Door Scrunch Fix

[Paul]

Hi All--

CabezonBD has asked me how I modified my doors to eliminate opening and closing difficulty caused by the door position control widget. So thought I would post this project.

My doors were making scrunching noises and were very rough to swing thru their range of motion. The problem was the roller on the door positioning control. It would mostly not rotate when the door was moved and the cam would then skate over the frozen roller. I tried all sorts of lubes and had only a little temporary success.

So, I decided to replace the OEM rollers with ball bearings and this has worked very well.

To do this one must remove the hinge from both the door and the body. Not too hard. Use a pencil to outline the hinge location on the door and body before you remove it so as to be able to get it back in the right place. Block the door up and restrain it from falling sideways and remove the bolts from the top hinge. These bolts are tough to get at but can be removed with a couple of different angled box wrenches. Remove the hinge to your vise and drive out the OEM roller pin along with the roller. Now tap the hole to 8 x 1.25 mm. The hole size will be a little large but is OK for this tap.

Make up a special stud from an 8 x 1.25 x 45 mm bolt. This will be some harder as a lathe is the preferred tool. Here are some photos:

The smaller end is machined to 1/4 inch diameter and threaded most of the way to the shoulder to accommodate the bearing. I used 1/4-28 with a nyloc nut.

You will need to buy some of these bearings, R4ZZ. They are .625 OD x .25 ID x .194 thick. I found mine on ebay and just found them listed there again.

Now thread the stud into the hinge where the roller pin used to be. Might want to use some Loctite here. Slip the ball bearing on the stud and retain it with the nyloc nut. Bolt the hinge back in place.

Here is a photo of my door with the new ball bearing roller:

This works well and for me was worth the effort. Hope you like it.

Paul

[puttputtinpup]

suggestion....could you make up a few and offer them up for a reasonable price?

[Paul]

Andy--

Well, I guess I could but I'm pretty sure you all would get them faster by making them up yourself. I still have my second (work truck) to do which is 'scrunching' on the passenger side. It is hard to get to all these good projects.

Paul

[charlieb]

Paul, thanks for posting this, it's a great fix. Here's a variation that doesn't need machine tools. Use a 1/4-20 x 2" cap screw, flat washer and split lock washer.

To assemble, put the hinge in DOOR CLOSED position, put the spring in place first, squeeze the spring with channel locks, insert the bolt, flat washer, split washer, bearing and nut.

Here it is back in place.

[1TNLB]

These are great tips. Hats off to both of you.

[SkyBluePup]

Oh, wow! That's pretty cool! I didn't even know mine were completely missing until I read this thread! The spring bar just rubs on the body - and yes, it makes and awful racket every few months when it dries out.

Yet another project to add to the list, lol!

[Paul]

charlieb--

Darn, that's too easy Good simplification.

Paul

[puttputtinpup]

Does the original pin come out fairly easy?

[charlieb]

Not bad. Put an old 3/4" socket on a workbench with business end up, position the hinge on top with the roller inside the socket. The socket acts as an anvil to hold back the hinge. Drive out the pin with a punch and hammer. If you don't have a punch, use a 1/4" bolt and toss it when you're done.

[puttputtinpup]

Not bad. Put an old 3/4" socket on a workbench with business end up, position the hinge on top with the roller inside the socket. The socket acts as an anvil to hold back the hinge. Drive out the pin with a punch and hammer. If you don't have a punch, use a 1/4" bolt and toss it when you're done.

Sounds easy enough. I had the tires and wheels put on my truck last week. They needed balancing. Trucks looks much better. Thanks!
Andy

[84 pup diesel]

My truck made that noise i just took out the spings that hold the door from free swinging problem solved the springs get old and to stiff.

[JLEMOND]

HI PAUL , DONT KNOW IF THIS IS THE PLACE YOU GOT THOSE BEARINGS BUT FOR ANYONE NEEDING BEARINGS OF ABOUT ANY SIZE , THIS PLACE HAS THEM, AND THEY HAVE THE SIZE LISTED IN ORDER AND THEN BY TYPE AND ARE VERY REASONABLE AND FAST TO DEAL WITH .. IT IS VXB.COM , PRETTY NEAT PLACE HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE OUT JERRY

[Paul]

I helped my friend Josh (SLOroads) install the anti scrunch fix on his truck a few months ago and they worked OK for a while. But, then the cam plate found a way to slide off the bearing and could not be gotten back on. Perhaps the alignment was not good enough. More likely it was because the cam plate was quite loose on its pivot pin. Maybe a combination of the two.

So, what to do? We removed the hinge and made a new bearing post that would accommodate two bearings. We positioned the bearings so that the cam plate would bear on both of the bearings. This spreads the load out over the two bearings (I had a bearing outer race crack on me once) and reduces the chance that the cam plate can slip off the bearings.

Then, as a 'belt and suspenders' approach to life, we also tightened up the cam pivot pin. To do this, we pressed the pivot pin out of the cast hinge. Then we used a 1/2 inch drill to slightly counter sink the pivot hole, allowing the pin to recess a bit and take the slop out of the cam plate.

Another thing, Josh parks on an off camber spot and complained that the door would not stay in the fully open position.

Again, what to do? We used a Dremel grinding wheel to grind a recess in the cam plate at the point where it would add additional holding power for the door. Josh says this works well. Be careful to not grind too much or the door will become obstinate. We ground a dish of about .025" deep. See sketch and photos below.

Paul

Cam Plate jumped off bearing:

Hinge with double bearing:

Modifying Cam plate:

Sketch for Cam Plate Mod:

Special C Clamp Tool for spring Removal: