The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Repairing The "Face Plates" on My Door Hinges - 1952 Chevy Pickup

After reading through the various content on Stovebolt, I have heard the message to try to keep the original door hinges if possible. OK. Please see the enclosed picture. See that one hinge has a complete "face plate" and the other "face plate" has been broken over the years of use. So... I am looking for thoughts and guidance on how to repair these "face plates". Does a vendor make replacement "face plates" that we could spot weld on to the hinges? Do Stovebolters commonly fabricate their own fixes to these plates? Thanks in advance for the benefit of your experiences on this topic.

Just found replacement faceplates on The Filling Station for 9.50 each. Found the reference by reading other Stovebolt posts. Thanks.

Good deal, I had the same issue and found replacement plates. I find it interesting that there is enough demand for a vendor to make invest in the tooling to fabricate these. Lucky us!

Smug satisfaction knowing you did it yourself vs. Purchasing.

I’ve done both. Be sure to really dig in the TECH TIPS. There is a lot of good stuff in there. Here’s how one Bolter did it:

https://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/doors/hinge_plate.html

Fellow Stovebolters... I got the replacement pins that require the pin holes to be drilled to 11/32. The pins came with brass bushings. I do not understand how to utilize the bushings. Their OD is larger than the OD of the pins so I doubt that they will slide into a 11/32 hole. Can anybody help me over this hump? Thanks

Contrary to what the video shows, my '51 hinges, which I'm in the process of rebuilding, don't have bushings in the forged part of the hinge that goes into the door. The pin just rides on the drilled hole in the hinge arm. But the video is making me lean toward getting some bushings and drilling the hole even more oversized to fit the bushings. With the steel arm surrounding the steel pin, they can seize up and the pin will start rotating in the pressed steel housing instead of in the arm. That's what happened to at least one of mine. No one ever lubricated the hinges (there's a perpendicular oil hole in the arm that intersects the bore for the pin). I would suspect that '52 door hinges are the same as my '51 with no bushings.

I definitely would recommend installing the bronze bushings, much better than steel on steel with little or no lubrication. Would also recommend securing the bushings in place with a little J-B Weld to prevent them from spinning in the hinge arm.

I guess I used the bushings on my 50

Found an old pic (Blue)



I Have seen them without bushings also

Sometimes all thats needed is the hold open spring to rebuild


After rebuilding the hinges itS a good idea to fit and gap the doors. Before painting. Even though i reinstalled my rebuild hinges i had a hard time refitting the doors.

A guy at work told me he would drill small locating holes after final fit to help when he went back together

I drilled an 11/32 test hole in a piece of steel. The new door hinge pins fit just fine. My question is about the brass bushings... clearly, the ID is 11/32 but just as clearly, the OD is greater than 11/32... so do I have to drill the 11/32 hole in the steel to a larger diameter to fit in the brass bushing before I then insert the hinge pins? Please help me think this thru... what am I missing? Thanks

Yes, you'd have to at least counter bore the hinge strap so the OD of the bushing fits. I may just bore all the way thru the strap (or not ) rather than just boring deep enough for the length of the bushing.