What is the purpose or difference in the two distinctively different bolt types (bolting hinge to door)?




context: 08 scab front doors; I’m interested in adjusting/shimming doors a little to aid in closing, for slight alignment/sag.

 

The top one is a stud with a nut on it
Probably easier to assemble on the assembly line when there's a stud to poke into the hinge, then they put on the nut and the screw into the other hole. Ease of assembly.

I guess you could put some shims under the bottom hinge to raise the door, but the correct way.thouhh harder is probably to adjust the body side hinges, not the door side.
In/out would be door side.

up down fore aft would be the body side.

 

thanks for this. I’m going to need to ponder this, perhaps tomorrow when I can look at hinges and better visualize. Right now I’m not grasping why body side is better/correct. Definitely not saying you’re wrong; just that I’m (apparently) slow to understand. Thanks for replying, I may need to ask follow up later.

 

If you look at the way they can actually move it will make more sense, but it's probably a major pin to get at the body side of the hinge, so if you are just trying to correct for a little sag I would probably get some of those little u shaped shims from a parts store and put a couple under the lower hinge while lifting up the door (after loosening the bolts a couple turns of course) then see if it's where you want it.
You can probably get a pretty good guess of what thickness of shim to try by measuring how much you want to raise the door, at the back edge, and then calculate the ratio of the distance of how wide the door is front to back, and how far apart the hinges are between the top and bottom. I haven't measured, but I suspect if you wanted to raise the door .060" you would need a .040" shim if the door is 50% longer than the hinges are apart up and down... If that makes sense.

 

Turbo - I’ll post back with results when I attempt this, but wanted to post now and say thanks for your time and info. Much appreciated.

 

here’s the measurements:

49.25” door, 32” between our edges of hinges, and need to raise door 1/4”.

 

So the front of the door is level with the fender, but the back of it sags down? With your numbers I guess I would try some 1/8 shims behind the bottom hinge and see how close you get. Might need something between 1/8 and 3/16 though

 

yes, front of door/fender still appeared pretty good.

ok I went and got a set of shims. Gave it a shot outside by myself (no Jack or helper). I got pretty close in raising, but then door “tips out a bit” at top. I suspect I can do better out of heat, with a Jack help, but can imagine this will be a juggling act of all the variables. A purple of pics for reference. Suggestions appreciated.

 

Is there any slop to those holes, so if you were to push in or out while the bolts are loose does it move at all?

I guess I would try to loosen the top hinge maybe and push in, or loosen the bottom ones and push out on the door while re tightening and see if that pivots the top in.
I haven't tried to ever adjust the hinges on this truck but I have on my old bronco and it was a lot of trial and error.
Edit
Another thing to try is pushing the shims in from above and below, and trying the same amount of shims top bolt and bottom bolt so it doesn't tweak the hinge in/out.

​​​​​​Are the hinges all sloppy ? As in do they wiggle around and can you wiggle the door up and down when it's open?
I'm having a hard time imaging how the door has that much sag. If the hinges really are that worn out it might be better to just replace them rather than trying to shim....

 

I will try much of what you suggest once I have a helper and/or a floor Jack.

I don’t know about them being worn out. I do know that bushings were worn out and replaced a couple years back. The sag wasn’t “that bad” utility wise, I just don’t like having to give it extra hard push when closing.

I’ll update again later after I try again. Thanks for help.