I figured I would give my experience with aftermarket hinges, maybe it will help someone else. I thought I had pretty much destroyed my stock hinges while trying to get the pins out. They weren't in great shape to begin with. After drilling and hammering on them for weeks, I threw in the towel and bought after market hinges from a big name company (about $350)..... Not sure if it was me but I just could not get the aftermarket hinges to work. I tried bending them, but for the life of me I just could not get the door even close to acceptable. There was a 1/2" gap up front and just looked bad all the way around. Hard to close as well.
After a month of messing with the new hinges I pulled out my stock hinges and used a vice to get the pins out (no press). I had to weld some of the holes and re-drill..... As bad as my original hinges were they still worked better than the new ones. Even after welding and drilling new holes, alignment was so much better.
I sent the hinges back. The company took two months to process and test them. They said they appeared ok. I was able to get some money back but I had to pay for shipping and restocking.....
Anyways, if you are debating rebuilding your hinges or buying new, my advice is to do everything you can to reuse your old ones. Even if you think they are thrashed, they will probably still work better than new ones. At least that was my experience.
Last edited by 49shep; 03/08/2021 11:53 PM.
