m35a2 door swap

[m715]

I need to change out my drivers door. any tips on best way to do this? Do I remove the hinge pin-bolt, or do I remove the hinge from the door post? I have no help and this door is heavy so I need a plan.

 

[kblazer87]

When I need to take off doors on vehicles by myself for whatever reason, I use a cherry picker or chain hoist to hold and or position the door.

 

[bigmike]

I use my knee as the scissor lift.
I also just unbolt the hinge from the truck or door rather then try to remove the pin.

 

[gimpyrobb]

I unbolt the hinge. Punching the pins out usually ends up taking days as they get siezed and snap off.

 

[yolner]

Unless your doors are factory fresh getting those pins out will be a nightmare. Definitely get a engine crane and unbolt the hinge from the cab.

 

[m715]

I have sprayed pb blaster on the pins and all screws and bolts for a week now. I have an air powered chisel that I thought would loosen the hinge pin if it were stuck. I thought just removing the hinge pins I might not have have any door alinment problems.

 

[jbayer]

It's almost impossible to get the hinge halves aligned to get the pin in. I only took one lower one out, and I finally gave up trying to get the pin back in, so I took the truck side hinge half off just to get the pin in.
Mine are the shoulder bolts by the way, and I was spraying PB on them for a year. Spraying, hitting, wrenching. Still broke the end off one. Also, if you have to pound on them, you might want to remove them from the truck. Pounding on the pins will throw your door out of alignment anyway, and shear the attachment bolts off. Ask me how I know.

 

[rustystud]

It's almost impossible to get the hinge halves aligned to get the pin in. I only took one lower one out, and I finally gave up trying to get the pin back in, so I took the truck side hinge half off just to get the pin in.
Mine are the shoulder bolts by the way, and I was spraying PB on them for a year. Spraying, hitting, wrenching. Still broke the end off one. Also, if you have to pound on them, you might want to remove them from the truck. Pounding on the pins will throw your door out of alignment anyway, and shear the attachment bolts off. Ask me how I know.

Totally agree here about "pounding on the hinges. That metal is not that thick where the hinges attach to the body so if you start pounding on it you will most likely damage the cab door frame. Just unbolt the hinges and take the whole door off. Then remove the hinges and take them to a vise and pound away !

 

[rosco]

If you don't have a cherry picker/engine hoist, put together a tri-pod out of three poles, and hang a Come-along from it to take the weight of the door (you can chain two of the legs to the side of the truck). As a Kid growing up in the desert, that's all we had to change engines. Lift the engine & roll or drag the car out of the way to let it down. Putting the new door back on, you'll need something steady to align the holes.

 

[tommys2patrick]

I recently took my passenger side off as the window crank had fouled up and jammed the window half open. Did not want to guillotine my hand in the access hole. Anyway, I PB'd the door hinge screws on the cab side, took a brass drift to the head of the screws for a while, then rotated (torqued) the screw forwards and backwards about a 1/32 nd of a turn or less. did that process several times on each screw. they are relatively short screws as the cab hinge mount metal is relatively thin as well. eventually the rotation forwards and backwards increased and all came out without damage. I took all screws out except 1 on the cab side top and bottom hinge. I loosened those last 2 screws a small amount till I knew they were free turning. I used a long motorcycle ratchet strap from the bottom of the door through the front windshield opening and across the hood to the bumper to relieve enough weight of the door on the hinges. with a lot of the weight off the hinge pins and a little wiggle action with a large screw driver I was able to drift out the hinge pins. the door was partially propped open with a two by four as well.

My mirror head bolts were seized beyond repair. I could tell the "bolts" that were used on the hinges as pins were free enough with the weight off the door that I could drive them out with a slightly smaller pin, some lube, adjustable wrench on the bolt head and patience. wiggle with screw driver on door, torque on bolt head, spray PB. drift pin hinge bolt pin, repeated several times. I removed the bottom hinge pin first then the top one.

While this may seem overly complicated it relieved the stress on the hinges and pins and made them removable without damage. Taking the pins out with the door held in steady allowed me to remove the pins which in turn allowed me to remove the mirror assembly for surgery elsewhere. with the mirror off I then released tension on the ratchet strap and lowered the door to the ground.

I work alone, but even with my bad back I was able to do this slowly and safely.

I reversed the process by loosely installing the cab side hinges after cleaning the screw holes and screws. I could then carefully place the door on the hinges and snug down a ratchet strap. I could then put the repaired mirror brackets and hinge pins in place. After that it was relatively easy to align the door and tighten the hinge screws down.

 

[ranchhopper]

Every time I found a parts truck with pins I could get out I took them I still have five or six sets sitting in the shop.

 

[m715]

I recently took my passenger side off as the window crank had fouled up and jammed the window half open. Did not want to guillotine my hand in the access hole. Anyway, I PB'd the door hinge screws on the cab side, took a brass drift to the head of the screws for a while, then rotated (torqued) the screw forwards and backwards about a 1/32 nd of a turn or less. did that process several times on each screw. they are relatively short screws as the cab hinge mount metal is relatively thin as well. eventually the rotation forwards and backwards increased and all came out without damage. I took all screws out except 1 on the cab side top and bottom hinge. I loosened those last 2 screws a small amount till I knew they were free turning. I used a long motorcycle ratchet strap from the bottom of the door through the front windshield opening and across the hood to the bumper to relieve enough weight of the door on the hinges. with a lot of the weight off the hinge pins and a little wiggle action with a large screw driver I was able to drift out the hinge pins. the door was partially propped open with a two by four as well.

My mirror head bolts were seized beyond repair. I could tell the "bolts" that were used on the hinges as pins were free enough with the weight off the door that I could drive them out with a slightly smaller pin, some lube, adjustable wrench on the bolt head and patience. wiggle with screw driver on door, torque on bolt head, spray PB. drift pin hinge bolt pin, repeated several times. I removed the bottom hinge pin first then the top one.

While this may seem overly complicated it relieved the stress on the hinges and pins and made them removable without damage. Taking the pins out with the door held in steady allowed me to remove the pins which in turn allowed me to remove the mirror assembly for surgery elsewhere. with the mirror off I then released tension on the ratchet strap and lowered the door to the ground.

I work alone, but even with my bad back I was able to do this slowly and safely.

I reversed the process by loosely installing the cab side hinges after cleaning the screw holes and screws. I could then carefully place the door on the hinges and snug down a ratchet strap. I could then put the repaired mirror brackets and hinge pins in place. After that it was relatively easy to align the door and tighten the hinge screws down. --This is just what I wanted to know,saves me time. Thanks all.

 

[m715]

I changed the door no problems. now I have a working window and better door seals. I have insulated my heater hose as well as heater duct to cab,this all adds up to a warmer cab.Last night was about 5 deg above,tonight it will be well below 0 deg.