Door Hinges

[jmccrack]

Well DAMM!!!!!!! Who reads instructions anyways? So there I was happily putting my truck together. Making great progress. I assembled the whole truck (staying away from those dreaded doors) I have all the body parts on and fitted, the box and the boards milled and installed, some of the Wiring done and the dash installed and fitted. SO I thought it was time to start the doors. I drilled tapped and cut the hinges. And then looked in the manual to see what the hinges were attached to. WELL they are attached to some tee brackets that need to be installed B E F O R E the body goes on. WHO KNEW? I have tried everything I can think of to get these tee brackets installed, but it looks like the cab has to come off to be able to get at the area where these brackets fit. Before I take everything apart has anyone put these brackets on with the body in place?

[House Money]

I just looked at mine, body is on for now and the brackets in question were installed prior to the cab going on. But it looks to me like these could be installed with the cab on, I'm 99% sure I could remove them with the cab on. I can reach all the nuts as well as reach behind to hold the carriage bolts firm against the slots so they don't turn while starting the nuts.

Don't get me wrong, it will be quite a bit more difficult with the can on but I would try it first. Let me know if you need me to take any pics if you think that would help.

Thanks, Gary

[jmccrack]

Hey Gary. Thanks for the feed back. I worked into the night last night to try to install these brackets and was tired. I will try again this AM. I would love to see some pics of that area and your build.

[House Money]

So how did you make out? Here is a pic of the passenger side hinge brackets: 150757

And here a few pics of my build so far: 150758150759150760

[jmccrack]

Gary
. So the drivers door is fitted!!!!! I am still waiting for the other shoe to fall. Here is how I have done it so far. I fitted the tee brackets on the body. Then I made up the 3/16” spacer for the door to sit on. Then I trimmed the top and bottom to get the belt lines to line up. Then I cut and sanded the sides and corners to fit the door into place.At this point in most places I have no gap. When I got to the point that the door just fit and the belt lines matched I taped the door in place and am moving on to the other door. All 4 corners of the door fit perfectly no twist whatsoever. So now when I cut the hinge openings and add the hardware inside should the door stay as perfect as it is now?
Things are going well.

150781150782150783

[House Money]

That's great to hear! i started working on the doors yesterday too, I hope mine go as smoothly as yours. I'll probably get back on wiring today though.

Gary

[jmccrack]

Please give me some guidance. Page 323 of the digital manual shows the door being cut back and filed flat to the thick template. Page 328 of the same manual shows the hinge installed and sitting flat against the door. Which is it? I have done one cut out and it seems to me the hinge should sit flat as is show on page 328.

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[bnelson]

Please give me some guidance. Page 323 of the digital manual shows the door being cut back and filed flat to the thick template. Page 328 of the same manual shows the hinge installed and sitting flat against the door. Which is it? I have done one cut out and it seems to me the hinge should sit flat as is show on page 328.

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I had same issue. I built up the door jam so the hinge sits flat. Just glassed about 5 squares of mat in that area and then feathered it out on the jam. Looked factory when finished. If you file out that little bit it opens a hole up in the corner of jam and door skin. Have seen others just build a shim plate for behind the hing. That's probably the simplest solution. But you are correct. the hinge should sit flat and not be cocked up on the little lip. Bit of a design defect in my opinion. They should build that into the mold.