Half Door Issue

FadeToGray

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So pretty sure I did something dumb today when installing my new half doors.

The drivers side wasn’t closing perfectly so I pushed on it a bit to get it closed, and it closed, but closed funny.

Now it’s stuck and I’m not able to open it. It is defiantly unlocked so that’s not the issue.

Figured I’d throw this on here to see if anyone had any ideas while I continue to fight with it.

Maybe knock out the pins from the hinges and see if I can get it off then?

Any ideas are welcome on solving my stupidity for the day.

Thanks!
 
Loosen the torx bolts on the door near the hinge. Make sure to use heat before you try to loosen the bolts. After loosening the bolts, the door should not be under tension from the hinges anymore. The door should be able to unlatch at that point.

I think you just jammed up the latch with a lot of pressure from the hinges since the door did not perfectly align. I nearly did the same thing when installing my half doors.
 
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Loosen the torx bolts on the door near the hinge. Make sure to use heat before you try to loosen the bolts. After loosening the bolts, the door should not be under tension from the hinges anymore. The door should be able to unlatch at that point.

I think you just jammed up the latch with a lot of pressure from the hinges since the door did not perfectly align. I nearly did the same thing when installing my half doors.

Thank you, will give that a try in the morning.
 
Unfortunately most of the torx are stripped beyond belief from the previous owner, so I'll probably just take it to my local shop and see what they can do.
 
Try some PB Blaster on the hinge bolts first. Let it sit overnight. You might be able to get them loose. Tap on them lightly with the appropriate ratchet or screwdriver. And a hammer to get the threads to release. I would be careful with heat. Your gonna bubble your paint if your not careful. Some door fittings have loctite. HArd to tell if yours has that or not. But start with PB Blaster or similar. As that is the path of least resistance. And least chance of f'ing something up.

It sounds like you just need to adjust the hinges on the door. Loosen them and let the tension go on the locking mechanism. And it should open. I assume you've tried the locks?

I just did this - removed half doors and replaced with full doors. And my hinge bolts were corroded too. But after letting them sit overnight it came apart. Mine were not stripped though.

You may end up needing to replace your door hinges or at least bolts. If there stripped I'd start looking for those now. I think Extreme Terrain has them in stock.

In the end what you need to do is loosen the hinges on the doors. Put a paint can stick under the door and on the bottom of the door jamb. To simulate space. Shut and hold the door in place where everything lines up. You want the door sitting flush in it's opening. And even front to back and top to bottom. Then tighten the hinge bolts down. It's a simple process. But stuck bolts don't help much at all. They do sell bits for removing stuck screws or bolts. You could try that too. But I'd have replacement bolts on hand for the hinges.

I got mine to close this way. And probably could have gotten them perfect. But my Jeeps body is not perfectly straight. So later on down the road I will be asking the bodyshop to further adjust them. So the doors sit perfectly. They shut and lock now. Which was good enough for me. But I'm sure a finer adjustment could be made by a professional bodyman.

DOn't forget to apply some white lithium grease or similar on the hinge pins and on the bolts you have that are stripped out. So they don't corrode again. I know it's not aluminum or at least I don't think it is. But the hinge and the bolts looked like corroded aluminum when I got them apart. You could see how easily they could corrode again.
 
My drivers half door is the same way, I have to push in on it to open it as well.
My driver side half door is same. Doesn’t close nicely. Have to push down and close at same time. Then to open I have to open latch and pull top of door at same time.
 
Try some PB Blaster on the hinge bolts first. Let it sit overnight. You might be able to get them loose. Tap on them lightly with the appropriate ratchet or screwdriver. And a hammer to get the threads to release. I would be careful with heat. Your gonna bubble your paint if your not careful. Some door fittings have loctite. HArd to tell if yours has that or not. But start with PB Blaster or similar. As that is the path of least resistance. And least chance of f'ing something up.

It sounds like you just need to adjust the hinges on the door. Loosen them and let the tension go on the locking mechanism. And it should open. I assume you've tried the locks?

I just did this - removed half doors and replaced with full doors. And my hinge bolts were corroded too. But after letting them sit overnight it came apart. Mine were not stripped though.

You may end up needing to replace your door hinges or at least bolts. If there stripped I'd start looking for those now. I think Extreme Terrain has them in stock.

In the end what you need to do is loosen the hinges on the doors. Put a paint can stick under the door and on the bottom of the door jamb. To simulate space. Shut and hold the door in place where everything lines up. You want the door sitting flush in it's opening. And even front to back and top to bottom. Then tighten the hinge bolts down. It's a simple process. But stuck bolts don't help much at all. They do sell bits for removing stuck screws or bolts. You could try that too. But I'd have replacement bolts on hand for the hinges.

I got mine to close this way. And probably could have gotten them perfect. But my Jeeps body is not perfectly straight. So later on down the road I will be asking the bodyshop to further adjust them. So the doors sit perfectly. They shut and lock now. Which was good enough for me. But I'm sure a finer adjustment could be made by a professional bodyman.

DOn't forget to apply some white lithium grease or similar on the hinge pins and on the bolts you have that are stripped out. So they don't corrode again. I know it's not aluminum or at least I don't think it is. But the hinge and the bolts looked like corroded aluminum when I got them apart. You could see how easily they could corrode again.
That white powder that looks like corroded aluminum is old blue locktite. I used an impact gun to get mine off. Only shattered one bit... But all the screws came out.


There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
 
From my experience you will not get the bolts off the door without heat. It is not the threads that are keeping the bolt locked in, but rather the surface area of the bolt head into the tapered hole. PB blaster is not going to help alleviate what is keeping the bolt locked in.

I didn't use heat on my half doors. Ended up gouging some metal with my breaker bar as each bolt broke free. Used heat on my full doors, spun the bolts right out with a regular ratchet. Used heat on my mirrors which were rusting away from excessive exposure to salt, they also spun right out. Don't be afraid of a little heat from a propane torch, it'll help immensely to get the bolts out.

89598
 
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If you have a 100 or 150 watt soldering iron, that works really nice to heat the bolts without burning the paint. Put the tip right into the torx socket and pull the trigger. A typical pencil type soldering iron is only about 25W and won't make enough heat.