Extending Sliding Door Hinge

[donciuz]

I had my U bracket extended by 30mm and the runner shortened by 30mm by a professional. Mine is a late van. I don't think you can do this yourself unless you are a skilled welder.

[crazymilk]

Ok so I am only about 20mm out. Is there any adjustment on the door hinge I could use?

[Plasticman]

even 5mm and you do as i described above, the limits on a late van are the work around needed to move the slider runner part further back as it sits in a recess, early doors dont have this so are much simpler to do , the U bracket work is the same for early and late
mm

[crazymilk]

Ok so I need to cut the runner off and move it towards the front or rear of the van?

Is there a DIY guide anywhere?

[Plasticman]

you extend the U arm by the amount of extra clearance you require.
then you cut the front of the runner off just after the spring assembly, and then further remove the exact ammount you extended by of the remaining runner and then reweld the front part back on,
mm
i did a late one recently so will try to find picks but no promises. also if your not a competent welder then ship it out as the arms to my mind need a mechanical join as well, by that i mean i drill them and peg them with a blind hole to weld into , this way they will never fatigue or crack
mm

[Plasticman]

how did we get on
mm

[crazymilk]

Still in progress- will keep you posted one done.

[Plasticman]

i think you said yours was late ? well

the amount you extend the arm by (to clear whatever) you need to make a cut at the left mark at point "A"
and remove the exact amount you added to the arm.
point "C" cannot be cut back or relieved much , well maybe a few mm at the rear where it matters but this is purely for clearance, one of the issues you will have if going too extreme is that point "C" will interfere with point "B", there is scope to hammer this area back abit but there are limits before cutting open, last one i did was 20mm and i got away with out damaging the paint too much,oh and dont forget you will need to relocate this as well

the lug for securing the slider cover
mm

[donciuz]

I did this slightly diffrently. Mine is shortened by 30mm without any modification or beating to the body panel pointed by arrow B. Had to loose the spring seen behind the letter C, but almost four years later all is working fine without it.

[crazymilk]

Well just finished mine and still not quiet enough

I added 30mm to the bracket and shortened the runner by the same amount. I hammered your point B as much as I could to give a little extra but unless I start to chop the panel behind it I am at the max I can go.

Now the door misses the alloy however I am a bit bummed out as half way open ot touches it again.
So I have limited options left.

Get some narrower adapters (currently have 25mm so could drop to 20mm) - might not be enough thou.
Re drill the brake drums to 130 PCD and add some thin spacer to get the wheels where I want them
or the most extreme
Machine the alloys down by 10mm to alter the offset

What do you think!!

[Plasticman]

I did this slightly diffrently. Mine is shortened by 30mm without any modification or beating to the body panel pointed by arrow B. Had to loose the spring seen behind the letter C, but almost four years later all is working fine without it.

as he says
i wouldnt go skimming rims and the like
mm