. My door did not leak even with the bad hinge. Once back home, I removed the door. I used a straight edge to align the bottom hinge with the top hinge. The hinge locator marks revealed that the old hinge was about 3/16” forward. I moved the hinge back to align with the straight edge. I ground the bolts holes on both hinges a bit larger. I then installed the door, electrics and trim panel. The final adjustment gave me a nice tight fit on the door frame, a good seal and a solid latching of the lock. The latch centered perfectly on the latch pin. I am a happy camper.

Here is a picture. Also, I found this headlight at Walmart. It throws a good spotlight better than the ones that I have on hand. Junk Man thanks for the info on paintless dent repair. When I have some time I am going to try the technique.