Need help figuring out how to make these tube doors fit

qslim

The Man with the Big Yellow Car
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I picked up a set of homemade tube doors over the weekend, they're exactly what I was looking for - minimalist, no fancy designs, & open. Basically all I'm looking for is a place to put my arm while driving with the doors off.

I got them home, the passenger side fits perfectly but the driver side won't line up.

Passenger
9731A314-D1E1-4137-B7BA-22259B808368_1_105_c.jpeg


Driver

5D728448-BC71-43E2-BA95-BF0C405BDC02_1_105_c.jpeg


The driver side, when fully seated in the hinge bushing, hangs down too far and misses the latch by about 1" too low:
6614519C-78B6-4602-AE74-FF17A8DDBF70_1_105_c.jpeg


In order to get it latched I have to raise the door pins out of the hinge bushings roughly one inch:

BB0A2D84-7F25-41FE-9A4B-A47835CEDDB3_1_105_c.jpeg


949B623B-5E21-479E-B45C-BBBA2365C152_1_105_c.jpeg



So, my thinking here is that I need to change the length that the hinge pins extend from the tube door. I tried just tweaking the pins themselves, but then I realized when I do that they make two different parallels & won't fall in the hinges. I asked the dude I bought them from about it, but he said his kid fabbed them years ago & isn't around to ask.

Looking at it is seems that the hinge pins extend all the way through the door & are welded on both sides:
77BAB3CD-80A3-4F34-BC8E-13CAD7527646_1_105_c.jpeg


2DC02E69-5BDB-422B-8ABA-F1DEB3ACE49E_1_105_c.jpeg


Should I just grind those welds down & see if I can free those pins up to get it to fit? It looks like the pins are homemade to include the bend, and I'm not sure there will be enough pin left to re-weld if I need to slide them out to adjust the length from the pin to the tube.

My regular doors fit just fine, I don't think the problem is with the tub. Dude I bought them from said they fit fine on the TJ he just sold, so maybe his TJ was tweaked or something? I dunno. I'm also not a fabricator AT ALL, so I don't have any other ideas on how to solve this. Any thoughts?
 
The hinge pins don't even look the same from side to side. The drivers side looks like they are bent closer to the tube which would explain the fitment issue.
 
It looks like the bottom hinge is bent back toward the tube and in toward the car. I would bend the bottom one out in both directions and see if you need to realign the top one some to get it to drop.

Try putting the bottom one in by itself and see what it takes to get the latch to line up. Then do the same with the top in and bottom out.
 
Yeah I tried finagling with them both individually. When I drop the top one in by itself & latches so the door is straight with the tub it looks like this where the bottom pin doesn't extend far enough. I tried bending the bottom one out but then they don't line up:

4E2DF1B0-4A25-4A23-8EF1-94FF66311F18_1_102_o.jpeg


When I drop just the bottom pin in to get it straight & latch the top pin looks like its too far out, and bending it in also doesn't make it line up:

46628D78-0D05-46F6-B28E-2FE1FF7402F2_1_105_c.jpeg


So, this makes me think it isn't an issue of just bending the pins, either the top one needs to move in or the bottom pin needs to move out. Maybe grind the welds off the top pin, see if I can knock it through the tube & re-weld it once I move it back a little?

Alternatively, maybe rig something up where I can have both pins secured & bend them at the same time? I didn't want to muscle against the hinges while the door is bolted to the Jeep for fear of fucking up them or my back. I've tried bending them individually with a 14mm 1.2" socket on an extension to no avail.
 
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So, this makes me think it isn't an issue of just bending the pins, either the top one needs to move in or the bottom pin needs to move out. Maybe grind the welds off the top pin, see if I can knock it through the tube & re-weld it once I move it back a little?

I'd try something like that. Which ever pin makes the door and latch line up the best, I'd get the other pin out and readjust and weld it.
 
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Like Codaman's idea. Or use the pin that works the best and either heat the other to fit, or cut it and reweld. Worse case get some replacement hinges and weld them in place. Lots of options. Depends what you feel most comfortable doing.
 
Looking at the photo with the top in and bottom out, it looks like the pin needs another bend to pull it in towards the jeep just before the bend going down. Once you get it centered over the hole, then adjust the bottom straight part. It's hard to do with it on the door. I'd put whichever pin in that lines the door and latch the best, and take the other out. Then bend a new pin with a hammer and vise until it fits and weld that in place.

Long term, I'd be tempted to grind them all out and modify new hinges to weld on. A little cutting or bending and it would be a much cleaner solution.

Jeep Hinges from Amazon
 
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Heat the crap out if those two pins, put the door on and bend it into place before they cool.
Yeah, I thought about putting a torch on the pins, dropping them in the hinges & bending them by lifting the door upwards but I hesitant for fear of fucking up the hinge point on the Jeep.

Looking at the photo with the top in and bottom out, it looks like the pin needs another bend to pull it in towards the jeep just before the bend going down. Once you get it centered over the hole, then adjust the bottom straight part. It's hard to do with it on the door. I'd put whichever pin in that lines the door and latch the best, and take the other out. Then bend a new pin with a hammer and vise until it fits and weld that in place.

Long term, I'd be tempted to grind them all out and modify new hinges to weld on. A little cutting or bending and it would be a much cleaner solution.

Jeep Hinges from Amazon

Thanks for the link!