Hello all, I have always had an issue with my Edsel's driver's door not closing right. It sags a bit. Here is a video of how much play there is in the hinges. Excuse the rust…and me and my father's banter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnIVphdU3kE I looked in my manual and I see there are adjustment for this type of thing, but I wanted to get your opinions on it first. I know the rust in the body can account for the sag too, so I'd like to see if it's even worth a try.
If you can lift the back end of the door, and see slop in the hinges, you ought to rebuild the hinges before you try to adjust anything.
The OEM 50s Ford hinges are pretty stout pieces, I don't know that I've ever seen a set worn so bad they need to be replaced. Forget about finding new.... If you don't find a ton of slop, try adjusting them first. Make sure the door isn't cracked, I have seen stress cracks that throws the door off. If they are real sloppy, Dennis Carpenter sells repro hinge pins for $3 each.
Every old car & truck I've ever messed with had hinge issues on AT LEAST the driver's side. If it isn't closing right, take the door off and look at the hinges for wear/cracks/wallowed out holes etc. Check the pins for wear (or breakage!) and inspect the area of the door that the hinge plate bolts to for stress cracks/torn metal. If you're lucky, you'll just need new pins. If you're like the rest of us, it probably won't be that simple... Good luck
I tried to do some work on it today but, things did not go to plan…I tried to take the hinge bolts off on the body, upper and lower hinges. I ended up stripping one bolt due to rust, and two bolts have started spinning. It appears the spinning bolts are spinning because the nut the bolt threads into (which is normally fastened to the body with a clip of some type, or maybe welded I don't know) broke away from the sheet metal of the body.So now my dilemma is how to remove those bolts and fix the striped nuts. Anybody have experience doing this?
I have some experience with that on old trucks. usually end up cutting the head off the bolt, then removing the captive nut and replacing it. I don't know what things look like on Ford products of that era, though.
Similar. My experience with old Fords is that the captive 'nut' is actually a drilled and tapped plate. But, same idea: drill out bolts, remove plate, then lots of heat. And yes to the idea of replacing hinge pins, that (and/or bushings) will cure 95% of hinge problems. There are oversize pins to consider, too. Cosmo
hey, once the door is removed from the hinges, you may have to remove the hinge bolt plates, replace them with ones that fit the oem hinge bolts, or drill them out, tap new holes and go the next size up for the hinge bolts. Check with auto parts houses like NAPA for " Doorman '' brand generic hinge pin replacement kits, complete with pins & bushings. Inna pinch, I've cut down old valve stems inna a lathe to use as hinge pins. They're hard as hell, and will outlast the hinge. That reminds me, the driver's door on my '62 Dodge is as floopy as an cheap hotel bed, and needs to be rebuilt!
I have a '59 Edsel Ranger too and every one of my doors have some sort of issue, it's just a normal thing for a car 55 years old Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Oy, my fears have been realized. I'll see what I can accomplish in the next few weekends. I'll post updates as they come along. Thanks for the steer in the right direction!
I've had to do exactly that. Luckily, those tapped plates are actually pretty easy to get out, once you have the bolts out of them. The plates aren't welded in, they're just sitting in a pocket, usually with a tab on top bent over to keep them from falling out (***uming they are tapped plates and not caged nuts). Also, if I'm remembering right, the doors on a '59 (I have one) are way easier to unbolt from the door side than the body side. If you were trying to leave the hinges on the doors, try unbolting the doors from the hinges first, then work on getting the hinges out of the body. It'll give you more room to work and less risk damaging a door.
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