Front Door Hinge Bolts Not Going In

[Yovwmon]

Took the JL doors off for the first time today. When putting Humpty back together I noticed that the top front door hinge bolt won’t go back in all the way. All the others were super easy but the top front bolts felt like they would strip if I cranked them any harder. I soaked them in WD40, didn’t help, any advice before it goes to the dealer?

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[Yovwmon]

They’re all labeled as T50, I did try a few thinking maybe it was the bolt itself, or maybe one was smaller but no luck.

 

[Yovwmon]

Definitely not going to torque em any harder. It needs to go to the dealer for a malfunction heated steering wheel anyways so will have them address both issues at the same time.

 

[sf5211]

The bolts are all the same. Your upper hinge is about a quarter inch longer than the lower hinge. The upper hinge needs to be threaded longer than the lower hinge. My guess is the hinge threads are cruddy. If you don’t want to pay the labor charge then take off the doors again, buy a small wire wheel for a drill and clean the hinge threads. (Don’t slip and hit your door with the wire wheel). Try to screw the bolt on the hinge while the door is off, back and forth with grease. Until it screws all the way up.
Tip: when I’m ready to reinstall my doors, I keep a tube of white lube handy. While the doors are still on the cart I dab just a fingertip and go around the hinge bolt and thread. Then I go around the black round bolts on the outside.
Do this and you’ll never have trouble removing your doors or have to buy those Quadratec hinge inserts.

 

[Blades]

If you take your doors off on a regular basis just leave the nuts off. One less thing to have to remove when taking doors off in the future.

 

[Gee-pah]

First off--and I don't say this to be difficult but to make a point, those "bolts" you use a torx bit to screw into the door hinges aren't bolts, their nuts.

https://www.quadratec.com/p/mopar/door-hinge-nut-jl-jt-06512312AA

And like nuts they encapsulate a bolt.

Sure, they look like bolts, but they're just hollowed out and threaded really deep nuts.

...and as such you should check those nuts for no cross threading/stripping. Equally important sometimes the (true) bolt, which is welded on to the hinge, bends, and as a result won't accept the door nut.

If that's the case order a new hinge---specify the correct side of the rig.

https://www.quadratec.com/vehicle/jeep-wrangler-jl-parts/doors/door-hinges

While you're at it, get the matching paint:

https://www.quadratec.com/p/mopar/5-oz-paint

Spray the new hinge, tapping of the bolt. Use light and repeated coats of paint.

With the door on and closed, removed one hinge only with the right size torx bit. Replace it with the new, painted one. The nuts should now screw in. Problem solved.

In the future carefully drop that door into its body section of the hinge so as to not bend the bolts.

 

[TaxPhan]

If you take your doors off on a regular basis just leave the nuts off. One less thing to have to remove when taking doors off in the future.

Once I did this, I'd never go back to putting them on. So much easier to remove the doors on a whim.

 

[IronScott]

First off--and I don't say this to be difficult but to make a point, those "bolts" you use a torx bit to screw into the door hinges aren't bolts, their nuts.

*they're

 

[Arterius2]

Took the JL doors off for the first time today. When putting Humpty back together I noticed that the top front door hinge bolt won’t go back in all the way. All the others were super easy but the top front bolts felt like they would strip if I cranked them any harder. I soaked them in WD40, didn’t help, any advice before it goes to the dealer?

Just curious did you happen to use hinge foot pegs after you took the doors off? They were known to bend the hinges ever so slightly.

 

[Canuck714]

I threw mine in a bucket on the bench.. They will likely never see the light of day again. The doors function normal, and its one less thing to have to touch going on/off.

I'm no thief, but If I want your doors, a couple of T-50 nuts is not stopping me from taking them.

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