The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop questions about my 1953 Chevy 3/4 ton

I’ve had this truck for 17 years and recently put a new engine & clutch in it. Now decided it needs some adjustments.
I noticed the body is not level with the bed. Where should I look to see what I can do?
Next my drivers door is not aligned & scrapes as is it sags a little. Of course the door has never closed well & it has a slide lock to held the door closed. Years ago the door did get jammed while open against a column while moving backwards & may have been hyper extended some.
I’d like to get the door handle working.
Of course I always appreciate advice from friends in Stovebolt!

I am guessing but it appears the cab may be sagging down on the passenger side. Measure to a similar location on both sides up from the ground or possibly the running boards to confirm if it is the cab or the box. If its the cab there is a front mount that sits on top of the frame and a rear mount that is a flexible system of links with bushings. If its the box the front cross sill may be missing a wooden block that goes between the cross sill and the frame.

For the door sag you probably need to requild the hinges. A bit of a pain as you need to remove the door and the hinges then rebuild the hinges with new pins and bushings. Easiest way to determine if the hinge is sprung or worn is to see if the door moves up and down at the rear when open a little ways. If it moves the hinges need to be rebuild, if it doesn't the hinges are proably sprung.

First thing to look at for the crooked cab is the front cab mount metal. They are prone to rust out and cause the cab to collapse. The rear cab mounts are shackles to allow movement when the frame flexes on uneven roads. Without these type of rear cab mounts, the cab metal would become damaged on uneven roads. The rear shackles have rubber cores in them which are replaceable.
I can just about guarantee that the hinges need to be rebuilt. There is a hole in them which allows for oiling them. Most of them have ever been oiled since they came off the assembly line. Once the hinge pins wear out from lack of lube, the door will sag and the latch will bang on the striker, causing damage to both of them.

I’ll crawl beneath the cab today and locate those 4 positions. I can order the rear bushings but not the front mounts?
Pulling up on the open door I saw the upper hinge pin moving (at least I think that’s what I saw). Can I purchase those pins someplace?

The right side is a couple of inches lower. I can’t see much on the Px side up front & wondering if the bolt goes into the cab area, or how to get to it?
Pictures, the right side is higher. There is a flexible splash’s guard guard along the space beneath the door. It’s very low on the Px side.
The back ones look OK and have the rubber bushings in place.

I can just crawl under through the Px side. I see the bolt but can only put my finger above it so I don’t know what’s there. Also no picture of that side.
Could something else be bent ?

Measure the distance from the bottom of the cab and the top of the frame on both sides near the front cab mounts.
Unless one of your rear shackle mounts is completely missing the rubber bushings, your cab won't lean enough to notice due to the rear mounts.

Well the rear rubber bushings are there, in tact.
As seen in the pictures.

Your door hinge needs to be rebuilt, there are kits available that either replace the pin with an oversize one or a combination of bushings and new pins. It is not a bad job but getting the door off, the hinge removed and taken apart is not easy.

It appears that your cab is sitting on the frame in your first picture, there should be approximately 3/4" space between them so something is collapsed.

The front cab bolts come through the floor inboard of the cowl area, depending on what you have on the floor they should ebcome obvious once you get down to the metal floor. The front cab mounts consist of a channel formed steel piece attached to the underside of the floor that basically sits on a bracket that is part of the frame (as shown in your last picture).

The splash guard you are seeing may be the guard that is in front of the battery to protect it. It is not part of the cab mounting system.

If your floor is pushed up into the cab interior by the front cab mount the cab is basically sinking around the front cab mount.

WICruiser, I will look at it from the Cab next. Being it’s setting so low I will expect the worst! I’m afraid the channel has dropped.

I’m pulling the door off now to repair it.

Let us know what you find in the cab. The mounting channel that is spot welded ot the bottom of the cab floor is pretty robust but the cab floor itself is sheet metal that commonly rusts, your may have given up supporting the mounting channel. Depending on what you find and how you want to approach it several options to "fix" the floor are possible.

I’ve been out for a week and hope to do more this week.
I removed the door & hinge’s yesterday. Strange thing was I found crunched up mesh wire stuffed in the lower hinge body. (Pictured).
The hold open device to hinge on mine are twisted or warped. Wheather they have been worked on or they come new this way?
I have the new pins & springs. There were no springs in it.
The door definitely sags & the door lock does not hold the door closed. Going out to work on this .

