Door Hinge Pins

stromberg81

Member
Hello..Help and Happy Thanksgiving. What is the best way to remove the door hinge pins on a 1935 Ford Sedan, mine are stuck, rusted, married, whatever..HELP..I need to replace my mirrors..
Duane.
 
Drake has a door hinge puller/pusher. As listed in his catalog :

Fits a wide range of hinges up to 2 7/8" tall. Extension pins included.

Tl-100-$25.00.

I used it on my '35 truck to remove the pins and it worked well. Richard
 
I had no luck with the hinge pin remover, so i took heat to it. Came right out. If their is nice paint, paper and mask everything off and drill a pilot hole from the top and get a punch to drive out the pin from the bottom up. You'll have to step the punch. Ken
 
After trying the pin remover, with no luck I went to my 2nd plan.
With a Dremel tool grinder I removed the the button (rounded off the top of the pin) took a center punch and put a starting point for the 1/4X8" drill. Drill down about a 1/3 of an inch. This takes the nurled part of the pin and relieves the pressure. Spray the pin and hinge with a lube and let it set for awhile. Drive the pin out with a long punch (smaller than the pin) and it's out with the minimal amount of damage to the hinge and paint.
 
Agree with above post from GMC1941.

I had hinge pin removal tool that did not move the pin. Ground head off and had pin out in under 10 minutes. Dremel tool works great and did not do any damage to hinge.
 
This brings up a good question. I must rebuild my hinges on my '34, which were gauled in the past and ended up wearing the hinge holes oversized. It appears no one sells oversize pins which are a few thousandths over. It's either the stock size or 100 thousandths over. Any one know of a vendor of pins which are oversize??
Thanks,
Milt K from Pa
 
Here is a picture of an air hammer with a hinge pin removal tool that someone made to remove door hinge pins, I believe they said they also made a protective piece of cardboard that went over the hinge and protected the body/door paint while using this tool.
I have also used the Drake hinge pin removal tool and it worked ok for me. However, the pins I removed were on a low mileage car that did not have worn or rusted pins. I think Drakes original tool did not work well and bent during use. His latest tool seems to be stronger and work better. JMO
 

Attachments

  • Hammer&Pin,HingePinRemover.jpg
    Hammer&Pin,HingePinRemover.jpg
    38.5 KB · Views: 167
This brings up a good question. I must rebuild my hinges on my '34, which were gauled in the past and ended up wearing the hinge holes oversized. It appears no one sells oversize pins which are a few thousandths over. It's either the stock size or 100 thousandths over. Any one know of a vendor of pins which are oversize??
Thanks,
Milt K from Pa
Milt K,Mac offers oversized pins.I bought 4 from them,but don't know whether I'll use them.I'm thinking about buying the hinge kit that Drake offers.
 
Last edited:
Milt K,Mac offers oversized pins.I bought 4 from them,but don't know whether I'll use them.I'm thinking about buying the hinge kit that Drake offers.
Milt/LV
The stock hinges are .280 in diameter. The only oversize Mac offers is .340 diameter. This way too large, the head is flat, and all knurling would be cut off if you try to turn it on a lathe. A good oversize pin would be .285 to .290 thousandths.
Thanks for the response
Milt K from Pa
 
Milt/LV
The stock hinges are .280 in diameter. The only oversize Mac offers is .340 diameter. This way too large, the head is flat, and all knurling would be cut off if you try to turn it on a lathe. A good oversize pin would be .285 to .290 thousandths.
Thanks for the response
Milt K from Pa
Milt K,I'll have to look at mine.I would agree that would be too much.Both of my doors on my 40 conv.sag,and it's because the hinge pin holes have become too large.
 
Another way to remove the hinge pins is to unbolt the door from the body. Cover the door with a couple layers of cardboard to protect it from the swing of the mall. Have a friend hold the door upside down on top of a vise with the jaws open enough to accept the domed head of the pin. With a good drift punch and a mall, drive the pin down. It is better to do this off the car as the sheetmetal of the body and the door are weakker than the pin and you don't want to damage the hinge mounting area of either the door or the body.
 
I used a combination of heat,wax and the Drake tool on my 34.The pins were really rusted in.I ground off the bottom of the pin flush with the hinge since it was mushroomed somewhat.I then heated the hinge and melted wax around the pin.I let it cool then put the Drake tool on it and heated it up again so that the wax would flow into the hinge.I took my time and let it sit over a day and just kept going back and heating it and tightening it until it started to move.It was still attached to the body.If you can remove the whole hinge at the body it might be easier.Don't get in a hurry and apply heat (if it isn't painted) and the tool will work great.
 
use a 5/16" pin these can be obtained at ford chryco or g.m. dealers out of vans. it`s 1/32" over your stock pin of 9/32". turn the head down on a lathe or drillpress to match the size and shape of the original pin. don`t use a carriage bolt as some restorers do, as they don`t have splines and the whole bolt will turn.
 
I bought the Drake tool (broke it three times), used heat and anything else I could think of to no avail-turns out that the Pins were broken inside the Hinges and were an absolute bear to get out-I ended up replacing them-
 
Back
Top