Door hinge pin replacement - still loose

So I'm replacing door hinge pins in the front doors of my Cherokee.

Already had the doors off to fix the rusty rockers so it seemed like the best time.

Using the kit that comes with the new bushings, pin, sleeve and the retaining clip

Other than being a PITA to get the old pins out, the first (top driver) one went fine.

Second one (bottom driver) went OK, but when reassembled it's still a bit loose. Not as bad as it was, but not as tight as the first one.

The old bushings came out partially intact - there was still complete coverage around the pin. I went through the other kits and all the bushings are sloppy around the pins, so I assume the bushings tighten up when pushed in the holes.

Anyone else have this problem? Is there a solution other than welding up the old holes and redrilling or getting new hinges and welding them on?

I don't know if this will help anyone and I apologize I didn't take any pics.

I replace 6 of the 8 hinge pins. More than half the bushings were still loose on the new pins when I assembled - one was actually worse than the one I took off.

Some of the original bushings were completely intact and still the new ones were loose - I don't think the holes were worn, maybe it's just factory slop.

Anyhow, I came up with a fix. I don't know how well it will work.

Firstly, it's important to get that plastic liner in between the hinge halves. That seems to stabilize things, especially if you need to tap something in.

When the bushing was too loose, I took it over to the vise and clamped it. The bushings are a single piece with a seam. I put the seam up and the vise keeps it from separated. Then I found a hacksaw blade ended up being the exact width. I cut right along that seam, effectively making an opening. This allows the bushing to collapse more and give a tighter fit to the pin. You can put the sliced bushing in the vise, squeeze it so the gap closes and check the fit - I had to file one a little more, but the rest were fine with the hacksaw-width opening.

So then you need something to wrap around the bushing and take up the space and force the bushing closed in the hole. I used some aluminum flashing cut to the same height as the bushing shoulder and trimmed to wrap around it with a small gap. In hind sight, aluminum is a little soft. If I had had an old clock spring, that would have been a better material. Anyhow, on the corners at the gap, I cut little angled reliefs so they wouldn't catch on the hole. Then I had some waxed string. Wrapped it twice around the aluminum and then twisted the ends to squeeze the shim around the bushing. Then pushed the bushing in the hole with a c-clamp. Once the string was squeezed, I unwrapped it and pushed the bushing the rest of the way.

Seems to have worked really well. The hinges are snug and have some drag when moved by hand (my doors are off) but should be nice and tight and free with the doors hung. Looking forward to not having the latches rattling over bumps.

I also found that the replacement hinge pins were a little big to push into the old hinge hole. They're hardened so trying to file the serrations turned out to be pointless. I put a rat tail file in the hole and enlarged it until I could tap the pin in solidly with a hammer but without having to wail on it. The pins have c-clips to retain them so the pins don't have to be pressed in with all the force the factory pins used.

FWIW, two of the six packs of hinge kits were missing the c-clips. I don't know how common a problem that is - I have some spares in my parts bins that worked but it would have been a PITA if I hadn't noticed until I put everything together and didn't have them. Pretty sure I used the Dorman ones.

Out of all six sets, I only had two that were nice and tight after installed - ended up being both top front ones. All the other four I had to use my cutting/shimming technique to tighten up.

Hope this helps someone in the future...

Nice tip.

Thank you.