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installing rear safari door hinges & front door hinges


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Is it me or are these land rover jobs infuriatingly complicated and designed to ruin a good weekend.

Today I decided to replaced the brass balls and the pins in the rear safari door .Thought it would be a simple 2 minute job .

Purchased 'Allmakes' pin ,spring and ball sets but spent nearly an hour trying to get the nut on the bottom of the pin /bolt. They have made the bolts so short that when you put the spring on plus the lock tab, the pressure you have to exert on the spring to compress it to get the nut on just totally defeated me for ages. The material which its made from is also like cheese and I could virtually strip a thread on the pins by putting on the nut by hand pressure alone :o . Is it me or are they just trying to save costs by slimming the pin length down or was I doing something wrong?

Any reason for me not to go and by a stainless bolt & washer and nyloc nut and use the same springs and brass balls-must be a better solution to the original

Also can anyone confirm that the rear safari door is only aligned with the actual hinge bracketry onto the door and rear side rather than adjusting the above brass ball/spring pin contraption?? If so how (far) do you adjust the above spring/pin arangement and for what reason

Last gripe is the front door which i had had only 2 of the 4 bolts into the bulkhead side of the hinges there .So like the above thought it would be a quick job to put 2 new bolts and 'j clips' into the top and bottom hinge .

Got the 2 holding bolts undone but what a crazy time getting the new "j clips' into position ,they first of all would not accept the the brand new accompanying bolt and had to have the threads properly threaded so the bolt went in easier ,but that was only half the problem as the 'J clips were so springy that as soon as the bolt got to the nut it would just push the clip nut further away and not allow the bolt to get started in the thread.

Got that all done, but hey i am wacked out now and the trouble is i have to do it all again in a week or so`s time as i have some new replacements that i am sending of to get powder coated and replace door bolts with some ordered stainless fixings :mellow:

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Regards to the brass balls and hinge pin replacement kits: is the original set screw/spring and nut fubarr'd? if not just replace the brass ball(s) and re-use the the original items-worked for me about 7 years ago and it's still soldiering on!, and as regards to the J clip nut things did you make sure that they fitted together before you tried to fit the to the bulkhead? as I found with the cheaper versions they seem to be made in completely different factories to each other and didn't fit the last time i did my hinges and I had to re-thread them as you have found.

John

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Yep, as JBS says, you only need to replace the brass ball - the pin shouldn't wear, and the spring is only there to keep the hinge halves close together while you fit the hinge, making door alignment easier. There isn't much adjustment on the door side- the hinge position really just adjusts on the body side. That mean the spring doesn't need to be applying much force, and the old spring will be shorter. I have just had this issue myself, and I was going to replace all the service bits, but the spring was being difficult, so I just reused the old one. Unfortunately, I have had to replace the upper hinge in its entirety as the recesses for the brass ball were also worn, and a new ball did not take up the slack - the hinge had some lateral play, allowing the door to drop its lock side 1/8". The hinge is over 30 years old, though, and the bottom hinges are OK. So check for that play with a new ball fitted, and make sure you grease the parts on assembly.

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Hi all thanks for the input and good info.I did manage to get the new balls on the other day but just thought how stupid it was that for the sake of an extra 5mm thread it would have been an absolute doodle..I wish i had the common sense solution that Snagger had and used the old springs but that light bulb moment never arrived for me unfotunatley :rolleyes:

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hi all thanks for the input and good info.I did manage to get the new balls on the other day but just thought how stupid it was that for the sake of an extra 5mm thread it would have been an absolute doodle..I wish i had the common sense solution that Snagger had and used the old springs but that light bulb moment never arrived for me unfotunatley :rolleyes:

You'll have to change your login name to 80Watt! ;)

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