The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors fixing elongated sloppy hinge holes

Thanks to MartinSR,s very fine post & photos that he submitted on rebuilding AD hinges I found a method to fab. missing faceplates, hard to find spacers,weld in the sloppy holes and re-center the bushing and pin holes. Would like to share these photos. Sure is great to have this site so we can help each other re-build these fine old trucks.

http://s150.photobucket.com/albums/s107/vickraft/

In the frount view picture you have the faceplate to the hinge (lt gauge metal that fits on top the the sturdier hinge), I am looking for those parts for all 4 hinges...where did you get those? Mine have been bent and cracked due to previous owner removing the springs that limit the door travel and they took a beating beyond repair.
thanks-
cam

Hi Cam
Welcome to Stovebolt.
Sorry I didn't explain this photo very well. I'll try to clarify. I had the same problem. Where can I buy these? This is how I solved this problem. #1 Take your time. Carefully remove the damaged faceplate that is in the best possible condition. Make a steel mold. Find a piece of steel that represents the depth or thickness of your excisting plate (I used 12 gauge steel)
#2 Clamp the plate to the excisting hinge plate & transfer all the holes with an awl. This should give you a mirror image. #3 carefully drill & fine tune all holes with a file. Carefully cut the outside edges and file to the lines.
#4 Dry fit the mold on the old plate until you get a nice snug fit.
#5 Cut a cardboard template that represents the size of the face plate plus a little extra to fold over the edges of all holes.
#6 Cut a piece of sheetmetal to the same shape as the cardboard template.
#7 Align & clamp the new sheetmetal ( I used reg. "C" clamps)Make sure nothing can move during the shaping of the new plate
my first try was using heat and this was a disaster. I made a new sheetmetal plate and with an ordinary body hammer I was able to fabricate the new plate you see in the photo. As you begin to tap and fold the metal around edges of the mold everything starts to take shape. Before removing the new plate from the mold file everything flush to the back of the plate.Because the metal on the hinge faceplates is so thin no heat is required. The beauty of this mold is all you have to do is flip the plate and you can make a reverse faceplate for the other side. When the new plate is welded back in to the old hinge you will have be careful so as not to burn a hole through the new plate. Note: This mold is only good for the top hinges the bottom faceplate is a slightly different
shape. You will have to fab a new mold plate for the bottom.
This was not that hard and I had fun doing it. Almost no cost except time & patience.
I hope this can help you and other fellow bolters who are facing this little problem.

Hi Vickraft, thanks for the welcome. Got the process, had hoped these would be available as repro as it's only the outer faceplates that's bad. If you have those templetes for sale I would be interested?

Just FYI for all others, The Filling Station (http://www.fillingstation.com/) & Bitchin Products (http://www.bitchinproductsinc.com/), show Door Hinges as coming soon! Not sure what the duration is but probably to late for my needs.

Thanks for the excellent documentation for the cure Vickraft!
cam

Hinges can be purchased at the following URL: http://www.goodmarkindustries.com/HomePage.html
Ain't cheep, $200 per pair!!

Hi Cam

I just picked up 2 nice doors and there are some real nice hinges with faceplates in very good shape. Passenger side only top and bottom. If you are interested send me an email. The retaining springs on the top hinge are still intact.

Hey Vic- Sent you an email on this via the Sotvebolt private email.
cam