Sliding door - central 'hinge' runner

[garyd]

Hi,
the central hinge & roller on the back of my 1989 T3 sliding door is showing signs of wear in various places, including the track along the outside of the van. As a result, the door cannot be set high enough to get the shut lines correct.

It looks like there is also significant wear in the bushes at both ends of the big 'U' rod of the hinge and this is allowing it to sag down. I have not been able to establish whether these bushes are available as replacements - does anyone know?

As an alternative, would it be possible to reform the 'U' rod slightly so that the horizontal section runs slightly uphill from the body to the door. Just altering the 90 degree bends by a few degrees in opposite directions should achieve several mm of lift at the door. Any views on how well that 'U' rod will take to being bent?

Any other ideas, please?

Thanks
Garyd

[Plasticman]

they will bend no problem but not really the way forward as you will alter other aspects of the alignment doing this, I can sort of gather what your problem is but any chance of a picky as well
mm

[garyd]

thanks for your response Mick. I will see if I can get some pictures posted tomorrow.

To explain it another way, all the wear in the roller and hinge means that the door sags by the sum total of all that wear. Some of it is the running surface of the outside track on which the roller runs but a lot is in the two bronze bushes which mount on either end of the U bar.

This allows the 'vertical' sections of the bar to tilt by a few degrees and cause the supposedly 'horizontal' section to be downhill from the track to the door. My intention in reshaping the U bar would be to recover the height lost by this downhill slope and then a bit more as well to counter the effects of other worn elements.

The two vertical legs would still be parallel and the change of distance between them would be minimal (certainly by comparison with general level of wear). I don't see how/where it would cause alter other aspects of the alignment.

Of course, the simplest way of achieving the aim of lifting the door back to level would probably be to slot out the three holes in the door to which the hinge bolts so that there is more adjustment there!

thanks
Garyd

[Plasticman]

Ah,i understand more now youve put it that way, have you tried adjusting by the three holes as you dont need to alter all holes, i youve sort of look at it from inside and imagine lifting the door and rotating the middle hinge anti clock this should give loads of adjustment . ?
other way then as you state, one leg to be opened and the other closed so whilst they are parrallel with each other they are not at 90'to the horizontal part of the arm , I think we both know what were talking about
mm

[garyd]

That's another idea Mick. To just open the single hole at the 'front' end of the hinge inside the door and to rotate the hinge on the slack in the pair of holes at the edge of the door. Certainly simpler than altering the U bar if it gives me enough.

I reckon I will have to have the door card off, release that single bolt and try adjusting the hinge angle. If it goes far enough, I will then be able to see how much that inner hole needs ovaling (or re-drilling?) to get the bolt back in.

Thanks for your input. I will let you know how it goes.

Garyd

[DavidPallister]

Have you dismantled and checked the actual middle roller? I believe these are prone to split in half, resulting in droopy door syndrome. Brickwerks sell replacement rollers if needed.

Dave

[garyd]

Dave,
the hinge has been completely dismantled recently. In fact that is probably what has lead to this issue coming to light. Having cleaned all the horrible thick old grease & dirt out of it has allowed the wear to become slack and the droop to be apparent.

Anyhow, had it apart again today after looking into the single hole technique Mick mentioned. That didn't look like it would give enough lift.

With it dismantled I found some washers, drilled them out and then reduced the thickness by filing and whetstoning them. These now fit on the two sides of the U bar: below the door hinge and between the roller hinge and the fixed arm. In each case they take up vertical slack and, in doing so, they reduce the amount of wobble that can take place due to worn bushes.

As a result the door can now be set up at the correct height. Just need to refit the outer cover panel and the door card - ran out of time today.

I have taken some photos but have never got around to working out how to post them on here. Mick, you post a lot of photos - would you like to pm me your email address and then perhaps you could post them up, please?

Thanks

Garyd

[Plasticman]

here you go


mm

[garyd]

Thanks Mike.
I must get around to opening an online photo account somewhere.

In the first picture the two washers can be seen. On the left side the lowest 'ring' is the rubber seal and the new washer is above it. The underside of this has a smaller taper to the inner diameter to make it sit better on the flange on the shaft.

On the right side the new washer is the fourth item from the bottom. It fits around the plain diameter of the shaft and the top of it is level with the bottom of the square section of shaft to which the upper lever engages.

Hope this is of use to others with worn hinges.

Garyd