97gsxIA
15+ Year Contributor
- 454
- 101
- Apr 22, 2011
-
Des Moines,
Iowa
As the years continue to go by, these chassis'are starting to show their weak points.
I had a typical saggy door, and came to find the hinge pins and bushings were just fine. The sheet metal and threaded holes were not.
I believe from the factory these square threaded holes are tack welded or rivnut'd in. Hard to tell.
But, the are susceptible to cracking and rot.
I've seen this happen to a few other guys so I thought I'd post pics of how I repaired it.
It's a pretty straight forward repair. Cut the bad out, make a new piece to weld in with new welded-on nuts and weld it it, grind it and paint it.
The sheet metal in this section is sandwiched. So the door side of the hinge plate is 2 sheets, and the fender side is 1. That's the only big problem. The sheet metal is super thin on the left side.
I used 10g plate, kept the arc in the thicker metal then grinded down. If you have a big gap, stick some tig rod in it.
Align the holes to the hinge a couple times before finalizing.
To protect the wiring behind the new plate while I welded I shoved aluminum foil in the hole and retrieved it from inside the cabin afterwards.
Did not take the door off. Used a combo of 4.5" flapper disk and a die grinder.
Hope this helps someone.
I had a typical saggy door, and came to find the hinge pins and bushings were just fine. The sheet metal and threaded holes were not.
I believe from the factory these square threaded holes are tack welded or rivnut'd in. Hard to tell.
But, the are susceptible to cracking and rot.
I've seen this happen to a few other guys so I thought I'd post pics of how I repaired it.
It's a pretty straight forward repair. Cut the bad out, make a new piece to weld in with new welded-on nuts and weld it it, grind it and paint it.
The sheet metal in this section is sandwiched. So the door side of the hinge plate is 2 sheets, and the fender side is 1. That's the only big problem. The sheet metal is super thin on the left side.
I used 10g plate, kept the arc in the thicker metal then grinded down. If you have a big gap, stick some tig rod in it.
Align the holes to the hinge a couple times before finalizing.
To protect the wiring behind the new plate while I welded I shoved aluminum foil in the hole and retrieved it from inside the cabin afterwards.
Did not take the door off. Used a combo of 4.5" flapper disk and a die grinder.
Hope this helps someone.
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