Maybe someone was trying to keep the mice out with that screen wire stuffed in there. LOL!
It looks like one of the pins has already been replaced by a bolt, or maybe a nut was stuck under the head of the pin.
The twist in the bar that goes into the door is normal, so don't try to straighten that.

What I did with mine was remove the pins and drill the bar hole a bit larger to take oversize pins with bronze bushings. See pic.
And I replaced the hold-open springs with repop ones I got from Jim Carter.

Good luck on restoring them. There are a couple tech tips on rebuilding door hinges. Here and here.

Those look good & thanks for the good luck! Yes there is a standard bolt on it. Funny I was thinking the same thing about the wire!
I was going by the instructions enclosed with the pins & brass bushing. It said to drill the old pin holes out with 11/32 bit. Broke the bit right away so heading out to replace it.But the bushing hole is much larger than that.
What size drill bit did you use? I think I read that the bushings were for a newer model truck. Mine is a 53.

I think the bushings needed a 13/32 drill bit but you should measure your pins and bushings to be sure.
Use a drill press with the hinge bar clamped securely in a vise. Trying to use a hand drill motor just about guarantees a broken bit. I think I did final fitting with an expandable reamer.

What are you going to use for a pin in the hinge that had the bolt in it?
If you feel that you must use a bolt with that hinge, use a grade 8 bolt and make sure that the holes are snug for the pin. The original and replacement pins are as hard as woodpecker lips so that they will last longer. Make sure to clear the oil hole in the hinge straps and oil them on a regular basis. All of our sagging door issues are due to the fact that no one ever oiled them.

I have new pins. The upper hinge is painted & repaired! Man it is hard to open & close but being mounted it should be fine.
The bottom (with the bolt in it) was no problem removing it but the hinge hole itself was pretty enlarged so it wobbled.
Problem I’m having is trying to drill the pin hole larger to an 11/32 inch. I’m using my drill press and I’ve burned up 2 new bits. I’m using oil & not applying a lot of steady pressure, I just don’t see metal chips coming out. It just gets hot.
I’ll have to wait until Monday for a real hardware store to open. Lowes has none & Home Depot had the two I bout.
I’m I doing something wrong here?

Maybe you need to apply a bit more pressure on the drill bit. If it just skates on the metal, it's just going to get hot and dull.

You may want to try an expandable reamer. But you still have to go real slow with those. Shave off a couple thousandths at a time till you get to the right diameter and pin fit.

My press uses a belt so if I put too much pressure on it , it bites down and stops. There are no bit sizes between the 11/32 & the hole size. It sure went through the other hinge with no problem!
I appreciate your advice!

Buy a high dollar bit from somewhere other than a Big Box store. It will not only cut right through that strap, but you will end up with a hole the size and shape of the bit. Put your belt on the pulleys which results in the lowest speed. That will decrease the speed of the bit, thus reduce overheating and ruining the bit. Use plenty of machine cutting oil. If the oil sizzles as you apply it, you need to applying more often.
Sizzling oil is not a good sign.

What Carl said about using the slowest speed available. A slower speed on the press will enable the motor to keep going. Unless the belt is what's slipping, then it needs to be adjusted tighter.
Look for letter size drills around 11/32 inch. You didn't say if you need smaller or larger drill sizes, but there are some on either side of 11/32.

Here's a chart of the sizes available between 5/16" and 3/8" (you can ignore the metric sizes, as they're probably much harder to find.) The second column is the drill size in inches.

Chances are you work hardened the hinge where you trying to drill thru. Flip the hinge over so you’re cutting from the other side of the hole (cutting virgin steel).

Like Carl said, buy quality bits not from HF. Even their titanium coated bits break and dull easily. Look for High Speed or better yet Cobalt bits and use plenty of lubrication.

The Lowe’s across town has them in stock. A $7 Dewalt vs a $30 Drill American that I have to order!
I used plenty of oil and even pored water on it to cool down. It was already dull so I guess that didn’t hurt.

Heading to Ace Hardware this morning to get two different size quality drill bits. If I understand those excellent instructions, I’ll need to drill out enough of the ends of the hinge hole to allow the bushings to fit in? I’ll see how they fit with the bushings in but I think he said to file down the width of the hinge to allow the bushing to fit into the plate?

