[wakesupremo]

I have bought a new set of door hinge pins and bushes as my drivers door is dropping. Has anybody ever replaced these in situ or does the hinge have to come off to do it?

[steve25]

I forget if the hinge section that those bushings go in need to drilled out to a bigger OD to accept the bushings.
If so to get the needed drill angle the bolt on hinge section may need to come off.

[tjs72lemans]

I didn't have to drill anything, but did them off the car. If your doors are off, I think you could do it on the car.

[Skip Fix]

Second gen F body hinges need to be drilled, there are 2 different sized bushings I believe. I would think it would be pretty hard to get the hole straight on the car.

[tjs72lemans]

I didn't know this was a second gen, since it wasn't mentioned. I was referring to Lemans. Sorry.

[Skip Fix]

I did not know either so answered on second gens.

Also on my second gens there is not a perfect size drill bit either lettered or fractions for a really good press fit on the bushings so they do not rotate some themselves and they are brittle for too tight a fit.

[wakesupremo]

Sorry all. I should have said, its a 1st gen. !969 Firebird convertible.

[tooski]

68 FB here. I knocked the pins out of the hinges to remove the door. I did not take the frame side hinges off, hoping the alignment would be good. Marked and removed the door side hinges. I thought I might have to drill out the holes, but it turned out just the bushings were bad. Reinstalled the hinges on the door. The hard part was to shift the door to align all the holes to drive the pins in. Door did not need further alignment.

[wakesupremo]

Thanks Tooski. Do the pins literally just knock out then?

[tooski]

Originally Posted by wakesupremo

Thanks Tooski. Do the pins literally just knock out then?

Yes. My hinges were previously done. The door also did not have the spring and roller detent in them. The spring must be removed. The bottom pin is not a straight shot with a drift and hammer because of the curve of the door. Once I supported the door they came out easy because of all the slop. The oem hinges will have little 'ears' on the end to prevent them from working out. They must be ground off. The hinge halves must be separated as the bushing goes in the door side which is the inner part; and also if the holes need to be drilled.

[tooski]

Also, I found that three of the bushing holes are the same size. The other one is bigger by design to take a thicker bushing as that spot has more load than the others.

[wakesupremo]

Thank you very much Tooski for that info. Now that im home again I'll give it a try this afternoon.