Sagging Door.

A few years ago I had to weld the hinges back on and everything seemed ok except for some closing issues I never could get quite right.

After I got back a few weeks ago I noticed it was getting pretty bad. Looked around and the door skin spot welds were broke loose. So I pulled the doors up and tacked them back on. That is when I realized they probably let go because of some bad missalignment.

The door is still about 1" low all the way accross the top. It's square until it's closed, but way low. I can't find any play in the hinges. I was looking for some spreading on the door side and didn't see any there.

I was going to pull them anyway and change the pins and check the fit. What else do I need to look for? There isn't enough adjustment to get it high enough. Could the hinges be bent enough to lower it equally front to back?

Clueless,
Lincoln

You're not clueless! I suspect that the body side of the hinge is pointed downward slightly which woud cause a lot of the misalignment. You may wish to check them and repair as needed. It is possible that your door side hinges are off also. Check another xj and take measurements. thought----- could someone before you have done some repair work and installed them incorrectly? Take some pix, that will give us some ideas too. If it's an inch low I'm sure that you can hardly close the door! Did a previous owner put the door back on with the hinges mating in the wrong position? Not likely but I guess it's possible.

I've had it for 10 years and no one else has touched the hinges. Any wrong doing would have been done by me.

The door closes but takes a good wack. My worry is most of it has come on in the last month. I wonder if the hinge has straightened out some.

I'll snap some picks today and post them.

Thanks,
Lincoln

There's a possibility that if you had some closing issues right after welding, the welding itself was out of line, and one consequence if the hinge pins aren't on the same axis is accelerated wear of the hinges themselves. Depending on how bad the sag is, and how difficult it is to correct it, one possible bandaid might be to change the shims under the hinges. Initially there should have been a shim between each hinge and the door. For a seriously sagged door, one approach is simply to remove the top shim and insert it in the bottom. You can do this without removing the whole door - just loosen the hinge and slip the shims out and in. I did this on my 87, which sagged due to badly worn hinges even after a pin replacement. For a serious problem you might even try adding a third shim. The only thing you have to watch out for is that you don't draw the top of the door too far forward and cause it to bump into the fender, and that you don't push the bottom so far back it bumps into the pillar. There's quite a lot of room for variation, though.

Your aim here is mainly to get the door so that it the latch doesn't collide with the pin on the pillar, and you don't have to physically lift it up to make it latch. The latch is designed to pull the door up some, but if it pulls too hard, then that stress could be what caused the skin welds to fail over time.

I pulled the shim to get it to align right after I welded it.

I was looking at it a few minutes ago (still halfway awake) and it looks like the ear on the body part of the hinge has straigtened some. I was comparing it to the passenger side door which hasn't been touched except for a few attempts at alignment.

It looks like it is bent right where it narrows now to match up with the door part of the hinge.

I haven't ever changed the pins yet either. So if they are the problem I don't know if I could tell if my great job after welding caused the failure or if it's just getting old. I'm setting at 250K and it's been lifted and wheeled since 70K. With the winds we get around here door alignment is alway's a problem.

I don't have to physically lift it, but the bumper between the latch and the top of the door is a hair away from hitting the side of the jeep instead of the door jam.

That's where I was really confused. Every sagging door problem I have ever had the door hung at an angle until closed. This one hangs square until clossed. The latch brings the back of the door up but the front is still pretty low. It doesn't contact the seal on the A pillar. Almost as if it's moved back also.

Did I read in one of your posts that those pins are just a standard 1/4" roll pin? It's an '89.

Thanks,
Lincoln

I figured out the problem and now just have to figure out what all needs to be done.

1. The upper hinge had straightened out some. BFH fixed that.

2. Hinge pins had some nice wear groves in them. I'm going to pick some new ones up tomorrow.

4. The door part of the hinge (I call it the fork side) had spread and worn until there was about 3/16" play up and down. I set them up in the press and tightened them back up.

3. The holes for the pins on the body mount are augered out some. The reason for my post.

How tight should the 1/4" pin fit in the body mount? I've got a 1/4" rod and there seems to be too much play in the holes. Is there any way to correct this besides cutting off the existing hinges and welding on new? A sleeve of some sort?

I only put about 2K a year on it anymore so I don't need a perfect fix, I just want to make sure the doors will close and seal reliably.

I was going to stop by my friendly machinest and talk to him about it, but I figured if someone had already figured out a fix it might save me some trouble.

Thanks,
Lincoln

The 95 FSM shows a pin and bushing set that is made for this purpose. One other possibility might be to drill/ream the holes out some more and put in a bigger pin. My 87 used 1/4 inch roll pins, and these might be a tighter fit. You can get them at tractor supply places cheap.