Got her done but after drilling out the bottom henge the pin fits in very easily & has a slight wobble, but not much.
I drilled the holes for the bushings, they fit in easily also, probably not good (should be tighter)?
Question regarding that oil hole. Held up to a light & looking into the hole I I can see a pin size hole only. It that normal? But then again when it’s repaired I think I understand that I won’t be using it?

The bushings should probably be a light press fit so they don't turn inside the hinge bar. You could probably use some stud and bearing mount (loctite has that) to basically glue them in place. What I did was drill all the way thru just a bit undersized for the bushings, then ream the entire hole to size. You may have to file the spacers on each side of the hinge body for the bar to fit in with the bushings.
The oil hole is probably 1/16" in size all the way to the pin bore. Run a small drill thru so you can get oil into the hinges. A pinhole is probably a bit small. And you should oil the hinges occasionally to be sure the pins don't bind up. It will be less of an issue with the bronze bushings, but still a good idea. The pins should be a TIGHT fit in the hinge body with the only movement between the pin and the bar.

If you have enough movement which you can feel anywhere in the hinge now, you will not like the outcome once that movement is increased exponentially when measured at the door latch/striker at the opposite end of the door. You will essentially be starting out with a worn out hinge.
I have removed worn out hinges which did not seem all that bad once I had the hinge in my hand. Trust me, they were bad.
You may need to find another hinge and start over.

Sometime we just have to start over. I completed both & waiting on the paint to dry. I’ll put the door on tomorrow and see how much improvement I see. Only the bottom hinge is has little wobble. This will be the 1st time in 17 years that the door should hold open!
At least I know how to do the Px door!

glennj3,
I hope it works out for you. You'll be okay as long as the sag isn't too much for how much you can move the hinges in the door to account for it.

I mounted the door today, I really like having the springs holding the door! It’s very solid and has good alignment. Previously someone put a door latch on the door and drilled a hole for it in the doorway next to the plate.
My door still does not lock with the handle. The door latch plate had a spacer behind it which caused the door latch to scrape. I removed it & it looks good but the latch on the door does not seem to go on far enough to make it click over & hold the door closed. I’m not sure the door plate is the correct one? The old latch/lock is lose but I think it should work.

Check your weather stripping it may be to thick if it was replaced preventing the door to close in far enough to latch .

I took a couple of more pictures for more clear understanding.
If I close the door hard it does catch but not fully closed and if I push on it then pull it will open.

I will look at that but it feels pretty solid.

I was going to drill that oil hole some but a small drill bit would not reach in that much.

Also check the latch on the door by pushing on the cog on the latch it should click twice indicating the two positions.If the door portion works then the plate on the door pillar may need to come forward to allow for the latch to get into the 2nd click.

KEVINSK, I can push the cog to make it click once & it locks in that closed door position (door open). It is worn. I’d like to focus on the plate. Its position. It’s pushed outwards far as possible but the screw holes may need to be drilled wider? Could that plate be the wrong one?

Okay went out to the garage after shoveling ,We had no snow 3 days ago looked like early spring then this.Anyway I took a few pictures of my 54 door Canadian model if you notice no clutch head screws .I think you will need the two plates behind the striker pate as you will notice a raised metal line and the plates have groves to hold the plate in place when screwed tight. One horizontal and one vertical on the opposite side .the plates don’t seem to make the plate stick out any farther .the latch I took 3 pictures open first click and second click or closed.I took my plate off to show there are caged nuts behind and there is a slot in the door pillar for some adjustment .hope it helps.On your 53 is the door correct with vent windows . The earlier doors had different latch but yours look correct .

When the door is closed, do the belt lines match up with the cab front and back? They need to match up because if they don't, you'll run out of adjustment room for the hinges at the front, and adjustment room for the striker at the back.
In other words, if the beltline on the door is perfectly lined up with the beltline of the cab, the door latch will be perfectly lined up with the striker and you will have full range of striker movement for final adjustment.

I guess it needs more adjusting. I have new latches coming in Friday so that might help too.
Thank you for tackling the weather for me!

Just thrilled! I put the new door latches in, enjoyed putting lithium grease & oil on the new parts. Both doors open, lock & close easily now. No scraping. Lines line up. I can’t believe it. First time in 17 years my driver door works right.
Thank everyone for all of your support!