Hinge problems

Ok so i noticed that my drivers side top hinge was about to break off when the door started to drop everytime I opened it. I researched about what to do on here and found that part number for the bracket(#5083061AA). Just my luck that when getting in my jeep to go to the parts department the hinge finally breaks. It was the top weld of the top hinge that broke from the body. I went today to the dealership body shop to get an estimate. I told him that I had ordered the part. He told me that it would be a lot more hassle than I would want to fix the hinge. He told me it required taking off the door and fender. He gave me an approx. estimate at $450 for the body shop to repair it. I just wanted to see yall's opinion on what i should do. BTW it is a '94.

Thanks, Ian

Sounds like the same thing that happened to mine about 2 years ago. The top hinge tore away from the body. I did the same thing as what your saying. I went to the dealer body shop and they charged me about $350 to weld it up. I did not need to get a new hinge though. I would say try a local welding shop or better yet a friend with a welder. Beer and Pizza usually go along way with friends.

Tim D

Yeah. My uncle said he would weld it for me but we do not know what we really need to do it correctly. Do we actually need to take off the fender and put a new backing plate on there??

I just went through this on a 92 that I am almost finished working on. I had to cut out the sheet metal and weld a plate in to weld the hinge to. I guess I was lucky as I was replacing the front left fender anyway and had already removed it. I don't see how you could get to it to work/weld on it w/o removing the fender. Beware, the torx/bolts on the bottom of the fender just behind the wheel are a little difficult......at least on mine they were. There are also 2 bolts you have to reach with the door open...one at the top and one about 2/3's of the way down.

Good Luck!

Thanks!!!

You really do need to remove the fender to do it right. That isn't such a big deal, though. And it helps a lot to remove the whole door so that you can work with the hinge alone. Again, not terribly hard to do, especially with the fender off (you can get at the torx bolts on the hinges more easily)

I was able to get the hinge well reattached on my stepson's 2-door without adding a backing plate, but did have to make sure that I welded through the outer layer of sheet metal to the layer behind. Take your time and make sure the hinge is well placed, and you'll find the door hangs well. I also found a piece of approximately steel rod to fit in the gap of the aft edge of the hinge (where no weld currently exists) ,and welded that in to form a big fillet.

If you have a two door and wish to minimize further problems, while you're at it take off the door check, and have your welder friend weld shut the hole in its end (where the little pin goes through). Then drill a new hole about 1/8 inich further in, and grind the end to make it neat. The door will now not strain the hinge every time it is opened. As it is now designed, the door and the check will flex enough to allow the hinge to reach its own built-in limit stop, and that's when it tries to lever itself out of the body.

Of course this will not help prevent the next stage of 2-door failure - that of the door itself!