Sliding door rear hinge mech workings

[waltraud]

Hmm, not sure if this is just me or my hinge...the 83 LHD joker, when opening the sliding door the rear hinge tends to 'fold up' for want of a better expression , what I mean is it does not seem to stick out at approx 90 degrees to bodywork as i think it should? The result is that the inner sliding door cover tends to rub on the wheelarch. Is it possible that there is a spring inside this hinge that can wear out, fail or break?? It looks as itf the hinge / sroping should resist my opening the door and push the rear end of the door out away from the body work, is that so. Many thanks. Tim

[waltraud]

Hi,

lots of looks but no responses, makes me think its either too easy or not interesting? I have worked out that the post 85 rear sliding door hinges had an internal spiral wound spring fitted inside the rear mechanism but i can't see this on a diagram of the hinge. Any ideas? thanks. Tim

[garyd]

Its obviously the time of year for sliding door woes. I just read the post above about the catch mechanism and now yours, Tim, about the hinge and it all seems too familiar. Once the weather warms up a bit or I get some daylight hours at home (Christmas weekend? Maybe not?) I must look at both areas on mine.

I managed to break the outside handle last weekend trying to get the door to pop out one-handed whilst the other was well loaded. Bit snapped off and disappeared into the snow somewhere!

Anyone got a late type outer handle available please?

Garyd

[Plasticman]

Hi fella
When you open the door it doesnt spring out sharpish?
Easy enough fix,
take of the slider track cover, have an axle stand,chair or whatever that is about the height of the bottom of your door,
place it 18inches away from the door and about 6 inc hes ahead of the rearmost part,
open door and slide to the cut out in the track and lift the door up and off the track, keep it upright and slide it forward and onto the chair/stand or whatever, then remove bolts (3) thast hold this hinge mechanism on,
You will find the spring is either broken or more likely all the pins etc are gummed up with rust and shyte, Im sure its in the wiki but strip/clean/grease etc,
I stick a bit of tape over the point on the trac k where the cutout is to aid relocating it
there easy and a nice little job for when Xmas gets all too m uch
mike

[waltraud]

Top man Mike, many thanks, thats just the sort of advice i needed....especially the bit about Xmas, spot on.

Tim

[garyd]

I have managed to get mine much freer wiothout dismantling it at all. I used some some 'dry lube' spray to thin out the aged grease and this has worked a treat. May only be good for a short period but OK for a cold days quick fix.

The spray also seems to work weel on the front seat slides.

Garyd

[waltraud]

Cheers Gary, will try that , quick fix is fine in these temps! Tim

[Plasticman]

Wimp
mike