JL door hinge nightmare after removal

[NJRadioGuy]

I don’t remember what brand my steps are, but unless your’s are significantly different than mine, you can’t do one bolt at a time, you have to remove all four from each hinge, or the steps block the other bolts from coming out

That was my biggest concern, keeping the door supported and aligned to place the steps, and reinsert the bolts

The ones from Metalcloak are not one-piece designs. The step and upper is separate from the lower bracket, then the two parts bolt together. That's one of the reasons I went in that direction. Installation was supposed to be easy.

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[yokramer]

Sadly I have neither the knowledge/experience nor the tools (and replacement clips, because I will break half of them) to do this myself. I can follow simple directions, but when things go wrong, like broken bolts, etc, I don't know how to fix them. With a 70+ hour/week work commitment, I can't afford to spend 3 or 4 days "fixing" what should have been a 1-hour install. Lesson learned here, and I suspect I will have to pay the stupid tax at the local shop.

Nows the time to learn though so when you do something like this next time you will have that skill.


The door panel comes off super easy once you take out all the screws and then just pull, 98% of the time the clips dont break, and if a few do usually its not an issue to be missing 2 or so.


Other option is to get a pick or something to get the bracket close as you can get it then do your damndest to get a bolt started, it sucks but itll work eventually.

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Note to self: Do not ever remove the door hinge bolts.

If I understand correctly with my first skim read, I would use a small screw driver, pick, awl, etc and try to realign the holes. Then maybe try to get the bolts started and tightened enough to keep them in place.

 

[Husky Man]

Note to self: Do not ever remove the door hinge bolts.

If I understand correctly with my first skim read, I would use a small screw driver, pick, awl, etc and try to realign the holes. Then maybe try to get the bolts started and tightened enough to keep them in place.

Recommend that you post that note where you will see it frequently, and never lose it

If I had known ( how often do we say that) I would have put something else on my Christmas list

Too late Now


Doug

 

[Husky Man]

Yokramer, I’m pretty new here, but have read enough of your posts to know that you’re Laughing With Me, Not ATMe, er, uhm, I think, i mean HOPE.

It’s all good


Doug

 

[NJRadioGuy]

Note to self: Do not ever remove the door hinge bolts.

If I understand correctly with my first skim read, I would use a small screw driver, pick, awl, etc and try to realign the holes. Then maybe try to get the bolts started and tightened enough to keep them in place.

It's not quite that easy. The holes on the other side are in that floating piece of metal, which floats to allow the door to be adjusted up/down/left/right as needed to to assure a perfect fit. The piece of metal in the back IS NOT FLAT, and aligning it is bloody difficult if it's allowed to come out of position.

The two passenger side doors went super easy once I clearly understood that you do ONE BOLT AT A TIME, and be as gentle as possible so nothing shifts. Swivel the step brackets, and do only what is necessary to get the new stainless bolt to engage the threads, get it kinda snug but not tight, then do the other one. Once I got that part down the process on the right side went pretty fast. The other mistake I made at first was using a power ratchet to put the bolts back in, even if attempted gently, that pushed the backing plate out of position.

Now that I've spent days messing with it, I think it's time to concede defeat and head to the shop, hat/wallet in hand.

 

[yokramer]

Yokramer, I’m pretty new here, but have read enough of your posts to know that you’re Laughing With Me, Not ATMe, er, uhm, I think, i mean HOPE.

It’s all good


Doug

Yup with you for sure cause Ive been there plenty lol

 

[THAW]

@NJRadioGuy, I must confess I'm perplexed by the hinge situation you've described. I have fully removed every hinge on my Jeep (all 4 doors, hood, and tailgate), and never had an issue re-threading the bolts. In fact, the factory retention system allows for a generous amount of movement to facilitate alignment.

Have you tried reassembling the hinge to it's factory state? That is to ask, is it possible the accessory part is defective in a way that prevents a second bolt from aligning with the factory backing plate threads?

 

[NJRadioGuy]

@NJRadioGuy, I must confess I'm perplexed by the hinge situation you've described. I have fully removed every hinge on my Jeep (all 4 doors, hood, and tailgate), and never had an issue re-threading the bolts. In fact, the factory retention system allows for a generous amount of movement to facilitate alignment.

Have you tried reassembling the hinge to it's factory state? That is to ask, is it possible the accessory part is defective in a way that prevents a second bolt from aligning with the factory backing plate threads?

I haven't, and that's a possibility. The step assembly is fine--it's straightforward and if it was defective it would be immediately noticeable.

This is the inside part of the hinge assembly that just dropped with in audible thunk when I took both screws out. I had three of them do that, and it took hours to get the first one back, and that by sheer luck. This one....won't go no matter what I do.

 

[jax501]

This guy takes off all the door hinges at the same time (with doors shut) and then pops new hinges on without any issues.
What did he do different?

 

[NJRadioGuy]

I wish I knew. I guess I rolled snake-eyes with my arrangement.

 

[autotragic]

I wish I knew. I guess I rolled snake-eyes with my arrangement.

What I've learned is that I'm not messing with the hinges on my doors.

 

[NJRadioGuy]

What I've learned is that I'm not messing with the hinges on my doors.

That's a lesson that, after tomorrow night, I will take to heart as well. Friend volunteered to rip the door apart and do it right in his shop. I've got some new 316 stainless hardware coming from McMaster-Carr and I'll just shotgun out all the stripped bolts. There are two that are going to be a bugger, but the other 6 should be somewhat painless.

 

[Halxen]

Hey, you have the hinges off now anyway.. might as well tape off the door and then prep & paint the door under the hinge and then repaint the hinge including the back side so you don't have to deal with the corrosion issue later.

 

[NJRadioGuy]

Hey, you have the hinges off now anyway.. might as well tape off the door and then prep & paint the door under the hinge and then repaint the hinge including the back side so you don't have to deal with the corrosion issue later.

I'm still under corrosion warranty until 2027. There's a bit there now but the dealer tech said bring it in about 4 or 5 months before the warranty expires and get it all done then. I will listen to that advice.

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