The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk New to board and to AD's, lot's of questions!

Hello,

I am posting this in the general forum since it seems to get the most traffic. Sorry if that isn't correct. I am new to this board and new to old trucks as well. I just acquired a '51 3/4 ton that is in pretty sad shape. It was sitting in a salvage yard with chest high weeds surrounding it. My plans for now are to get it into driver condition for as little cash as possible by doing the work myself and using shadtree junkyard swapping.

Anyway, to my first questions. I have successfully removed the driver side door but the flanged part of the hinge that the bolts pass through did not survive-they literally crumbled off. It seems that repop hinges are not available, so I have already considered doing suicide doors. Any good information for this swap? Or does someone have a source for stock hinges?

Secondly, the pass side door will not open. I'm sure the latch is frozen shut with rust. Any tips on getting the door to open?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Bret

Bret,

Don't have an answer to either of your questions, but wanted to jump in and say...

Welcome to the Stovebolt.

Welcome Bret...

Hmmm, I had the same problem with my old snow-plow truck. The air chisel worked wonders on getting to the latch, from the outside. However I would not recommend this if you plan on reusing the door. If you can't reach the latch from inside, you cut a hole near it from the inside. May be easier to repair panel....

-RT1

Can you remove the inner panel from the inside to see what might be hanging up??

And another obvious question... is the door locked??

I wish I could post a picture. This truck sat in the weather for years with no glass. There is a very weathered licemse plate from North Dakota from '62 on the front plate bracket. The truck is gutted, so there is no panel to remove. I have not figured out the latch/lock mechanism yet. The driver side is frozen with rust, so it is not a good reference. Can someone point me to a diagram of the latch?

Bret,

Try this.
http://www.brothersonlinestore.com/store_ie.asp

-RT1

welcome to the bolt... keep you a BFH around.. best of luck........Fred

.Welcome, look at the other door side that opens..Should be able to move latch from inside to open door + BFH.ha ha

go buy some wd 40 and soke the pi@@out of it and thed try agine repite as nessary till open

PB (rust) Blaster is even better. But the best I have found is a regular blue flame speed wrench. I.e. heat the fastners up to dull red hot then let it sit. You can also quench with a bit of water. Then usually that breaks the rust bond and you can un-do.

click on 'Links' at the top of the page here, then go to 'Parts'.

For other websites with information... look under truck sites and street rod.

http://www.hotrodders.com - is a great forum for all kinds of body mods.

-W

bowtie bits has rebuilt door hinges last time i looked. try seachin out the links page lots of useful info there. also, welcome aboard.- p.s. a bfh and pb blaster are great friends

douse it with PB blaster, let it sit overnight, do It again in the morning, again the next night... eventually it will loosen

Take the "open" door apart to figure out what needs to be done to the other door. You need to take it apart sooner or later to "refreshen" it and properly lubricate it anyway. It may be that the door itself is stuck or jammed into the opening too. May need to crawl inside and use your feet against the door as persuasion too,
Scott

If you have a die grinder with a small bit, go in behind the rear door post and cut off the four nuts that hold the striker plate on. then the door will open with the striker plate still in the latch. This option does the least damage.

PB BLaster is great stuff, and I have been soaking off and on for several days now. I am also soaking the door that came off. I don't know about getting those clutch head screws out though, they look pretty bad.

I like the idea of cutting off the bolts for the striker plate-good one! If I cannot get the latch to break free I may try that.

I am attaching a link to a picture for those that may be interested and a link to my other project. Thanks for the replies so far!

[img]http://mypeoplepc.com/members/thecopseys//sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/truck.jpg[/img]

http://mypeoplepc.com/members/thecopseys/project68/

Thanks for the pictures. I think that there may be some speed differences between your projects!

Door hinges come up on Ebay fairly regularly. If they are not fully rebuilt, they usually don't go for too much because of the shipping weight.